Joris Ragazzini and Jessica Ragazzini
Over the past fifteen years, video games have established themselves as a major cultural medium, capable of generating complex narratives and elaborated aesthetic worlds. Their ability to reactivate, transform, and transmit knowledge drawn from other cultural fields is now widely acknowledged. At the intersection of interactive fiction, aesthetic experience, and geek culture, certain recent games demonstrate a renewed engagement with history—and more specifically art history—as a primary ludic and cultural resource.
Featured image of the article: Conference announcement
Reference of the presentation:
Joris Ragazzini and Jessica Ragazzini, Jouer avec l’histoire de l’art : Clair Obscur : Expedition 33 ou la réactivation ludique des imaginaires artistiques, paper presented at the study day Ludisme Geek, organized by Sébastien Hubier and Antonio Domínguez Leiva, Université de Reims-Champagne-Ardenne and Université du Québec à Montréal, France and Canada.
Clair Obscur : Expedition 33, a case study
Clair Obscur : Expedition 33, developed by the French studio Standfall Interactive, fully embodies this dynamic by offering a universe in which monumental architectures, identity-forming symbols, figures drawn from art, literary references, and regimes of visibility inherited from painting and sculpture are re-enacted as sensorial and interactive experiences, thereby bringing the past into renewed circulation. Within this framework, art history is mobilized as a ludic material, insofar as it is activated through the player’s actions and integrated into the very mechanics of exploration, thereby reinforcing the relationship between the game and its players.
Moreover, the narrative structure and interactivity—allowing players to make their own choices—further deepen immersion and foster identification with the game world. This approach aligns with a tradition theorized within game studies, which considers play as a fundamental mode of fictionalization and cultural transmission.
Structure of the presentation
Our presentation began with an introduction to the game: each year, a number is erased, condemning an entire generation and instituting an existential countdown that structures the gameplay experience. The player embodies a team of explorers whose objective is to eliminate the figure responsible for this countdown—the Paintress.
In a second phase, we proposed an analysis of this narrative device as a metaphor for the contemporary relationship to cultural heritage, whose legacy appears destined for disappearance, and which the player is invited to traverse, interpret, and reactivate before it vanishes.
Finally, the third part of the presentation aimed to examine the impact of Clair Obscur : Expedition 33 itself within the gaming community and beyond, particularly through the philosophical and moral dilemmas it presents to players. Much like museum exhibitions dedicated to video games or the practices of game art, Clair Obscur : Expedition 33 reveals an increasing porosity between high culture and popular culture, grounded in immersion, emotion, and participation.
Thus, Clair Obscur : Expedition 33 exemplifies how video games, as both ludic and geek practices, can become powerful vectors for the reactivation of art history.