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Shuhei Yoshida Warned Against Calling Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a Turn-Based RPG

The former PlayStation indie chief feared the genre label could turn players away before they discovered Sandfall Interactive's combat system.

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Characters battle amid glowing effects in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — (Image credit: Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)

Shuhei Yoshida once advised Kepler Interactive and Sandfall Interactive not to market Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as a turn-based RPG. While the former PlayStation indie division lead admired the game during development, he worried that the genre label could cause players to skip it.

Yoshida revisited the advice during a lecture at the Busan Indie Connect Festival 2026. His comments were reported by 4Gamer and covered in English by Automaton.

During the session, Yoshida discussed how developers present games to publishers. When asked whether publishers care about trends, he explained that the answer can depend on when a publisher joins development: a company involved near completion may watch current trends more closely, while an early partner may be less concerned because those trends could fade before launch.

Yoshida said he played a demo of Expedition 33 at the Game Developers Conference roughly two years before its 2025 release and immediately saw how carefully its combat blended classic turn-based RPG systems with real-time inputs. Even so, he felt many players viewed turn-based JRPGs as “old-fashioned” and that the market was not especially welcoming to new turn-based games at the time.

Why Yoshida questioned the genre label

Baldur’s Gate 3 had reminded a broad audience how much fun turn-based combat could be when it launched in 2023, but Yoshida still felt that many games in the genre were being overlooked. Action-focused releases such as Lies of P also suggested that players were gravitating toward harsher, more immediate combat.

Yoshida’s hesitation was not about the quality of Sandfall’s work. He praised the way Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 combined turn-based decisions with action inputs inspired by The Legend of Dragoon, the 1999 PlayStation RPG he produced. His concern was that calling the game a turn-based RPG could shape a player’s first impression before the combat had a chance to speak for itself.

Sandfall and Kepler took that advice and described the combat in broader terms, with the phrase “reactive turn-based battles” becoming a central part of the game’s presentation. That wording highlighted the timing-based actions without hiding the turn-based structure underneath.

Once the game launched in 2025, the concern quickly looked misplaced. Expedition 33 received widespread praise and earned a historic number of Game of the Year awards, showing that a turn-based RPG could still reach a large audience when its systems and presentation connected with players.

Yoshida also said the game’s success led to publishers receiving more pitches for turn-based RPGs. Advice meant to help one project avoid an unfashionable label instead became part of a story about a game that helped bring fresh attention back to the genre.

Would the words “turn-based RPG” have changed your interest in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 before launch? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

Lead the members of Expedition 33 on their quest to destroy the Paintress so that she can never paint death again. Explore a world of wonders inspired by Belle Époque France and battle unique enemies in this turn-based RPG with real-time mechanics.