WithClair Obscur: Expedition 33’s massive success since launch, players are already eager for more content, especially a full DLC. While the creative director and CEO, Guillaume Broche, has made it clear that the team at Sandfall Interactive have had plans for DLC since before the game even released, their priorities have shifted a bit due to its success.
Clair Obscurhas proven to be the mostsurprising game of the yearso far, offering hours of high-quality entertainment with its enthralling stories, characters, combat, and world. Because of this, developers have made it a priority to fine-tune the base game as much as possible before releasing additional content.For a small team like Sandfall, resources are somewhat limitedand, as such, priorities have to shift based on the most pressing needs for the game, which is understandable. Still, fans are champing at the bit for any details on an official announcement aboutClair Obscur’sfuture plans for a DLC.
Clair Obscur DLC Has Been A Plan “From The Beginning”
Clair Obscur DLC Is Almost Certainly Going To Happen… Eventually
Creative director and the main visionary behindClair Obscur, Guillaume Broche, said in an interview withDenfaminicogamerthat the team"had plans to release DLC from the beginning. However, we have received a much greater response than we expected, so we need to reconsider what to do next.“This statement is pretty revealing in the sense that it more or less confirms that a DLC will happen at some point, even if it’s unclear exactly when this will happen.
“It’s a promising sign that the team understands its priorities and primarily wants to deliver the best product they can before moving on to the next one.”
My read on this is that they expected to be able to focus on developing DLC immediately after the initial launch. However, due to the sheer number of players and the game’s incredible reception, they realized how important it is to ensure the core product is in a pristine state before launching additional content and giving themselves even more work than they already have. It’s a promising sign that the team understands its priorities and primarilywants to deliver the best product they canbefore moving on to the next one.
It’s worth noting thatBroche later dismissed rumors of new DLC content coming anytime soon, which stemmed from a social media post that was taken out of context, as reported byThe Washington Post.The focus right now certainly seems to be on making sure the base game is in a near-perfect state before the team can shift gears to additional content.
Cut Content From Clair Obscur Is Further Proof A DLC Is Almost Guaranteed
Fans Have Found Cut Content & Even Discovered Unused Areas In The Base Game
Arguably a better reason to expect DLC fromClair Obscuristhe amount of cut content from the base game, which fans have datamined and picked apart to discover some rather interesting tidbits. In particular, there appear to be quest items such asthe mysterious Excalibur weaponin the Gestral Bazaar (aka the Wooden Stick) that were once part of an actual quest, or even unique enemies that didn’t end up making it into the base game.
There are also a few areas in the game that seem to have been cut, such as theentirely unused area in Dark Shoresthat can be accessed by a jump glitch. RedditorOgmasenseiwas able to enter a portal to “nowhere” in the Dark Shores region that presumably was meant to be part of something bigger at one point. Cut content doesn’t equate to DLC, obviously, but it is a sign that there’s much more depth and manymore secrets to come inClair Obscurthan what we have in front of us right now.
Clair Obscur Has A Perfect Narrative Opportunity For DLC
Clair Obscur’s Meta-Narrative Is Prime For Expansion
Aside from all of the above, it’s hard to imagine there won’t be some form of expansion on the meta-narrative at work inClair Obscur, i.e., the war between the Painters and the Writers that is happening outside the Canvas. Whether that comes in the form of a sequel or if they choose to expand on this aspect of the story through a DLC, it’s the perfect opportunity forClair Obscurtobuild upon their beloved universe and give fans further contextfor what’s going on in the larger story.
The war between the Writers and Painters is left relatively ambiguous by the ending ofClair Obscur, yet it is easily the most significant detail in the game. It’s purely speculative on my part, but I can’t imagine a DLC or sequel toClair Obscurthat doesn’t expand on this war at some level. Regardless,it’s one of the most interesting aspects of the narrative for most fans, myself included, and it’s ripe for development. Providing a wider context for this war will expand the universe ofClair Obscurin a really meaningful and exciting way.
No Clair Obscur DLC Would Be A Massive Missed Opportunity
DLC Can Deliver On Some In-Game Promises
There are also specific in-game locations that seem to be set up for future DLC, in particular the Endless Tower. This area has glowing red gates that, in their current form, do absolutely nothing, yet it’s heavily implied you are going to be able to interact with them at some point.Completing the Endless Towerdoesn’t unlock these gates, and the notion of the tower being “Endless"implies that a DLC will allow us to actually continue up the tower.If this isn’t cut content or meant to be used for DLC, it’s kind of a misleading and underwhelming location.
You can use the Endless Tower to unlock almost all of Monoco’s skills, just make sure he’s in your active party during each fight.
Overall, I find it highly unlikely that aClair ObscurDLC won’t end up getting released at some point. There are so many opportunities for expansion and elaboration in this incredible world, and to think that we won’t get anything at all seems absurd. Because of this game’s meteoric success, any additional content that Sandfall puts out will immediately be eaten up by players. The good news is that thedevelopers seem to care about the quality of their product above all, and they aren’t in a rush to move on to DLC until the base game is nearly flawless.
Whether we see a DLC in the near future remains to be officially confirmed, but it looks likely we’ll see an official announcement at some point in the game’s future. Perhaps it’s because players fall in love with this game so quickly and completing the game itself takes such a short time (relatively speaking) that DLC is all they can think about, but it’s important to remember thatClair Obscur: Expedition 33has only been out for a little over a month, and a DLC might require a bit of patience.
