Closing Fantasy has by no means been a franchise to face nonetheless, however the arrival and subsequent success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has prompted many followers to query the collection’ current route.
Certainly, now greater than ever, Closing Fantasy leans into action-based gameplay; Closing Fantasy 16 is the plain and most excessive instance of this, however the likes of Closing Fantasy 7 Remake, Rebirth, and even 2016’s Closing Fantasy 15 are a far cry from what the collection used to be.
What’s extra, the infamously hard-to-please writer has repeatedly recommended that the business efficiency of those video games — 16 and Rebirth particularly — has been under expectations.
In the meantime, Clair Obscur, the brand new child on the block and the debut launch from Sandfall Interactive, has racked up a critically spectacular 3 million gross sales since its launch again in April — and it is just about the primary frontrunner for Recreation of the 12 months.
After all, Clair Obscur is a turn-based RPG with a really heavy emphasis on story and fantastical world constructing. For a lot of, it encapsulates loads of what Closing Fantasy used to be — and now, the sport’s being held aloft for instance of what Sq. Enix has maybe been lacking out on in any case these years.
We do not assume it is fairly that minimize and dry, however we will see the reasoning — and so can one in every of Sq. Enix’s traders. As translated by Genki, mentioned investor requested the corporate for its opinion on Clair Obscur throughout a shareholders assembly, basically questioning whether or not key properties like Closing Fantasy might return to a extra conventional turn-based construction.
In response, Sq. Enix mentioned it was “conscious” of Clair Obscur’s success, and that the corporate’s identification remains to be constructed on command-based RPGs. What’s extra, the writer plans on “delivering such video games sooner or later”.
