Clair Obscur’s Visual Quality Would Not Be Possible Without Unreal Engine 5, Says Analyst

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UE5 Allows Small Teams To Rival AAA Productions!

Story Highlight
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 rivals AAA visuals using Unreal Engine 5.
  • Thanks to technologies like Lumen and Nanite, it delivers stunning environments and shadows.
  • Analysis of the visuals concludes that this would not be possible without Unreal Engine 5.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been such a huge success for Sandfall Interactive that the game has created waves across the turn-based gaming genre. Physical copies of the RPG are now sold out, and DLC is also expected to be released in the future.

Among the highlights, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s visual quality stands out. Blending an exceptional art style with Unreal Engine 5’s strengths, the game delivers mesmerizing visuals that allow it to rival various AAA releases. According to analysts, this is only possible due to Unreal Engine 5.

Why it matters: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was made by a small team consisting of just 30 developers, making it much smaller in scope than other AAA titles.

Analysis from Digital Foundry highlights how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 achieves an extremely well-rounded look across all platforms.

The game makes use of Unreal Engine 5 technologies like Lumen and Nanite for a distinct visual look. Sandfall Interactive has opted for a software-based Lumen solution, but the results are highly positive.

Nanite and Virtual Shadow Maps also enable highly detailed environments and shadows, making each level more impressive than the last. All of these techniques come together and are at their best when traversing through the highly dense foliage of the many levels of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Although elements like facial animations and lip syncing fall short of matching the same quality, the game rivals many AAA games when it comes to the overall presentation, partly due to the impeccable attack animations in com.

I doubt that would have been possible on any other commercially available engine except for UE5.

-Digital Foundry

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The RPG Has Been A Major Success On Game Pass And Other Platforms

This is not the first time a smaller studio has achieved impressive results using the engine. Titles like RoboCop: Rogue City achieved similar praise for their visuals despite the smaller size of the development team.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 arguably takes things one step further, largely due to the stellar art direction and more mature Unreal Engine 5 technology.

What are your thoughts on the analysis? Let’s discuss in the comments and on the Tech4Gamers Forums.

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