Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Sandfall Interactive is already a front-runner for Game of the Year. The French JRPG has been credited for revolutionizing turn-based gameplay through robust character abilities and an emphasis on parries and dodges, and has garnered immense praise for its unique world, creature design, and story, which is centered around the mysterious Dessendre family. The game is also known for its stellar cast of characters, whose rich backstories and complex personalities make them undeniably compelling protagonists.

But the real hero of the game may well be Lorien Testard, the French composer who dedicated the last five years of his life to writing over 8 hours of music for the game. ScreenRant’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review called the music “epic” and “inspiring”, but that barely speaks to the amount of work Testard put into his score. The composer wrote songs sung in three languages (working with vocalist Alice Duport-Percier), wrote location-themed pieces for the game’s diverse locales, and explored genres as dichotomous as hard rock and French accordion music.

ScreenRant spoke with Lorien Testard about the work he put into the score of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to celebrate the digital release of the soundtrack via Laced Records. Testard discussed his songwriting process, shared insights into how he connected characters to locales, and hyped up his collaborators including vocalist Alice Duport-Percier. Testard also shared his hopes for the future of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s music, although he was mum about potential DLC or sequels.

Note: Portions of this interview have been edited for clarity.

Lorien Testard Didn’t Set Out To Write 7+ Hours Of Music

“I Wasn’t Thinking About The Hours”

Loiren Testard’s work for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is expansive to say the least, but the amount of music he’d end up writing wasn’t on the composer’s mind when he set out to tackle his first-ever video game. “It’s more the result than the [goal of the] initial process,” Testard said.

Testard started early in development–“I had the script of the game really early, and the whole universe in front of me”–and planned out, in broad strokes, what he wanted to achieve. That included “A custom boss theme for each boss in the game, custom battle tracks, and different environment themes for each area,” all with the goal to have the player “not feel the music becoming repetitive,” and instead, “feel like the world is alive.”

“During the five years, I created the songs one by one and we saw the result at the end. But I wasn’t thinking about the hours before.”

Testard Details His First Steps Into Expedition 33

From Character Themes To Flying Waters

Testard may have written music for bosses and battles galore, but he began with characters. “I started really early with the character themes,” he said, “They’re really important for the soul of the game.” As he did that, he also began crafting the sound of Expedition 33’s many locations.

“We think of the game by area,” Testard revealed, “They gave me Flying Waters at the start of the development process, so it was my first landscape. I created the Goblu tracks and the environment for Flying Waters, and in the meantime, I was writing character themes [for] the next part.”

Gustave’s Fate Was Always Written

But His Theme Was Composed Late In The Game

There was one big exception to Testard’s approach of writing character themes early on. “‘Gustave’ was the second-to-last song to be composed,” the composer shared. “At the start of the game, I used ‘Lumière’ for Gustave’s theme, and after four and a half years on the game, I wrote the Gustave theme, and we put it in the game at the end. So, it was a last-year piece from us.”

Those who have played the game know that Gustave is one of its most tragic characters, dying permanently at the end of the first act. According to the composer, that was always the plan: “I knew from the start that Gustave would be dying in the game.” The importance of that moment was part of the reason his music took so long to make, Testard said, sharing, “The musical theme for Gustave came really late in production, because I think I needed the time to find the right melody.”

To add more heartbreak on top of the loss of Gustave, Testard found the theme for the character while working on a sequence where his absence might be felt the most. “The Gustave theme came from the end of the game. The player is coming back to Lumière for the end of the game, but without Gustave. So, I wrote a song, and it became the Gustave theme, and I put it in the early game.”

“I really needed [players] to feel the missing part of the expedition when [they] came back to Lumière.”

The Reason Behind The Most Unique Element Of Expedition 33’s Music

Testard Wanted To Have “Voice And Lyrics Tell The Story”

Testard didn’t just write hours of score for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. He wrote fully fleshed-out songs with lyrics in English, French, and a fictional language invented just for the game. On this unconventional aspect of the score, he collaborated with vocalist and composer Alice Duport-Percier to add what he described as “so much emotion and soul” to the soundtrack.

“It was really important for me to have her voice and lyrics tell the story and create a full journey for the players.”

The composer credited Duport-Percier as “the vocalist composer of the game,” but shared that he wrote the lyrics–including the ones in a made-up language. But when asked for clues about the meaning of those tracks, Testard was tight-lipped. “I don’t want to [say] too much on the invented lyrics,” he said, adding, “I see really cool theories from players. I really like it, and I don’t want to give the solution.”

“It’s way funner if the players talk about it and find their own answer.”

The Goofy Side Of Expedition 33, Explained

Gestrals & Mimes Provided Much-Appreciated Comic Relief

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a heavy game, but it’s not without its lighter moments. This is thanks in large part to the wily creatures known as Gestrals, as well as its hidden mime antagonists and treasure-hoarding Petanks. For the Gestrals, Testard said he was “trying to compose music like a goofy, fighting child. I was immersing myself into the Gestral characters, and I asked myself, ‘If they created their music, what would their music be?’”

“The whole game is pretty heavy on the nostalgia and the melancholy, so it’s really good to have relief with the Gestrals, and some really comic stuff that’s coming [out of] nowhere.”

Testard also shared his approach behind the mime and Petank music, titled “In Lumière’s Name”, which is a catchy, jaunty, accordion-led piece that underscores certain fights to memorable effect. In most cases, those fights lead to players winning “Baguette” outfits for the characters, so Testard chose to create “A really French song.” Naturally, “I had to put accordion on it,” the composer said, adding, “I tried to do a funny song, but also uplifting to help [with] the fights [against the] mimes.”

Expedition 33’s Music Makes Your Second Playthrough Even Richer

“There’s Plenty Of Stuff That Hasn’t Been Discovered Yet”

There is an impressive amount of endgame content in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but once that’s done, players also have the option of embarking on a New Game Plus mode in which their levels and stats remain intact. When beginning a new journey through the story, though, be sure to keep ears open for musical Easter eggs and foreshadowing, as Testard revealed there is much to be discovered.

“There are a lot of secrets in the music, the leitmotifs, and the melodies.”

“I don’t [want to say] too many things,” Testard said, “But if you restart carefully, you can really hear a Dessendre family theme at a key moment right at the start of the game. Some players [have noticed] that, but, for example, the first song of the Gommage is a key theme of a character’s, and it’s [there for a reason.] But there’s plenty of stuff that hasn’t been discovered yet.”

“[It’s an] invisible way of telling the story of the Dessendre family.”

Lorien Testard Weighs In On The Game’s Endings

“I Gave All My Soul On One Ending, And All My Soul On The Other Ending”

There are two distinct endings in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 based on a choice the player must make. One ending centers on Verso, while the other is about Maelle. When asked if one ending was considered to be canon by Sandfall, Testard said, “I don’t have the answer to that … [but] from the musical point of view … I gave all my soul on one ending, and all my soul on the other ending.”

“For Verso, it was the song ‘Aux Lendemains non Écrits’,” Testard said. (That title, in English, is “To the Unwritten Tomorrows”) The composer shared that he has a real connection with that song’s lyrics: “‘I enjoy the lyrics of this song. It really resonates a lot with me … I wanted to share [them] with the player at this special moment.’”

One helpful Redditor translated the lyrics into English:
Mirror of Time, our stories align
In the palm of ours hands, two worlds emerge
One painted as a dream, where grief fades
The other naked and real, where our mourning takes place

To unwritten tomorrows
Under the stars where everything begins, nothing ends
In the embrace of Fate, bonds remain eternal by design

Blank canvas, distant horizons
Let’s paint together tomorrow’s colors
In chiaroscuro, infinite artworks
Each step traces the path of a life

To unwritten tomorrows
Under the stars where everything begins, nothing ends
In the embrace of Fate, bonds remain eternal by design
Testard continued to explain his approach to Maelle’s ending. “For the other ending, it’s the song ‘Maelle’, so it’s really meaningful. We start the game with ‘Alicia’, and we end it with ‘Maelle’. If you listen carefully, ‘Maelle’ is like ‘Alicia’, but in French.”

“It was the ending gift. The way I wanted to finish the game, musically, was to have the main theme from the start at the end, but with some secrets in it.”

What’s The Future Of Expedition 33’s Music?

“I Have A Special Plan”

Despite Laced Records’ release of the mammoth Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack, there are a number of pieces of music that haven’t found their way to streaming services yet, most notably the music that plays while gamers explore the Dessendre Manor. “[For] the manor songs like ‘Our Painted Family’, I have a special plan,” Testard shared, continuing, “I will do something with all the manor songs. It was my intention from the start.” Testard isn’t quite sure when that will happen–“I need time to do this,” he said–but he was confident that “we will have something.”

As for the other unreleased songs, Testard said that “It [was] hard to choose tracks, because I really wanted the soundtrack to feel like an album. It’s a really long album–it’s eight hours and nine minutes–so if I put each version of [every] track, it would be really long, and I feel like the listening would be less impactful.”

Testard also shared that he is “working really hard on the vinyl and CD of the game … to have a really cool physical release of the soundtrack.” although he admitted “it takes me a lot of time.” For those who want to hear Expedition 33’s most epic pieces in person, though, you may be in luck, as the composer said, “We really dream and want to create a concert of Expedition 33. We’re [only] at the start, but we’re working really hard on it too.”

But beyond continuing to support his soundtrack for Expedition 33, Testard isn’t sure what the future holds. “We will see. I don’t really know. I need to take some rest, to let my mind be free and not think too much about creating for the moment. I need to regenerate a bit and live a bit.” Take a listen to the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 soundtrack in full, and you won’t blame him.