Summary

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Jennifer English and Ben Starr were waiting for the perfect game to follow their major breakout performances.
  • Starr and English say Expedition 33 was a special opportunity to help build their characters from the ground up.
  • Starr is especially complimentary of English's performance, which he says is a "refreshing take on the female lead."

When Sandfall Interactive announced Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, people were immediately captivated by an interesting premise combined with Belle Époque aesthetics. Considering Sandfall is a debut studio, people were also surprised to see such a star-studded cast attached to the game.

Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Jennifer English (Baldur's Gate 3), Ben Starr (Final Fantasy 16), Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings) and other prominent voice actors are All Set to feature in Clair Obscur. These upcoming roles are notable for English and Starr, who are following their respective major breakout roles with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

English is best known for playing Shadowheart in Larian's mega-hit Baldur's Gate 3. 'God's favourite princess' is arguably the game's most popular character, and is objectively the most romanced character, according to internal data released by Larian Studios. English plays Maelle in Clair Obscur, an energetic and friendly member of Expedition 33, and one of the party members.

Starr, meanwhile, played the protagonist of Final Fantasy 16, Clive Rosfield. Subsequently, Starr became known for various comedic antics, such as playing a joker in trailers for Balatro expansions. However, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is set to be the actor's next major role after Rosfield. Unlike English, Starr's character is not a party member. Instead, the mysterious Verso is a "morally ambiguous" stranger with unknown motives.

A Rare and Special Game

In an interview with GamesRadar+, Starr and English explained how they were both conscious of ensuring they followed up their respective breakout performances with a game and characters that had significant creative potential.

"I want to build a character who was iconic from the ground up," Starr said. "And we literally get to do that here. We get to create characters. They're going to inspire artwork, they're going to inspire fan fiction, they're going to inspire so many different artists to create their own art off the thing that we're creating, and that is so cool. And that comes along very, very rarely."

"It would have been very easy for us to kind of do anything really, and I think we both wanted to do something very special," English added, referencing that both voice actors are following up major breakout roles.

"[The writing was] so brilliant that we can kind of just bring ourselves to it. We didn't have to put a silly voice on, or change ourselves too much, because we just had to bring our humanity to it. And yeah, these kinds of games don't come around very often," English explained.

I had the opportunity to preview Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 earlier this year, and from the four-hour snippet I played, the interplay between the main cast was very compelling. English's Maelle featured in the preview, and I'm inclined to agree with Starr when he says Maelle is the "beating heart and emotional core" of the game and "a refreshing take on the female lead."

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 releases on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC on April 24.

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Turn-Based RPG Fantasy Systems 45 9.6/10 Released April 24, 2025 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence Developer(s) Sandfall Interactive Publisher(s) Kepler Interactive
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