Former head of PlayStation Studios Shuhei Yoshida spoke about the beginning of the promotion of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. In his opinion, the developers should not have called the game a classic turn-based RPG – this could have scared off potential players.
About two years before its release, Yoshida saw an early demo at GDC and highly praised the combat system, which combined turn-based battles with mechanics that required precise timing.
At that time, "turn-based RPG" was perceived by many as an outdated genre. Therefore, Yoshida advised Sandfall Interactive not to use this term when promoting the game.
Instead, he suggested the phrase "reactive turn-based combat system," emphasizing active player participation: timely actions, dodges, and counterattacks.
According to Yoshida, when communicating with publishers, it is important to emphasize the unique features of the game, rather than a genre label that may be unpopular at a particular moment.
Clair Obscur received excellent reviews after its release and became one of the most highly-rated RPGs in recent years.