Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a once-in-a-generation experience, and it’s a high contender for Game of the Year. Created by a small team of developers with outsourcing help, the AA turn-based RPG has one of the best stories in gaming and a historically powerful art direction.

Speaking in a new interview alongside Lies of P game director Choi Ji-won, Sandfall Interactive CEO Guillaume Broche explained that the Pinocchio-themed soulslike was caused them to push themselves to improve their game even more.

In the new YouTube interview, thanks PCGamesN, Broche explained that the stellar art direction and positive reception towards Lies of P helped Sandfall Interactive know they were going in the right direction. As ex-Ubisoft developers, Sandfall’s debut project was a big risk, but the popularity of Lies of P calmed them.

“I was really happy to see that it looked great, and also that people responded very positively to Lies of P and the art style and everything, and it kind of validated that we were going on the right path,” Broche said.

Broche explained that he spend “hundreds of hours” playing through Lies of P, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 aims for similar ideas. Both titles base their aesthetics in the Belle Époque art period, and seeing just how great Lies of P was caused Sandfall to push its use of the style even further.

“We had the same way of thinking, like ‘Belle Époque is kind of unique, it’s not explored that much in games,’” the Sandfall CEO said. “And when I played Lies of P I was like ‘Wow, ok, this looks absolutely stunning, so we have to up our game first.’ And really, the thing that struck me the most was Hotel Krat. Because we also have a manor in [Expedition 33], and when I arrived in Hotel Krat, I was like ‘This is exactly what we have in our game!’

“When [Lies of P] came out, the manor, at this point in development, was still the hub of the game. We didn’t have the camp yet. And Hotel Krat is the hub of [Lies of P], and we also had a [record] player and there’s a [record] player in Hotel Krat, and I was like ‘People will think we have copied!’”

In the wake of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Lies of P game director Choi Ji-won wishes their team went even further with their exploration of Belle Époque, saying that the they “should’ve been more daring” in how they used it.

“When I saw how [Sandfall] audaciously used iconic French landmarks – a ruined Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Place de la Concorde – I felt a sense of lingering regret, thinking ‘We should’ve been bolder’,” he said. Unfortunately, the Lies of P team were worried about “offending people in France” if they went too far.

Honestly, the entire conversation is beautiful, and it shows two creatives of mid-sized teams celebrating each other’s work in a really charming way. Both Lies of P and Clair Obscur are fantastic titles, and they have their similarities despite their differences. If you like one, you’re not guaranteed to like the other, but they are both great.