Music of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The music of the 2025 role-playing video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, developed by Sandfall Interactive, comprises a soundtrack album and extended play created and composed principally by Lorien Testard. The first album, totaling 154 unique songs, comprises the songs of Expedition 33's base game, released on 24 April 2025. It was met with universal acclaim from both audiences and critics. Physical vinyl releases in collaboration with record label Laced Records are scheduled to ship in February 2026.

The second album, released on 12 December 2025, consists of 6 additional tracks featured in the "Verso's Drafts" playable area added as part of the game's free 1.5.0 "'Thank You' Update", formally revealed after it was named Game of the Year at the The Game Awards 2025.

The development of the game's soundtrack was headed by Lorien Testard. From an early age, Testard was interested in video games and their music, having been introduced to them by his father.^[1] He began teaching himself musical composition at the age of 16 for roughly 3 years, after which he attended a formal music school for another 3 years.^[1] He began posting his music onto SoundCloud at a rate of approximately one track per week.^[2][3] He has since named the scores of series such as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Ori, as well as the songs of Joe Hisaishi composed for Studio Ghibli films, as among his personal favorites.^[2][4][5][6]

Expedition 33 was Testard's first professional video game for which he composed music.^[2][7] He became connected with the game's director Guillaume Broche in early 2020 after the latter listened to one of Testard's SoundCloud tracks he had posted onto an online forum dedicated to indie games.^[2][6] He was subsequently asked to join the project, at the time titled We Lost. Past an early script and conceptual artwork for in-game landscapes, Testard had little explicit direction when composing the game's songs, given relatively free reign to "really do whatever [he] wanted" to adapt the story's atmosphere into musical form.^[1] About a year and a half into development, vocal composer Alice Duport-Percier joined the team as co-composer to assist in both singing and writing the game's many vocal tracks.^[2][3] Testard discovered Duport-Percier through videos she uploaded to YouTube, and they initially communicated over email.^[8] In total, over 30 musicians and a nine-person choir collaborated on the soundtrack;^[9] notable contributors include Victor Borba, who previously sung numerous tracks for the 2019 video game Devil May Cry 5, mezzo-soprano singer Axelle Verner, and Ben Starr, who also voiced Verso in Expedition 33.^[6]

Testard placed heavy emphasis on making the soundtrack feel dynamic and unique, responding to the player's—and the greater world's—actions as the game's narrative progresses.^[10] The emotional core of every specific battle, location, and character guided him as to what each song should sound like and what mood they ought to elicit. This led to an assemblage of distinct genres and musical styles, including jazz, rock, neoclassical, and EDM.^[11][12] Testard stated in an interview, "... even if a player doesn’t connect with one particular track, it won’t become repetitive — they’ll move on to a new environment and fight with a new musical atmosphere as their adventure continues."^[10] Testard additionally made use of leitmotifs for both individual characters and explorable regions as a means of strengthening the story's emotional themes when evoked.^[6][11]

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Original Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album for the base game of Expedition 33, featuring 154 distinct songs.

The soundtrack was published onto streaming services on 24 April 2025. Physical vinyl releases were first teased in an X (formerly Twitter) video posted on 23 July 2025 by Ben Starr featuring both him and Jennifer English;^[13] the two played Verso and Maelle respectively in Expedition 33. The following day, on 24 July, pre-orders for said vinyls in collaboration with Laced Records were officially announced by Testard.^[14] The physical edition includes exclusive and deluxe 6×LP and 2×LP box sets, each containing 63 and 20 tracks respectively, as well as a complete ×8CD collection featuring 179—the original 154 songs plus 25 bonus tracks.^[15][16] As of December 2025, all editions are expected to ship in February 2026.^[16]

All tracks are orchestrated by Lorien Testard. Additional voicework for certain songs was composed by Alice Duport-Percier.^[17]

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Verso's Drafts (Original Soundtrack) comprises 6 additional songs featured in the "Verso's Drafts" area.

The soundtrack was made available worldwide after the release of the game's 1.5.0 update, titled the "'Thank You' Update", on 12 December 2025, formally announced during Guillaume Broche's acceptance speech after Expedition 33 was named Game of the Year at the The Game Awards 2025.^[18][19] The update was previously teased by Sandfall Interactive in an 8 October blog post, made in commemoration of Expedition 33 selling over 5 million copies.^[20][21]

All tracks orchestrated by Lorien Testard.

Information taken from the soundtrack's official YouTube release.^[22]

• Lorien Testard – Composer
• Alice Duport-Percier – Vocalist
• Horacio París – Drum
• Nisa Addina – Violin
• Emanuel Pavon – Cello
• Josué González – Piano
• Vitaliy Tkachuck – Guitar
• Khai Zen Yap – SFX

Reviewers were impressed by the soundtrack and particularly praised its adaptability.^[23][24][25] Game Informer's Kyle Hilliard highlighted the contrast between the "somber piano music and haunting vocals", which underscore the characters' emotional experiences, and the combat themes that "bring the energy back up at precisely the right moment".^[26] Edge described the score as immense and "operatic".^[27]

• Lorien Testard on SoundCloud