Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 creative director Guillaume Broche has assured fans it’s not only all of you arguing about the game’s endings – the team argued about it, too.
This article contains story spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s endings.
Those of you who have reached the end of Expedition 33 will already know that it comes down to a conflict where Maelle and Verso want to save or erase the painted world for their own reasons. Maelle’s ending is happy in the sense that everyone survives, Gustave is back, and Maelle doesn’t need to deal with the poor quality of life she struggles with in the real world.
But, there’s an air of unease about it, and it carries some horrific implications for Maelle’s future. Meanwhile, Verso’s ending is more outwardly sad in the sense that everyone is erased, but Maelle lives her life as Alicia and presumably comes to terms with things.
As both endings are pretty bleak, fans have argued about which is the “good” ending. Maelle and Verso’s actors both agree on liking Maelle’s the best (although in Verso actor Ben Starr’s case, it’s “because I really like my acting in it”), and even the developers have been part of the discourse, with Broche being no exception.
Speaking to GameSpot, the lead is asked if there is one true or “good” ending to the game, to which he reveals, “That’s something we’ve had a lot of arguments about in the team too!”
Broche explains, “I think your reaction to the endings, and which one is the ‘good’ ending, is super subjective and related to your own personal experiences in real life.” He gives props to lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen and “our amazing mocap and voice actors” for how impactful the finales are, adding, “sometimes there is no clear ‘good’ or ‘bad’ choice in life that everyone will be happy with, and living within the gray, and those complex choices, are what make us real people.”
And, in a diplomatic move, Broche adds, “Ultimately, what matters is your own interpretation of the ending and of the story.”
