While the Oblivion remake is probably the year’s biggest surprise release so far, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is perhaps its biggest surprise hit. The hybrid action RPG has, as announced by the developers themselves, already sold over 1 million copies, and it’ll likely continue to sell as word continues to spread. Actually, if it weren’t for the Oblivion remake, this would probably be the biggest story in gaming right now.

From what I’ve heard of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 so far, it’s an absolutely fantastic action RPG experience. The art is top-shelf, the gameplay is engaging and the writing is, based on what my friends have told me, phenomenal. Based on the look of it, you’d think this was made by some giant AAA studio, but it wasn’t. Rather, this is the developer’s, Sandfall Interactive, very first game! What’s more, they’re only a 30-40 person team!

I’m really glad to see this sell, because I think it’s much more of a lesson for the games business than Oblivion is. It shows that new single-player IP *can* still sell well, and it can do so without ridiculous budgets, massive teams and gigantic marketing campaigns. It looks like its also on track to show that you can still make good money on them without all the obnoxious monetization strategies or a $70 price tag too!

Good games sell. It’s just a matter of budgeting them appropriately and hiring the best people for the job. That should be the takeaway here, cause otherwise things will just keep ballooning until the AAA space collapses in on itself in spectacular fashion.

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Have you played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 yet? What do you think about its success?

Image from the Steam page