‘Everything Will Be Made by Humans’: Expedition 33 Dev Says No More AI After Post-Awards Heat

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Generative AI is a big source of debate currently, so it’s not surprising that the most anticipated game of 2025 is now caught up in that discussion.

Just a heads-up: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was accidentally released with a few pieces of artwork created by AI still included.

Sandfall Interactive explained that the textures were only meant as temporary stand-ins and were quickly updated with the intended artwork.

So, after all the hype and awards buzz, it was pretty shocking to find out the RPG actually lost two Indie Game Awards. Apparently, the judges weren’t happy about how much generative AI we used during development, and that’s what cost us the wins. It was a tough blow, honestly.

Sandfall recently addressed this issue during a question-and-answer session organized by publisher Kepler Interactive, with commentary provided by YouTuber Sushi.

Following recent concerns raised about Larian Studios, the director and art director of Expedition 33 were questioned about their use of AI technology in the game’s development.

We’re following the situation, but I want to assure everyone that all content in the game is created by people,” said director Guillaume Broche.

We had already begun working on the game when AI became widely available in 2022. We experimented with it, but it didn’t feel right, so we decided not to use it.

Broche explained the team briefly used the asset as a temporary stand-in for missing textures, but removed it immediately upon noticing the issue, as previously stated.

“But yeah, the concept art, voice actors, everything is human-made.”

Looking ahead, Broche assures players that all games from Sandfall will be created by human developers, with no use of AI-generated content. He acknowledges the industry’s future is uncertain, but emphasizes their commitment to human-made games.

Several games have received negative feedback this year due to their use of generative AI, and this trend is likely to continue as the technology develops. Games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, ARC Raiders, and Battlefield 6 have been criticized for incorporating AI in different ways.

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2025-12-24 17:07