Clair Obscur Director Has Exquisite Taste, Says Nothing Tops Persona 5’s Visual Design
It’s no secret that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 creative director Guillaume Broche is a huge fan of Japanese RPGs — but the Sandfall Interactive CEO has championed one specific title in a new interview.
“Persona 5 in particular is what I consider the best game in the world when it comes to UI and combat visuals,” says Broche, speaking to Japanese publication Denfaminicogamer (as translated by Automaton).
He continues: “The way the camera shifts dramatically with each action from the player, making it feel like you’re watching a movie, left a huge impression on me.”
And it’s hard to argue, isn’t it? Atlus has been dishing out some of the most artistically stunning titles of the last couple of decades, and we’d probably agree that Persona 5 is the best of the bunch in terms of design identity. Although having said that, the more recent Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: ReFantazio certainly give it a run for its money.
If you’ve played Clair Obscur, you’ll have no doubt noticed the inspiration — especially in the way that the combat camera shifts depending on your selected actions. But then Broche points out that he’s never looking to just lift ideas from other games and repurpose them.
“In the West, you sometimes see games that just copy aspects of popular titles on a surface-level, aiming to recreate their success. However, this only leads to inferior copies — and that was exactly the kind of game I wanted to avoid making,” he explains.
