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

So, I was thinking about writing. Oh man, novels are mostly solo gigs, you know? It’s just you and your thoughts. But what about screenplays? Just gotta crank out like, 120 pages, unless you’re working with, what’s his name, Scorsese? Yeah, then good luck keeping it short. But writing for video games? Geez, that’s a whole other beast. You’re filling all this space, bending the story to fit the gameplay, and here’s the kicker — you’re not alone. Nope, there’s usually a team. It’s like herding cats. Sometimes, especially at 3 a.m., you’re just throwing words around and hoping for magic. And here and there, it happens. Boom. Magic.

So, in this game Clair Obscur, all the Frenchy vibes are grabbing people, you know? But there’s this character, Esquie, that everyone’s hooked on. There’s this convo he has about his buddy François. François, the grump. Esquie goes, “Franfran used to be all ‘Wheeee!’ Now he’s more like ‘Whooo.’” This goes on for a minute, with Esquie defining “whee” and “woo,” and players even pick their “whee/woo” path. Bonkers, right? But fun.

Svedberg-Yen, one of the writers, was like, “Yep, that was me at like, ridiculous o’clock in the morning. Seven dialogues about relationships for Esquie? Why not?”

And get this, the script for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — yeah, 800 pages! Doesn’t even count all the chit-chat from non-playable characters or the lore docs. Svedberg-Yen says she snagged ideas from all over. Like Monoco, the floating… what’s the word, gestral? A lot like her dog. One day her dog needed a trim, and she thought, let’s throw that in! Monoco and Verso talking haircuts. “You look like an overgrown mop.” Yup, said it to her dog. Used it. Why not?

Now, this whole “whee whoo” scene? Made less sense at dawn but sounded good. Svedberg-Yen knew she wanted to explore that vibe of mixed emotions — joy and sadness rolled together. But words? Brain fried. “Wheeeeee!” felt right.

As a fantasy writer, Svedberg-Yen’s aiming for truth. Crafting characters from real emotions and circumstances, even in weird universes. She’s got this instinct thing going. Does she go too far? Maybe. Depends on the mood, right? Sometimes she’s just, well, feeling it, and boom, it’s in the script. Authenticity, she says. It’s real because it’s her, right then and there.