The Forest Floor: Music to Level Up Your Day: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I don't know much about musical theory, nor am I a musically inclined person. However, I do love to listen to video game soundtracks. They can be a powerful listening experiences in their own right, or be as evocative as the scores composed for film. Each of these posts will feature a sampling of music tracks from a single game title, or series/franchise in some rare cases. A complete list of these can be found on the Video Game Music page.

Composer: Lorien Testard

Singer: Alice Duport-Percier, Ben Starr, Victor Borba

Choir: Marie-Cécile Henry Brossard, Céleste Lejeune, Annabelle Daguise, Axelle Verner, Gaël Lefevre, Fabrice Foison, Alexandre Artemenko, Maxime Saiu

North American Release Date: April 24, 2025

In a dark fantasy version of the Belle Époque era, those at or above an ever-decreasing age are erased in a yearly event called the "Gommage". Volunteers of Expedition 33 set out to destroy the cause of the Gommage, a being known as the Paintress.

Lorien had never worked on a video game before and was discovered by chance through an obscure web forum about indie games. The director liked Lorien's work on SoundCloud and so gave them free reign to produce whatever they liked. The only restrictions were that the tracks should contain an element of nostalgia, melancholy, and sadness to them. Some tracks were recorded at Lorien's home studio while others were recorded by the Curieux Orchestra at the Midilive Studios in Paris. A "dim dim dam dada" melody was created early on and used as a leitmotif throughout the soundtrack when everyone at the studio felt it best captured the tone of the game. "Alicia" was the most used melodic motif for battle themes.

Lumière | (Battle Theme)