According to Sandfall Interactive, Unreal Engine 5 played a fundamental role in making the game possible. Nevertheless, the studio believes that properly porting it to Nintendo Switch 2 would represent a serious technical challenge.
Since its release in 2022, Unreal Engine 5 has become one of Epic Games’ most controversial engines, primarily because of its extremely high resource requirements on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC, as well as the performance problems often associated with it. Although the technology has improved significantly, public opinion has not changed much, and many players still regard it as one of the worst developments in the modern gaming industry. Numerous developers do not share that opinion, however. Sandfall Interactive, the studio behind the multiple 2025 Game of the Year winner Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, says it could not have created the game without the engine.
The greatest advantage of Unreal Engine 5 is that it provides developers with all the tools required to create something ambitious, according to Sandfall Interactive CEO and creative director Guillaume Broche. He particularly praised Blueprints, the visual scripting system that is eventually expected to be deprecated in Unreal Engine 6 once the new Verse and Scene Graph framework becomes sufficiently mature.
“First of all, Unreal Engine includes every tool required to make a game that looks large in scope even when you do not have a large team. We were also very fortunate with the timing of several of Unreal’s newer tools. Unreal Engine 5 itself arrived at exactly the right point in production, followed by MetaHuman, Nanite, and Lumen. Everything appeared at the right moment, so we were extremely lucky in that regard. Blueprints are particularly important. They are a visual scripting method simple enough to allow almost anyone on the team to write code. It is like connecting blocks. We have four programmers at our studio, but every game designer and technical artist uses Blueprints to create gameplay or environmental logic. That is essential for delivering this type of game at this level of quality,” Broche said.
“Blueprints are part of an ecosystem. It is visual scripting, which makes it playful and very easy to learn. It is also an ecosystem because so many people use it and share content, meaning resources such as tutorials can be found everywhere. Blueprint packs are also available to study. People share them for free or sell them, and they are never particularly expensive. Overall, it is a very cool system,” said technical artist Alexandre Breton, who also praised Unreal Engine 5’s Blueprint functionality.
Although numerous Unreal Engine 5 games have already been released on Nintendo Switch 2, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has not yet been ported. Sandfall would like to develop such a version, but the technical challenges present an even greater obstacle for a studio of its size. “It is a significant technical challenge because we tried to create something visually beautiful, but Switch 2 is naturally not as powerful as PlayStation or Xbox Series X. It is therefore an important consideration for us, especially given the size of our studio,” said studio co-founder and technical director Tom Guillermin.
Although some Unreal Engine 5 features do not function on Nintendo Switch 2, which has been known for some time, Lumen Lite could make the porting process somewhat easier. “They are now introducing features such as Lumen Lite, which is easier to run than standard Lumen, but rolling them out takes time. We need to monitor Unreal Engine updates before deciding how to proceed,” said lead character and concept artist Alan Reynaud.
Considering the quality of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, it would be a great shame if Nintendo Switch 2 owners never had the opportunity to experience the game. Hopefully, Lumen Lite, which is being designed for less powerful hardware and handheld devices, will help make the port possible.
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