Charlie Cox recorded Gustave's lines for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in just 4 hours

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the most stunning video game success stories of the year so far, but actor Charlie Cox, who plays the inventive expeditioner Gustave, had no idea just how massive its impact would be.

Expedition 33 is a role-playing game from Sandfall Interactive that pays homage to classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy while forging its own unique path. Rooted in French culture and art, the game is Sandfall's first video game, built on a relatively tight budget by a small team of developers, yet it sold 3.3 million copies during its first 33 days after release (yes, really) and has become a frontrunner for Game of the Year awards. It's an underdog success story that's taken the gaming world by storm.

There are a lot of reasons why Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is so well-received, from its gorgeous environments to its polished gameplay, excellent writing, absurdly beautiful soundtrack, and deeply resonant story about grief, art, and legacy. It's also gained a lot of acclaim for its voice cast, which includes the likes of Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings), Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI), Jennifer English (Baldur's Gate 3), and Charlie Cox, best known for playing the blind superhero Daredevil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The voice acting in this game is second to none.

There are a lot of interviews floating around with the likes of Starr and English, as well as some of their co-stars Kirsty Rider (Lune), Shala Nyx (Sciel), Rich Keeble (Monoco), and Maxence Cazorla (Esquie). There are even a few with Serkis, who's done plenty of acting onscreen as well as in motion capture and voice acting over the years. But perhaps due to his busy schedule filming the second season of Daredevil: Born Again, Cox hasn't spoken publicly about playing Gustave in the game...until now.

Cox appeared at Washington State Summer Comic Con this past weekend, where he was asked during a Q&A about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Thankfully, the fan who runs the @charliefansite X account was there to record his answer. Cox revealed that he only worked on Expedition 33 for a shocking "four hours" or so, total:

"I don't mean to minimize it in any way, and it's so cool, apparently the game is awesome," Cox said. "I'm not a gamer, I have no idea, I haven't played it. My agent asked me if I wanted to go and do a voiceover. I was in the studio for four hours, maybe. And people keep saying how amazing it is, and congratulations, and I feel like a total fraud. But I'm so thrilled for the company, I'm so thrilled it did really well. That was it."

It's kind of funny to hear Cox talk about this. I love that he's staying humble and not trying to oversell his investment or knowledge of gaming, even as he shares excitement for Sandfall Interactive's breakout success. It's also an insane testament to Cox's abilities as an actor that he was able to turn in all his material for Gustave in so short a window of time. He did brilliant work as the character. So in my opinion he's due whatever credit he's getting, whether he feels like a fraud or not.

Part of the reason the time investment wasn't higher for Cox is because he only did the voice acting, not the motion capture. Unlike, say, Baldur's Gate 3, where Larian Studios recorded motion capture of the voice actors' faces for dialogue scenes, Expedition 33 had a different set of actors who performed the extensive motion capture for the game. Maxence Cazorla, the voice actor for Esquie, also did the motion capture for Gustave, Verso, and Renoir. The voice work was recorded afterward.

I've played all of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, so I can safely say that it is very much deserving of all the hype and accolades it's getting. It's not only the best game I've played this year, but one of the best stories I've taken in across any medium in 2025. I hope we see plenty more from Sandfall Interactive in the future, because this was about as solid a debut for the studio as possible.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox, Steam, and Epic. As for Cox, he's still hard at work on Daredevil: Born Again season 2, which is expected to wrap filming in July 2025 and premiere on Disney+ in March 2026.

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