Unreal Engine 5 Made Clair Obscur Possible but Complicates Switch 2 Port

Sandfall Interactive says Unreal Engine 5 was essential to creating Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with a development team of fewer than 30 people, although the same advanced technology now presents a major obstacle for a potential Nintendo Switch 2 version. Speaking with Automaton, Creative Director Guillaume Broche explained that Unreal Engine gave the studio production tools normally associated with significantly larger teams.

"Unreal Engine has all the tools you need to make a game that looks big, even if you’re not a big team."
— Quote by: Guillaume Broche

Blueprint visual scripting was particularly important because Sandfall employed only 4 dedicated programmers during development. Game designers and technical artists could use Blueprints to create gameplay logic, environmental interactions, and production systems without depending entirely on traditional C++ programming. MetaHuman supported the character production pipeline, while Nanite reduced the need to manually create multiple asset detail levels. Lumen provided dynamic lighting that helped establish the game’s distinctive visual presentation.

The engine also supported Sandfall’s cinematic combat design. Individual attacks were created through Unreal Engine’s Sequencer tools, allowing animation, visual effects, sound, camera movement, and gameplay events to remain synchronized. World Partition helped multiple artists work across environments simultaneously while controlling which sections were loaded into memory. These systems allowed the small studio to produce a role playing game with the visual scale and production quality expected from a considerably larger project.

However, the technology that enabled Expedition 33 also makes a Nintendo Switch 2 conversion difficult. Sandfall confirmed that it is interested in exploring a port, but no version has been announced. Co founder and CTO Tom Guillermin described the conversion as a major technical challenge because Nintendo’s hardware is less powerful than PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, while Broche acknowledged that several Unreal Engine 5 features used by the game are not currently supported on Switch 2.

Unreal Engine 5.8 could provide part of the solution through Lumen Lite, a lower cost global illumination mode intended to preserve much of Lumen’s visual impact while using fewer GPU resources. Epic Games says Lumen Lite can operate up to 2 times faster than Lumen High Quality and is designed to help games target 60 FPS on Nintendo Switch 2. Sandfall Lead Character and Concept Artist Alan Reynaud noted that the studio must evaluate these engine updates before deciding how to approach a port. Unreal Engine 5.8 also includes broader shader, rendering, and performance improvements aimed at lower power hardware.

Demand for a Nintendo version could be substantial. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has surpassed 8 million copies sold, becoming one of the most successful original role playing games of the current generation. However, Sandfall currently employs approximately 26 people and intends to remain small, meaning a complex port could require external development support or significant changes to lighting, asset density, resolution, and environmental detail.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 demonstrates both the greatest strength and the central weakness of Unreal Engine 5. Its accessible tools allowed a small studio to deliver visuals and production values previously associated with much larger teams, but those same advanced rendering systems create substantial scalability challenges on lower power hardware.

Lumen Lite gives Sandfall a more practical path toward Nintendo Switch 2, but it will not automatically solve every problem. Nanite assets, memory requirements, CPU workloads, visual effects, and shader performance will still require careful optimization. An experienced porting partner may ultimately provide the most efficient solution without diverting Sandfall’s core team from its next project.

Would you accept reduced lighting and environmental detail to play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on Nintendo Switch 2?