Sawt Falasteen - French independent studio's first video game draws fans

According to Metacritic, which aggregates video games reviews, it had a 92 out of 100 "universal acclaim" score -- the highest so far this year.

More than a million players have also added the "turn-based" role-playing game to their wish-list, according to the company, which was set up in 2020 in Montpellier, southern France.

One of the studio's three co-founders said the high numbers -- rare for a game developed by an independent studio -- were "extremely encouraging".

"We are coming to the end of four years of production and even longer for some of us," Francois Meurisse told AFP a few days before the game's release.

"We're now at a crucial moment," he added calmly.

Sandfall Interactive's 20 or so employees sit serenely behind a bank of screens on the first floor of an Art Deco-style mansion in the southern coastal city of Montpellier.

The building's high ceilings, marble-accented bathroom and large garden ideal for drinks fits perfectly with the fantasy "Belle Epoque" spirit of the game.

- Fierce battles -

For players, "Expedition 33" starts in "Lumiere", a city on an island whose iconic buildings recall the real-life City of Light -- Paris.

But while passers-by are dressed in 1900s fashion, most of the buildings barely remain standing after a disaster whose nature is gradually revealed.

Just as intriguing is a gigantic monolith which displays the number "34", corresponding to the age at which the city's inhabitants "fade away" and turn into flowers.

Worse still, an enigmatic "Paintress" lowers this age every year, cutting life expectancy accordingly.

As characters Gustave, Maelle, Lune, Sciel or Monaco, players must leave the island and explore a vast continent across the sea where, among forests and ruins, the heavily armed minions of the Paintress await.

Between cinematic sequences, the player-explorer must fight fierce battles to try to reach level 33, which should take at least 30 hours, and twice as long to explore the entire universe and solve side puzzles.

The story also provides its share of "unpredictable" twists and turns, according to its creators, who have chosen not to display an on-screen map allowing players to locate themselves.

- Inspired by 'Final Fantasy' -

At the studio, Guillaume Broche holds the key role of "creative director" for the game, which he has overseen from start to finish and is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

He conceived the adventure more than five years ago and wanted it to be a "role-playing" game, inspired by the famous "Final Fantasy" series but in an environment resembling late 19th, early 20th-century France.

Broche was working in Sweden for the French gaming giant Ubisoft and spoke to a colleague, Tom Guillermin, about the project.

At the end of the first Covid lockdown, they teamed up with Meurisse and founded Sandfall Interactive in Montpellier, which has a long-established video game industry.

In 2022, the three young entrepreneurs were at a specialised trade show in San Francisco when they met London-based publisher Kepler Interactive.

Kepler provided them with funding and took charge of marketing and distribution -- and also helped them gain international recognition.

In June last year, Microsoft announced that "Expedition 33" would also be included on the release date in its Game Pass subscription service.

Since then, interest and anticipation have grown.

P.AbuBaker--SF-PST