‘I Was Exhausted’: The Story Behind Expedition 33’s Iconic ‘Whee Whoo’ Moment

Okay, so there’s this whole thing about writing… novels, screenplays, video games. It’s like comparing apples, oranges, and a whole fruit basket. Novels? Solo gig, mostly. Screenplays, though? 120 pages max, unless you’re doing the Scorsese special. But games, oh man, that’s just a beast. You’re filling up hours of gameplay, making sure it all fits together like some chaotic jigsaw puzzle, usually with a whole team of writers around you. Sometimes, when it’s the dead of night, and deadlines are breathing down your neck, you just throw words at the digital wall and hope brilliance sticks. Yeah, it happens.

Oh, and Clair Obscur? People are loving those little French twists. There’s this character, Esquie, who has this chat at camp – total gem. He talks about his buddy François with Verso. François used to be all “Wheeee!” But now, he’s more “Whooo.” It’s such a quirky convo. You even get to pick your whee/woo path. Silly, right? But it works.

The writer, Svedberg-Yen, well, she admits to the 3 a.m. brain fry. She was writing – what was it? Seven relationship dialogues? Yeah, something like that. And she laughs about it. By the way, the whole script’s massive – like 800 pages, can you imagine? And that’s without all those extra NPC lines or the hefty lore stash. Takes inspiration from life itself. Like Monoco, a floating character, inspired by her dog. There’s even a scene about needing a haircut. She told her dog he looked like a mop – hilarious! And boom, it’s in the story.

The “whee whoo” scene? Yeah, that one’s a bit out there, especially in the middle of the night when nothing makes sense but feels strangely right. It’s about capturing the mix of joy and sadness. You know, when words fail, and you’re just exhausted, all you can muster is a long “wheeeeee!”

Fantasy writing for Svedberg-Yen is all about keeping it real, even when the world is make-believe. Trusting those gut feelings, even the weird ones. Clair Obscur’s got its serious moments, sure, but it lets some light in – because life’s like that. She wonders if she ever crosses a line, but then she just listens to what she’s feeling, throws it into the script. That’s real, that’s authentic. Her truth.