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A joint fan event was recently held for Clair Obscur Expedition 33 and the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, of which director Naoki Hamaguchi attended and left “deeply inspired” by Expedition 33 director, Guillaume Broche.
As revealed by the official Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Instagram account, the joint fan event was in Paris. To honor both games, Square Enix and Sandfall Interactive collaborated on some neat artwork. Sandfall Interactive paid respect to Final Fantasy with Art Director, Nicholas Maxson-Francombe, putting his spin on Cloud and Aerith, meanwhile, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Creative Director, Tetsuya Nomura, created his version of Maelle and Verso.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth director, Naoki Hamaguchi, also posted about the fan event on X. Hamaguchi was glad that “Fans from both worlds came together and shared an inspiring moment,” and he also revealed that he “had the chance to talk with my friend Guillaume — one of the most exciting creators this year — and left deeply inspired” as well as “grateful for this amazing opportunity”.
It’s great to see the respect between Final Fantasy and Clair Obscur Expedition 33. Square Enix already acknowledged Expedition 33’s success earlier this year, and Naoki Hamaguchi has said that Expedition 33 is his personal game of the year. In addition to Hamaguchi, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has revealed that he expects Expedition 33 to win Game of the Year, too.
On the flipside, Sandfall Interactive haven’t shied away from Final Fantasy being one of their biggest inspirations. They seem to be following in Final Fantasy’s footsteps even further by continuing the Clair Obscur franchise with their next game already in very early development. However, it seemingly won’t be a direct sequel as Expedition 33 is just one of the stories Sandfall want to tell in the Clair Obscur universe, suggesting each installment will be independent just like the majority of mainline Final Fantasy games.
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