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.
The forthcoming RPG, which describes itself as “a time-driven escape adventure with RPG elements,” has had its most recent demo available on Steam for just over a month, and it’s been mostly been well-received by players, albeit with the qualification that combat is rather “clunky”—a term used by an awful lot of Steam reviews. However, it’s a different criticism that’s bothering developers Ground, and that’s the suggestion that its copying Expedition 33. Something the team suggests would be a tricky feat, given demos of its game were playable in 2022, some three years before the French success was released.
“Every time someone accuses us of ripping off Expedition 33, we die a little bit inside,” the team wrote on X and BlueSky. “Yes, it’s a turn-based RPG,” the post continues, and “Yes, it has dodges and parries.” But, the developers implore readers, “our game already had all that in the public demos we released in 2022 and 2024.” The post concludes, “No need to call us names.”
Every time someone accuses us of ripping off Expedition 33, we die a little bit inside.
Yes, it’s a turn-based RPG.
Yes, it has dodges and parries.Our game already had all that in the public demos we released in 2022 and 2024.
No need to call us names pic.twitter.com/zhe5XKQyQ4— The Time I Have LeftDemo OUT NOW (@ground_ga) November 12, 2025
Rather cannily, the post also features a brief trailer for the indie game and its fantastic red, black, and white aesthetic, which has hopefully drawn in a whole bunch of new eyes after the tweet went gently viral. The developers later noted their delight at the supportive response they’ve received to this, with almost 1,000 replies so far.
Ground hasn’t had a particularly easy time of late. The studio itself went bankrupt earlier in the year, but the entire staff has continued on developing the game while seeking more support, and has still managed to put out the new demo. And given the popularity of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, it’d make some degree of sense for publishers to take note of this one, given there’s a pre-built audience out there right now.
The Time I Have Left features imbalanced combat in which enemies get more actions per turn than you, but you have multiple ways to influence the fight during their moves. There are parries and dodges, but also interrupts, counters, and even ways to gain more turns for yourself, with different suites of direct control in both phases of battles. The developers welcome feedback on the demo on Steam, although perhaps avoid mentioning you-know-what if you do.
