Veteran dev says Expedition 33 proves AAA visuals can come from a rookie-heavy team

Adrian Chmielarz, a 34-year game industry veteran, says Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks and feels like a AAA title despite a core team of about 30 with many first-time developers. He describes how the team used shortcuts—such as enemies without faces and theatre-style cutscenes—to achieve high production values with fewer resources, a realization that left him saying his worldview was “ruined.” The piece highlights how outsourcing and inexperience can still yield a visually and technically polished game, challenging assumptions about what it takes to make AAA-quality RPGs.