THE FUSE

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is certainly one of 2025’s big success stories, but you’d be hard-pressed to call its concept wholly original. Sandfall Interactive’s turn-based RPG may well have been first to combine fully real-time movement with turn-based combat, but it was built on the shoulders of games like Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Atelier Ryza and even Mario RPG and Paper Mario, along with a wealth of other influences (Final Fantasy, Persona, Earthbound…). So when another studio independently developers a turn-based RPG with real-time dodge and parry mechanics, it’s hardly a given that it’s lifting directly from this year’s hit. Yet this is the accusation The Time I Have Left is being bombarded with, and it’s really getting developer Ground down.