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Andy Serkis, Ben Starr, Jennifer English, and Charlie Cox join the cast of The Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Draugoth

Gold Member


Hi everyone, I’m Jenn, Lead Writer and Voice Producer on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.


Since revealing the game in June, we’ve been blown away by its reception (and impressed by the eagle-eared listeners who identified the voices in the trailers). It brings us great pleasure to finally reveal our English voice cast and share some more information about our characters and their world.




Introducing the cast of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33




We’ve lived and breathed these characters for the past few years, so it was surreal and an honor to witness our incredible voice cast bring them to life.


The actors were phenomenal to work with (and just all-around great people). We had a lot of fun during the recording sessions. The cast beautifully conveyed the complexity of the characters, who have each been shaped by the harshness of their world. Every character has been affected by deep and constant loss and has dealt with this in their own way.


Previously, we introduced four of the characters.


Charlie Cox (Daredevil) is the voice of Gustave, the lead engineer of Expedition 33. Gustave grew up in Lumière under the Paintress’ shadow and has devoted his life to safeguarding the city. With his final year ticking away, Gustave is hell-bent on defeating the Paintress and reclaiming a future for Lumière’s children.


Jennifer English (Baldur’s Gate 3) plays Maelle, a shy loner eager to escape the constraints of Lumière. Orphaned as a child, Maelle has always felt like an outsider. Her only connection is with Gustave, her foster brother. She is the youngest member of the Expedition, at 16, and sees this as her chance to finally explore the world beyond.





Kirsty Rider (Sandman) voices Lune, the chief researcher of the Expedition. Lune is intensely driven in her quest to defeat the Paintress and complete the work of her parents. She feels keenly the weight of responsibility and the gravity of the stakes involved.


Shala Nyx (The Old Guard) voices Sciel, a calm and cheerful warrior unfazed by the obstacles ahead. Overcoming her past has allowed her to accept the odds against them. They will do all in their power, and it will either be enough or it won’t.


In our latest trailer, we introduce two new characters.


Many of you astutely identified the voice of our beloved Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI), who plays Verso, a dangerous stranger tracking the Expedition’s every move.





We asked Ben how he’d describe Verso, and he said, “lost, lonely, and dangerous,” and that he expects players to feel “every emotion imaginable” as they get to know his character.


Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, Black Panther) plays the role of Renoir, a man relentlessly driven to save his family. He knows that victory demands sacrifice, and he’s ready to pay the price.


We also have the wonderful Rich Keeble and Maxence Cazorla playing two of our favorite characters. We’ll share more about them soon.


Developing the characters was a multi-part process, which included charting a detailed history of Lumière and each character’s family history and thinking through how prior generations responded to the Paintress. These factors all played a role in who each character is and what they are trying to overcome.


In many ways, the process of writing is the ultimate RPG. It’s an extended thought experiment where we place our characters, with their backstories, in these particular situations, and step into their shoes. What do they do? How do they feel? How have their past experiences shaped them, and how does that influence their choices today?


Cast and characters aren’t the only new elements in this trailer. Attentive fans may have recognized new locations, alongside new enemies. Golgra and The Tisseur are two fearsome adversaries who will test your reflexes in our reactive turn-based combat.




We’ve also highlighted more traversal elements within the game. The pictos-powered grapple allows members of the Expedition to summit heights and clear gaps, increasing the speed at which you can explore the world.




Developing the world, the story, and the characters has been deeply satisfying (and fun and engrossing and maddening). We are proud and excited to share the game with everyone when it releases in Spring 2025.


We hope you enjoyed today’s reveals! Stay tuned for more information about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. We have a great deal more to show you, including elements about the world, the gameplay, other characters, and sneak peek Behind the Scenes.

 
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balls of snow

Gold Member
That looks incredible. Early 2025 is stacked bois.
My main worry is I hope its a fully fledged 30 hour + rpg and not a proof of concept game that needs a sequel to realised its potential.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Genuinely (and pleasantly) surprised that a relatively small developer like them managed to get such an impressive cast. Hats off to them!
 

Tajaz2426

Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
Looks good. Are the folks in the title famous voice actors they are paying? I know the one guy that does Snake, I’m pretty sure he is in a lot, but I don’t know these names.
 
Niiiice!

The game already looks fantastic from the get-go, and the icing on the cake is top-notch voice actors like Ben Starr being involved in the cast! It's already looking to be a Day 1 purchase, assuming everything plays out perfectly.
 
It's always looked good, but it seems clear to me it's a AA game. I think some people are blowing this up in their minds like it's going to be the second coming, but it's likely just going to be a fun game.
Even though it's a double-AA game, the graphics still look fantastic compared to some triple-AAA games. The graphics, characters, and voice cast already match them in production quality.
 

Fbh

Gold Member
Still looks fantastic.
My only worry is that it might end up being similar to FFXIII in structure, as in most of the game consisting of walking through linear (but nice looking) environments and occasionally fighting enemies.
I hope there is some decent exploration and side quests.

This is one of the reasons why the budget for games have ballooned.

I get your point but these don't seem like super expensive actors.
Andy Serkis is probably the most famous one and he still often appear in mid sized productions (like recently in Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate).

It's not like they got Margot Robbie and Matt Damon or something.
 

Fbh

Gold Member
What's with this AI generated game names?

'Unknown 9: Awakening'
'The Clair Obscur: Expedition 33'

Well hey if you are making a game that's clearly inspired by JRPG's I guess it makes sense to have some silly name.
At least it's not called "Various Daylife" or "Infinite Undiscovery".

But yeah just "Expedition 33" would have been a much better title.

Is Ben Starr the new ubiquitous voice actor used in every other game?

According to IMDB he doesn't have any gaming credits since FFXVI, and the only upcoming games he is in are this and some upcoming Warframe expansion
 
Well hey if you are making a game that's clearly inspired by JRPG's I guess it makes sense to have some silly name.
At least it's not called "Various Daylife" or "Infinite Undiscovery".

But yeah just "Expedition 33" would have been a much better title.



According to IMDB he doesn't have any gaming credits since FFXVI, and the only upcoming games he is in are this and some upcoming Warframe expansion
You also forgot The First Berserker: Khazan.

And hey, every famous voice actor has to start from scratch.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Looks good. Are the folks in the title famous voice actors they are paying? I know the one guy that does Snake, I’m pretty sure he is in a lot, but I don’t know these names.
Andy Serkis really blew up for his role as Gollum.

 

fallingdove

Member
Hmm — less impressed by this trailer than previous ones. The characters look very samey. Three guys with the same body type and only slight facial variations, three girls with the same body type and only slight facial variations.

I also don’t need well known actors voicing the characters. It’s a waste of money.

Crossing my fingers that this is good, the non-character related stuff looks top notch and very different than the games we typically get.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Getting a little concerned when celebs make their way into a game I'm anticipating, but still hyped for now.

You shouldn't be worried. The celebs won't be the reason the game is bad (if it's bad).
 

Pejo

Member
You shouldn't be worried. The celebs won't be the reason the game is bad (if it's bad).
I didn't mean the celebs themselves are the problem, it's just a sign that they're focusing money/time/effort on things that don't generally matter for my enjoyment of the game. I have no preference if it's Gollum vs. some other professional (or even skilled amateur) voice actor I am unfamiliar with, as long as the acting and line delivery is serviceable. I'd rather the game be relatively bug free with a few extra rounds of QA for that $$. That's kinda what I was getting at.
 
I've always wondered why game devs hire people like this. It can't be cheap, why not just hire some lower level actor that doesn't cost as much? Maybe it's cheaper than I think and the price difference isn't much but I don't know Charlie Cox can't be cheap to get.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I've always wondered why game devs hire people like this. It can't be cheap, why not just hire some lower level actor that doesn't cost as much? Maybe it's cheaper than I think and the price difference isn't much but I don't know Charlie Cox can't be cheap to get.

The experience of the actor matters. Plus I'm assuming these companies are thinking the names of the actors is good for marketing the game in general.
 

Tajaz2426

Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
Andy Serkis really blew up for his role as Gollum.

I thought that name sounded familiar, brother. I never watched Harry Potter, but my wife and kids love the books and movies. Good stuff

Edit: Damn it I talked to my wife about gollum in Harry Potter, it is not part of that universe.

Very sorry folks, don’t worry I will write myself a strongly worded letter and get that fucker straightened up.
 
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The experience of the actor matters. Plus I'm assuming these companies are thinking the names of the actors is good for marketing the game in general.

Does it though? Troy Baker did great as Joel and he wasn't a well known actor. I'm not saying it doesn't matter at all I just think lower level actors who haven't quite hit it big could do just as good of a job or close enough to get the job done. Mark Meer as commander shepherd and pretty much everyone in that game I thought was great. BG3 I don't think had big actors either but I could be wrong on that one and everyone in that game was great.

I agree the marketing does help but I wonder if the cost is worth it. I would need to know the price difference I guess.
 

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
"VERY EXCITTEEE!!!!!"

Gameplay/combat looks super slick for a turn baser, and its UI/UX design remind me of a gritty/dark horror take on Atlus's industry leading style.
 

Lambogenie

Member
Looks great.

Already fed up with Ben Starr and he's been in what, 2 games? Something about him is annoying and how he's everywhere.
 

rkofan87

Gold Member
Does it though? Troy Baker did great as Joel and he wasn't a well known actor. I'm not saying it doesn't matter at all I just think lower level actors who haven't quite hit it big could do just as good of a job or close enough to get the job done. Mark Meer as commander shepherd and pretty much everyone in that game I thought was great. BG3 I don't think had big actors either but I could be wrong on that one and everyone in that game was great.

I agree the marketing does help but I wonder if the cost is worth it. I would need to know the price difference I guess.
troy had a lot of roles before joel.
 
troy had a lot of roles before joel.

Sure and I think game companies should hire more people along the same lines as the work he did. He was doing a bunch of anime and video games stuff. He wasn't the lead in his own Netflix show that went multiple seasons and now having his own Marvel show/movie being made. There's an in between there and I just wonder if a lot of money could be saved going for more of a Troy Baker instead of a Charlie Cox.

Now if it doesn't cost that much more to get Charlie Cox then of course they should do that instead.
 
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mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Sure and I think game companies should hire more people along the same lines as the work he did. He was doing a bunch of anime and video games stuff. He wasn't the lead in his own Netflix show that went multiple seasons and now having his own Marvel show/movie being made. There's an in between there and I just wonder if a lot of money could be saved going for more of a Troy Baker instead of a Charlie Cox.

Now if it doesn't cost that much more to get Charlie Cox then of course they should do that instead.

The bolded is the point. If you can get Cox for +20% more, then there's no issue just get him instead. Especially if he did a great job in rehearsals. I wonder if some actors find work in video games to be easy money so why not get an easy $500k
 

Metnut

Member
Give me a 20-30 hour intense experience with a great story and maybe 3-4 hubs and make the dungeons/traversal more than corridors. No need to bloat this.
 

nikos

Member
Saw this on my YouTube homepage and thought that was Clive from FFXVI for a second.

Game looks great so far.
 

DelireMan7

Member
Game still looks fantastic to me.

Not a big fan of the bug damage number but it's a minor problem.

So far I like the voices. Don't care who is voicing the character.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member



  • Charlie Cox (Daredevil: Born Again, Stardust) as Gustave, a resourceful and dedicated engineer who devotes his final year of life to defeating the Paintress and reclaiming a future for Lumiere’s children.
  • Jennifer English (Baldur’s Gate III, Elden Ring) as Maelle, a shy loner who sees the Expedition as her chance to explore the world beyond Lumiere and forge her own destiny.
  • Kirsty Rider (The Sandman, Sifu) as Lune, a passionate scholar and mage intent on unravelling the mystery of the Paintress, and entrusted with charting a path forward for the Expedition.
  • Shala Nyx (The Old Guard, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty) as Sciel, a cheerful and serene warrior. Having long accepted the brutality of the world, Sciel is untroubled by the spectre of failure and deeply committed to the Expedition’s cause.
  • Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, Black Panther) as Renoir, a forceful and passionate man, Renoir knows that victory demands sacrifice, and he is fully prepared to pay the price.
  • Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI, Warframe: 1999) as Verso, a dangerous stranger, Verso is an outsider of unknown origins who closely tracks the Expedition.
  • Also starring Rich Keeble (Good Omens), Devora Wilde (Baldur’s Gate III), Tracy Wiles (Baldur’s Gate III), and Maxence Cazorla (Ineffable) in unannounced roles.

Turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store in spring 2025, publisher Kepler Interactive and developer Sandfall Interactive announced. It will also be available via Xbox Game Pass.
 
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