Fans Point Out Striking Similarities Between Sword and Fairy 4 Remake and Clair Obscur

The RPG community is buzzing following the reveal of Sword and Fairy 4: Remake, but not just because of the nostalgia. A growing number of fans have taken to social media to point out the uncanny resemblance between the newly announced remake and another recent hit, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

A Visual Twin?

The conversation started almost immediately after the first footage of Sword and Fairy 4: Remake dropped. The game, a complete rebuild of the 2007 classic using Unreal Engine 5, features a lush, high-fidelity aesthetic that fans of the genre love. However, eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the user interface (UI) and combat presentation bear a heavy resemblance to the distinctive style of Clair Obscur.

Side-by-side comparisons reveal similarities in how action prompts float near characters and the overall layout of the turn-based menus. While Persona 5 is often cited as the “gold standard” that popularized stylish, diegetic UIs, the specific implementation here feels closer to the French studio’s recent breakout hit.

Wuxia Meets Turn-Based Tactics

Despite the visual comparisons, Sword and Fairy 4: Remake retains its own identity. Rooted in Chinese mythology and wuxia traditions, the game promises a deep narrative experience distinct from the surrealist fantasy of Expedition 33. The remake is being developed by Softstar’s Shanghai subsidiary, aiming to modernize a classic that was originally a PC exclusive.

While some fans are calling it a “Clair-like,” others argue that the genre is simply evolving. Games like Lost Odyssey and Shadow Hearts pioneered timing-based mechanics in turn-based combat decades ago, and modern titles are merely refining those ideas with better graphics.

What’s Next?

Currently, Sword and Fairy 4: Remake has been confirmed for consoles and PC, though a specific PS5 release hasn’t been explicitly detailed yet. An English trailer is expected to drop soon, which may shed more light on the mechanics and perhaps differentiate it further from its contemporaries.

For now, the debate rages on: is it a copycat, or just a case of parallel thinking in the UE5 era?