Since its launch in 2022, Unreal Engine 5 has been one of the most controversial game engines from Epic Games , mostly due to how demanding it is on PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X , and PC , as well as the performance issues it brings. Although the engine has been significantly improved since , public perception hasn't changed much, with many gamers considering it one of the worst things to happen to modern gaming. However, many developers don't share this sentiment, as Sandfall Interactive , the studio behind the 2025 Game of the Year Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 , couldn't have made the game without it.

"For starters, Unreal Engine has all the tools you need to make a game that looks big, even if you’re not a big team," Sandfall Interactive CEO and Creative Director Guillaume Broche said to Automaton . "And we were very lucky with the release timing of some of Unreal’s newer tools. Unreal Engine 5 itself came at the right time in production, then MetaHuman came at the right time, and so did Nanite and Lumen – everything came at the right time. So we were very lucky with that."

The best thing about Unreal Engine 5 is that it gives developers all the tools they need to make something great, Broche continued, while heaping praise on Blueprints , the visual scripting system that will eventually be deprecated in Unreal Engine 6 , once the new Verse/Scene Graph framework matures. "Blueprints, especially, are very important. Blueprints are like a visual scripting method that allows pretty much anybody in the team to write code thanks to how easy it is. It’s like chaining blocks together. In our studio, we have four programmers, but every game designer and every technical artist uses Blueprints to make game logic or environment logic, and that’s crucial for us to be able to ship this kind of game and this kind of quality."

Technical Artist Alexandre Breton also had only praise for Unreal Engine 5's Blueprints . "Blueprints are part of an ecosystem. It’s visual scripting, so it’s very ludic and you can learn it very easily. It’s part of an ecosystem because a lot of people are using it and sharing content, so you can also find resources like tutorials everywhere. You can also find Blueprint Packs and learn from them. People give them away for free or sell them, and it’s never too expensive. Overall, it’s a system that’s very cool to use."

Although several games powered by Unreal Engine 5 have made their way onto the Nintendo Switch 2 , Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has yet to do so. The team is interested in a port, but there are technical challenges that are even more daunting for a small studio like Sandfall Interactive .

"It’s a big technical challenge because we tried to do something beautiful with the game, but of course, the Switch 2 is not as powerful as the PlayStation or the Xbox Series X. So, it’s an important thing for us to consider, especially given the size of our studio," said studio Co-founder and CTO Tom Guillermin .

While some Unreal Engine 5 features don't work on Nintendo Switch 2 , which we have known for a while, Lumen Lite could make the port slightly less challenging. "They’re introducing features like Lumen Lite now, which is easier to run than the standard Lumen, but these things take time to roll out, so we’ll have to consider the updates coming from Unreal Engine to determine what to do," said Lead Character and Concept Artist Alan Reynaud .

Considering the high quality of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 , it would be a shame if Nintendo Switch 2 owners would never get to experience it. At the same time, it's understandable how Sandfall Interactive sees the port as a challenge, given the studio's small size. The current generation Nintendo system has already seen some impressive ports like Cyberpunk 2077 and the Final Fantasy VII Remake series, but they were handled by much bigger studios with developers and resources to invest.

Hopefully Lumen Lite , which has been created specifically for handhelds like the Nintendo Switch 2 , will help this port become a reality.

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