Sandfall’s Future After Clair Obscur: Beyond RPG Boundaries

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has rapidly become one of the most talked-about modern RPGs, praised for its striking art direction, turn-based combat, and bold storytelling. Yet the studio behind it, Sandfall Interactive, is already looking beyond the genre that brought it widespread acclaim. Rather than committing to a formula, the team is openly considering a future where its next project may not be an RPG at all.

This forward-looking stance says as much about the changing culture of game development as it does about the success of Clair Obscur itself. As expectations around high-profile games shift and genre definitions blur, Sandfall’s desire to stay agile and unconstrained offers a revealing case study in how modern studios think about their long-term identity.

From Breakout RPG Hit to Open-Ended Future

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has positioned Sandfall Interactive as a studio with serious artistic ambition. Its blend of painterly visuals, tactical turn-based systems, and emotional narrative resonated with players who wanted something distinct from the usual blockbuster action formula. Commercially and critically, it has performed strongly, joining a growing wave of story-driven RPGs that sit comfortably alongside both indie darlings and mainstream releases.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that the studio should now double down on that success: build a sequel, spin off expansions, and brand itself as a dedicated RPG house. Instead, Sandfall’s leadership has signaled a different path. They acknowledge the success of Clair Obscur but are reluctant to be boxed in by it, emphasizing that their creative priorities lie in making games that feel authentic, rather than repeating a winning template.

Why Not Just Make Clair Obscur 2 Immediately?

Many studios do pivot quickly to sequels after a hit, and for understandable reasons: sequels can leverage existing tech, art pipelines, and a built-in fan base. However, there are notable drawbacks:

• Creative burnout: Working in the same universe or design space for years can drain a team’s enthusiasm.
• Player fatigue: Over-reliance on a single formula risks turning a fresh idea into a predictable franchise.
• Typecasting: A studio that only ships one type of game may struggle to be taken seriously when trying something new later.

By publicly entertaining a non-RPG future project, Sandfall is effectively signaling that longevity matters more than chasing immediate sequel momentum.

The Philosophy: Authenticity Over Genre Labels

Central to Sandfall’s messaging about its next game is a commitment to authenticity. The studio has expressed that it does not want to be restricted by genre labels, art styles, or specific mechanical systems. In practice, that means the team is prioritizing projects that the developers themselves are genuinely excited to make, even if that leads them away from turn-based RPGs entirely.

What “Not Being Constrained” Actually Means

When a studio says it doesn’t want to be constrained by genre, that can sound vague. In a practical sense, it touches several aspects of development:

• Story: Freedom to tell intimate, small-scale narratives, or sweeping epics, without worrying whether they fit expected RPG tropes.
• Art style: Ability to shift from painterly and surreal visuals to stylized, minimalist, or even hyper-real aesthetics if a project demands it.
• Gameplay: Opportunity to explore different structures such as action-driven gameplay, narrative adventures, or even experimental formats that don’t fit neatly into existing labels.
• Scope: Option to make more compact experiences rather than always aiming for large, 60-hour epic adventures.

This focus on flexibility aligns with broader trends in creative industries. Research into creative teams suggests that autonomy and the ability to pursue intrinsically motivating work are strongly correlated with quality and innovation in output, especially in fields like software and media production where knowledge work and iteration are central.¹

Small, Agile, and Intentional: Sandfall’s Studio Identity

Alongside genre independence, Sandfall also appears committed to remaining relatively small and agile. Rather than scaling up dramatically on the back of Clair Obscur’s success, the studio has indicated a preference for retaining a more intimate, art-house ethos.

Advantages of Staying Compact

Mid-sized and small studios often highlight similar benefits to staying lean:

• Faster decision-making: Fewer layers of hierarchy mean creative decisions can be made quickly, avoiding the bureaucratic slowdown that can plague large projects.
• Stronger team cohesion: Smaller teams make it easier for everyone to understand the project as a whole, increasing shared ownership and clarity.
• Reduced overhead: Lower fixed costs can make it easier to take creative risks without needing to justify huge, blockbuster-level sales targets.

Observations from industry analyses of game development often note that major AAA studios struggle with crunch, communication breakdown, and risk aversion, problems that smaller teams can sometimes mitigate by design.²

What Could Sandfall’s Next Game Look Like?

While there is no confirmed information on what Sandfall is building next, the studio’s public comments and Clair Obscur’s strengths allow for some educated speculation. Rather than predicting a specific title, it’s useful to think in terms of design directions the team is now free to explore.

Possible Directions Beyond Turn-Based RPGs

Sandfall’s next game could plausibly fall into several broad categories:

• Narrative-focused adventure: A game that emphasizes story, choice, and atmosphere, possibly with lighter mechanics, similar in spirit to narrative-driven titles that prioritize emotional impact over complex systems.
• Action-forward experience: A game that carries over Clair Obscur’s world-building and visual ambition but swaps turn-based combat for real-time action or hybrid systems.
• Experimental or genre-blending project: Something that does not fit cleanly into established labels, mixing strategy, simulation, or narrative elements in unexpected ways.

Because the studio has highlighted authenticity as a guiding principle, it is likely that any future projects will still share certain qualities: strong artistic identity, considered design, and a focus on mood and narrative, even if the mechanics change dramatically.

Maintaining a Throughline of Identity

Studio identity does not always hinge on genre. For example, some developers are known primarily for their approach to world-building or narrative tone rather than the specific mechanics they employ. Academic work on game authorship and creative identity often emphasizes that “authorial voice” in games can manifest through aesthetics, themes, or recurring design motifs, even when genres differ from project to project.³

For Sandfall, that throughline might include:

• Visually distinctive, art-driven worlds
• Emphasis on emotional storytelling and character drama
• Thoughtful, handcrafted mechanics tuned to the story being told

In this way, a non-RPG game can still feel like a spiritual sibling to Clair Obscur, even if its moment-to-moment gameplay is completely different.

Player Expectations, Pressure, and Creative Freedom

One challenge for a breakout studio is navigating the expectations that success brings. Players who fell in love with Clair Obscur’s combat may want more of the same. Others may be more interested in the art style or narrative tone. Balancing those preferences while avoiding self-imposed creative limits is not easy.

Managing the Weight of Success

Industry interviews and postmortems frequently highlight how pressure from fans, publishers, and internal stakeholders can push teams toward safe choices, such as sequels or formulaic follow-ups.⁴ Sandfall’s public stance suggests a deliberate attempt to resist this gravitational pull.

Some ways studios manage these tensions include:

• Transparent communication: Being upfront with the community about goals and constraints helps align expectations.
• Clear internal vision: Teams that articulate a strong creative mission can evaluate potential projects against that mission rather than market trends alone.
• Long-term planning: Considering a multi-project roadmap can make it easier to justify doing something different now, with the option to return to familiar ground later.

What Sandfall’s Approach Means for the RPG Landscape

RPGs remain one of the most diverse and vibrant genres in gaming, spanning everything from open-world blockbusters to small, systems-heavy indies. When a studio that has just delivered a high-profile RPG indicates it is not locking itself into the genre, it raises interesting questions about how flexible the RPG label itself has become.

RPG Elements Everywhere

Modern games often incorporate RPG elements—progression systems, skill trees, branching dialogue—without being marketed as RPGs. Analyses of market trends from groups like the Entertainment Software Association and major industry researchers have pointed out the growing prevalence of these mechanics across genres, from shooters to sports games.⁵

Even if Sandfall’s next game is not formally an RPG, it may still draw on the studio’s experience with character development, player choice, or strategic decision-making in ways that blur category boundaries.

How Fans Can Interpret Sandfall’s Next Steps

For players who loved Clair Obscur, the idea that the next game might not be an RPG can be both exciting and unsettling. It is worth unpacking what this means in practical terms.

What Players Should—and Shouldn’t—Expect

Based on what the studio has emphasized so far, fans can reasonably expect:

• Another project driven by strong artistic intent rather than purely commercial considerations.
• A willingness to experiment and refine new ideas instead of repeating old ones.
• A continued focus on crafted experiences rather than purely systems-first design.

What they should not assume is a direct mechanical or structural continuation of Clair Obscur’s combat, progression, or even tone. Sandfall has made it clear that it wants the freedom to move in a different direction if that is where the team’s passion lies.

FAQ: Sandfall, Clair Obscur, and the Studio’s Next Game

Will Sandfall’s next game definitely not be an RPG?

No. The studio has not ruled out making another RPG. What they have emphasized is that they do not want to feel obligated to make one. If the best idea the team has happens to be an RPG, they are likely to follow it; if not, they are open to exploring other genres.

Does this mean there will never be a sequel to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

There is no definitive answer yet. The success of Clair Obscur makes a sequel or related project plausible in the long term, but the studio’s current messaging suggests that it does not want to commit its entire future to a single universe or format.

Will Sandfall’s next game reuse Clair Obscur’s art style?

Not necessarily. The team has explicitly noted that it does not want to be bound by any one art style. Future projects could adopt a different visual language if that better serves the tone and mechanics of the new game.

Is Sandfall planning to grow into a large AAA studio?

Available comments from the studio suggest a preference for remaining relatively small and agile. While some growth is likely as projects change, Sandfall appears more interested in staying nimble and creatively focused than in turning into a giant multi-team publisher-style operation.

What should fans focus on while waiting for the next announcement?

Fans interested in Sandfall’s future can reasonably focus on the studio’s core values: authenticity, artistic ambition, and a willingness to take creative risks. Those priorities are likely to shape whatever the team builds next, regardless of genre labels.