If you were to just look at screenshots of Sandfall Interactive’s surprise hit, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you’d be forgiven in thinking that a game this polished and pretty would have a budget rivaling other AAA titles. Hearing that Expedition 33 has claimed a record setting 13 nominations (and is the overwhelming favorite to win Game of the Year) at tonight’s The Game Awards would only bolster the assumption that some bank, somewhere, had to be broken to make the French RPG.

Now, Guillaume Broche, Sandfall Interactive co-founder and CEO, has stated in an interview with The New York Times that Expedition 33’s budget was, “less than $10 million”, which is arguably more surprising than the success they’ve enjoyed with the game so far this year. To add a bit of perspective on how low that budget actually is, we can compare to a competitor for this year’s Game of the Year award, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which was reportedly made for $41 million (credit: Windows Central). Or, 2023 superhero action adventure, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 which was made for a staggering $300 million.

Broche pointed out that a great many creative decisions were made with the clear intent of keeping costs down and helping a smaller team do more with less. One notable inclusion was that of an overworld map, as opposed to an expansive open world. Using the smaller and less detailed (and nostalgia tickling) overworld map is one clear example of how Sandfall saved some cash by passing up on a large scale world that would be expected to showcase every last detail of the world around the Expeditioners. Is map style alone responsible for the stunningly low budget?

While there exists some debate on what constitutes an indie game, Sandfall is, by all accounts, an independent studio, but it did receive a lot of its funding from their publisher, Kepler Interactive. They also outsourced some aspects of the game’s development (credit: Rock Paper Shotgun) including localization and certain gameplay animations, which also undoubtedly saved some money. However Sandfall worked their magic, it can’t be denied that Clair Obscur has that high budget sheen about it, with only a fraction of the price that other studios swear is necessary. Broche also said in his interview that he hopes that the success of Expedition 33 could help burst that large budget bubble around AAA games and bring prices back down to Earth. My wallet agrees.

Are you watching The Game Awards tonight? Do you think Expedition 33 will sweep? Which nominations WON’T produce awards? Let us know in the comments and check back here for coverage of The Game Awards.