Overview
- This week at the Busan Indie Connect Festival Shuhei Yoshida said he advised Sandfall and publisher Kepler not to call Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a “turn‑based RPG” because that label might cause players to overlook it.
- Yoshida told the story after recalling he played an early demo at GDC roughly two years before the game's 2025 release and was impressed by its mix of turn‑order systems and timing‑based actions.
- Kepler and Sandfall adjusted promotional language to phrases such as “reactive turn‑based battles,” a change Yoshida and reports credit with helping the game reach a broader audience.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 went on to sell millions of copies in 2025 and win multiple Game of the Year honours, a performance outlets cite when assessing how the marketing choice mattered.
- Industry effect: publishers have since received more pitches for turn‑based RPGs, and Yoshida uses the anecdote to argue that careful framing can matter more than simply chasing current trends.