An Unlikely Muse: How a Beat ‘Em Up Fueled the Mind Behind a Modern JRPG Classic

In the world of video games, a creator’s personal history with the medium is often a direct reflection of their work. For a director of a turn-based RPG, one might expect their love for gaming to have been born from a classic like Final Fantasy VII or Chrono Trigger. And while the director of the acclaimed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Guillaume Broche, has openly cited JRPG greats as his inspiration, a recent interview has revealed a much more surprising and personal origin story. His love for gaming, he says, was born not from an epic role-playing adventure, but from an old-school 1988 beat ’em up, a testament to the idea that creative inspiration can come from the most unexpected of places.

The game in question is Altered Beast, a classic side-scrolling beat ’em up from Sega. Broche, who was a child in Paris at the time, would play the game on his Sega Genesis, a console he and his friends would share. In a new interview translated by Automaton, Broche explains that in the France of his youth, “games were for nerds,” and that he never really got into them until he was exposed to Altered Beast. The game, with its simple controls and its mythological setting, was the one that sparked his passion for the medium. It’s a fascinating contrast to the game he would later create, a complex, narrative-driven JRPG with a unique turn-based combat system that has been compared to classics like Persona and Final Fantasy.

From Brawling to Belle Époque: The Evolution of a Creator

The journey from Altered Beast to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a long one, but it’s not without its connections. While the two games are fundamentally different, they both share a core theme of a protagonist on a journey to fight a monstrous evil. In Altered Beast, the player takes on the role of a resurrected Roman centurion who must fight through a horde of mythical beasts to save Athena. In Expedition 33, a group of volunteers must embark on a suicide mission to stop a monstrous entity known as the Paintress. The scale and complexity are different, but the core heroic fantasy is the same. This is the kind of creative lineage that is often overlooked. A simple game, with a simple premise, can plant a seed of an idea that, years later, will blossom into a narrative masterpiece.

• The Core of Combat: While the combat in Expedition 33 is a far cry from the button-mashing of a beat ’em up, it does share a common thread: the importance of timing and reflexes. The game’s unique reactive combat system, which requires players to parry and dodge incoming attacks in real-time, feels like a modern evolution of the kind of reflexes a player would need to master to survive a game like Altered Beast.
• A Different Kind of Inspiration: Broche’s story is a powerful reminder that creative inspiration is not limited to one genre. The director of the game has also cited influences like FromSoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for its parry system, as well as classic JRPGs like Lost Odyssey. This eclectic mix of influences, from a simple beat ’em up to a complex, narrative-driven RPG, is what makes Expedition 33 so unique.
• A Success Story Born from Passion: Broche’s journey is also a story of a creator who chose passion over a safe career. He reportedly left his job at a large company because he was “bored” and believed that a project like Expedition 33 would have taken “25 years to make” at a major studio. This decision to strike out on his own, fueled by a lifelong love of games, is what led to the creation of one of the year’s most beloved titles.

A New Generation of Creators

Guillaume Broche’s story is a microcosm of a larger trend in the industry. As the video game landscape continues to evolve, more and more creators are drawing on a wide and diverse range of influences, from classic arcade games to niche indie titles. The fact that a modern JRPG, with its complex systems and deep narrative, could be born from a simple beat ’em up is a testament to the rich and varied history of the medium. For a new generation of players, his story is a source of hope and inspiration, a reminder that a love for gaming, no matter its origin, can be the first step on a creative journey that leads to something truly special.