Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has suddenly become a symbol of recent protests in France

A good game eventually stops belonging to its creators and starts living its own life. Usually that means memes, cosplay, and fan art. It's a different story when a line from a fantasy RPG ends up on a cardboard sign in the middle of a street demonstration, with a cloud of tear gas hanging overhead.

That's exactly what happened in Paris. At one of the protests, someone held up a sign reading "Pour ceux qui viennent après", or "For those who come after".

The photo quickly spread across Reddit, and Paris turned out not to be the only city with such signs. In Marseille, people carried "Demain viendra" ("Tomorrow comes"), and protest footage set to the game soundtrack is flooding social media.

For anyone who missed France's biggest hit of recent years, here's the short version. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Montpellier-based Sandfall Interactive launched in April 2025 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series.

Every year, the mysterious Paintress writes a number on her monolith, and everyone of that age vanishes in the Gommage. Expeditions from the city of Lumière set out to stop her, with little hope of coming back. "For those who come after" is their motto and, essentially, the whole philosophy of Expedition 33, which went on to collect a haul of awards, including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025.

The slogan fits both sides of the barricades equally well. Many of the people in the streets are students and high schoolers angry about education cuts and heavy-handed policing, and for them, "those who come after" literally means themselves.

But supporters of austerity can wave the same motto. They point to a national debt of roughly 50,000 euros per French citizen and demand an urgent overhaul of the pension system for the sake of future generations.

The game story also echoes the real generational clash. In Lumière, the older generations vanish first while the young sacrifice themselves for those who follow. In the current French debate, a large share of young people feel they're paying for the comfort of retirees and getting nothing in return.

One commenter put it bluntly:

Pension ? What pension ? We know we'll never have one.

The usual arguments about where protest ends and rioting begins haven't gone away either. Footage of a burned-out town hall in Limoges and looting in Nice or Marseille sits alongside videos of peaceful student marches with drums and singing.