French studio Sandfall Interactive is having fun with a well-deserved victory lap as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the corporate’s first sport since its founding in 2020, sells like hotcakes — although perhaps crepes can be the extra applicable baked good — and garners optimistic opinions and phrase of mouth. A variety of this success revolves round its energetic turn-based battles and fascinating story, nevertheless it’s arduous to disclaim the half that Clair Obscur’s distinctive, Belle Époque-style aesthetics additionally play in serving to it stand out in a packed sport of the yr race.
The Belle Époque ought to sound acquainted to epicgamejourney readers because of Lies of P, the “Pinocchio Soulslike” that reworked from quirky Mad Libs mashup to overwhelming achievement for South Korean builders Neowiz and Round8 Studios virtually in a single day when it launched in September 2023. As an increasing number of studios attempt to replicate the Darkish Souls components — equal components punishing problem, intuitive exploration, and complex boss battles — Lies of P was arguably the primary sport from an organization not named FromSoftware to be worthy of the Soulslike label. It’s additionally the primary sport you must play after ending Clair Obscur, should you haven’t already, as the 2 make for a compelling form of duology in dialog with one another and with the ups and downs of the interval in French historical past from which they draw inspiration.
Very similar to with Clair Obscur, the eye paid to Lies of P was constructed upon its gameplay and narrative strengths, particularly the mixing of conventional Soulslike mechanics with a fantastical story primarily based on the traditional Pinocchio fairy story. A few of that heavy lifting, nevertheless, was executed by its visuals. Lies of P was in contrast favorably to gothic Darkish Souls successor Bloodborne at first blush, and whereas it’s true that there’s some stylistic overlap between the 2, the builders as a substitute drove residence Lies of P’s inspirations by repeating two French phrases within the lead-up to the sport’s launch: Belle Époque.
Belle Époque — or “lovely period” — refers to a stretch of French historical past ranging roughly from the late 1800s to the start of World Conflict I in 1914. It was a interval throughout which French society was thought, not less than in hindsight, to have skilled a increase of financial and cultural achievements. Lies of P and, now, Clair Obscur are influenced by the technological developments, apparel, and structure of the period. The previous’s eponymous protagonist and most of the foes he faces are impossibly retrofuturistic clockwork automatons. The latter’s wayward explorers don militaristic garb that will have been proper at residence on the streets of Twentieth-century Paris as a drooping, virtually melted Eiffel Tower looms over their doomed civilization.
I ought to in all probability level out that Clair Obscur can also be as French as frog legs. It hilariously permits the participant to decorate their social gathering in customized outfits that includes black-and-white striped shirts with crusty baguettes as equipment, the mix of which might be virtually offensive in the event that they weren’t apparent love letters from the builders to their very own tradition. Lies of P depends extra on vibes, by no means offering its baby-faced hero with a lot as a beret, however what each video games get proper is the bittersweet origins of the Belle Époque moniker.
Whereas the lowercase “belle époque” was a standard saying amongst French audio system on the time, they solely started referring to the handful of years earlier than World Conflict I as a correct noun throughout the nation’s occupation by Nazi forces in World Conflict II. A number of a long time of warfare had left France — to not point out a lot of Europe — a trench-laden and mortar-blasted shell of the rich nation that had as soon as hosted its personal world’s truthful within the 1900 Paris Exposition. French society started to view the interval of relative peace between the Napoleonic and World Wars with nostalgia, forgetting any of the inequalities that existed on the time and solely remembering the period for its abundance and prosperity.
In some methods, the Belle Époque as an thought wouldn’t have existed with out the ravaging of the European continent, because it was the world wars that in the end prompted France to look again on that time in historical past with fondness. Lies of P is rife with the same form of melancholy. As you discover Krat, a metropolis ruined by the very robotic servants that when made it a beacon of luxurious, you may virtually really feel town itself craving for these higher days. The proof of its now-lost pleasure is in every single place, with smiling cutouts and flamboyant posters selling celebrations that now appear to be distant reminiscences within the fiery, bloodsoaked ruins. With out the chaos of Krat’s undoing, this stuff would simply type the common, unobtrusive window dressing of a rich metropolis; it’s solely amid the turmoil that they lastly achieve that means.
Picture: Neowiz
Lies of P leverages this setting, as most of the greatest Soulslikes do, as its fundamental supply of world-building. As you navigate P by Krat and its surrounding environs, you’ll slowly be taught extra concerning the tragedies that led to its downfall. In the identical vein, each boss battle provides pertinent backstory to town’s once-proud heritage. Lots of the large foes you face in Lies of P aren’t monsters, however wayward souls whose perform and goal have been stripped away and changed by insanity. Simply as all method of frequent people have been conscripted to die choking on mustard gasoline within the trenches of World Conflict I, so too are the residents and servants of Krat lowered to grease for the wheels of historical past. Clair Obscur could — pardon the pun — obscure the ins and outs of its setting’s collapse, however Lies of P boldly depicts a world whose Belle Époque has come and gone. Perhaps sooner or later the residents of Krat will be capable to look previous its interval of brutality in favor of the great occasions.
If you find yourself having fun with Lies of P, you’re in luck: a prequel enlargement is true across the nook. And eventually, make sure to try The Belle Époque: A Cultural Historical past, Paris and Past by French historian Dominique Kalifa if you wish to be taught extra concerning the real-life Belle Époque exterior of its relation to those two video video games. It’s the place I discovered a lot of the data used on this story.
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