We didn’t have to wait long before seeing Clair Obscur Expedition 33 inspire others, as evidenced by the first trailer for this upcoming remake for a Chinese RPG.
You probably know the song: in the video game industry as everywhere else, as soon as something achieves a certain success, it generally inspires more than one person. And if there is one game that is likely to create many new ones over the next few years, it is Chiaroscuro Expedition 33. Having become a real phenomenon, time to say it, the RPG from Sandfall Interactive had the spotlight on him throughout 2025. It is therefore without any surprise that we are already starting to find its influences in other projects.
When Clair Obscur Expedition 33 already inspires others
Indeed, if you take a look at the first trailer for The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4 Remake, you will certainly find a lot of the DNA of Clair Obscur Expedition 33 there. Probably a little too much in the eyes of some fans, who believe that the RPG developed by Up Software tends to fall more into plagiarism than influence. “This is absolutely not a copy and paste of the combat, style and parrying system of Clair Obscur Expedition 33” for example, quips an Internet user in reaction to the trailer shared by Cube Game, the game’s publisher, on X.
“Look, I’m all for the idea of games taking inspiration from other games, but this combat system doesn’t even try to have the slightest ounce of originality”underlines another. “There’s no reason to make the combat feel like a clone of Clair Obscur Expedition 33. You could have just revised what you already had in your 2007 version”. As you will no doubt have understood from the name of the game, it is indeed a remake of The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4, an RPG from Softstar Technology originally released in 2007 on PC.
Naturally, not everyone agrees with these comments, however. Because the similarities with the gameplay of Clair Obscur Expedition 33 may well be openly visible, that does not prevent some from emphasizing the extent to which the Sandfall title itself has never hidden its inspiration from the greatest JRPGs. But given the success encountered by the latter, it is now not surprising to see many players using it as a new reference, even if it means qualifying titles like The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4 Remake « d’Expedition 33-like ».
The return of a little-known Chinese RPG
It now remains to be seen what will really happen when the game is released, which currently has no release window. All we know is that the title is expected on PC and consoles, and that it will revisit the experience of this Chinese RPG under Unreal Engine 5. “Go in search of immortals with the Tianhe Yun team” tells us the synopsis of The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4 Remake, which serves as a prequel to the third installment of the franchise. “Meanwhile, a long-hidden truth is revealed”.
Source : Cube Game
