Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Story is Absorbing, But Don't Miss Its Challenging Endgame

This nonfiction contains spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 broadside content. It does not spoil the main story.

Thanks to its astonishing, utterly absorbing story, I recovered small clip for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s broadside content. For 2 twelve hours I stayed existent to the ngo and pushed onwards towards my extremity of defeating The Paintress. Not that I could spot overmuch other to do; optional regions and objectives seemed fewer and acold between. But upon reaching the last signifier of the story, successful which you unlock the quality to alert astir the overworld map, my presumption astir broadside contented was proven wholly wrong. This satellite is truthful overmuch bigger and much awesome than I realised.

Soar up into the clouds and you’ll find scattered floating islands, each 1 location to the likes of a gladiatorial arena, casino, crimson forest, oregon thing stranger. Push beyond the boundaries of the main continent and you’ll observe hidden doors, chaotic platforming challenges, and elaborate mazes. And, heavy beneath the water surface, there’s the hardest brag of them all. Yes, there’s what seems similar an full different crippled beyond the main path, overmuch of which is designed to beryllium Expedition 33’s endgame. Clair Obscur isn’t solely a story-focused experience, astatine slightest not for those who situation to continue.

High supra the satellite representation is 1 of Clair Obscur's astir challenging foes. | Image credit: Sandfall Interactive / Kepler

Developer Sandfall Interactive has taken an economical attack to broadside quests (understandable, considering the studio's tiny size.) You won’t find immoderate of the sprawling broadside stories that marque games similar The Witcher 3 truthful beloved. Most of the optional regions are tiny – immoderate are adjacent a azygous ‘room’ viewed from a static camera, designed to evoke the pre-rendered backdrops of PS1-era Final Fantasy much than connection immoderate benignant of exploration value. For the story-hungry, there’s precious small beyond the dozens of Journals that recount the trials of failed expeditions earlier you. Small but nevertheless absorbing lore drops (such as, for instance, the root of the Nevron enemies you look passim the story) do, connected occasion, marque the broadside contented narratively richer, but this is not a pursuit for anyone expecting the aforesaid expansive communicative ambition arsenic seen successful the main quest.

Instead, Expedition 33’s MO for broadside contented is gameplay-driven. But portion it’s each built connected the aforesaid halfway concepts arsenic the main run – elemental exploration, turn-based combat encounters, and quality buildcrafting – the activities disposable surely person a precise antithetic flavour. For the astir part, it's each designed to propulsion those foundational ideas arsenic acold arsenic they tin perchance go. Exploration becomes trickier acknowledgment to labyrinthine environments that necessitate puzzle solving to progress, portion incredibly almighty bosses request some afloat mastery of the combat strategy and heavy knowing of however to assemble your characters' stats, abilities, and equipment.

As with the main story, there’s abstraction made for some the enigmatic and eccentric. Random doors recovered successful some levels and the overworld volition transport you to the Manor, a expansive location filled with locked rooms. Each caller doorway recovered breaks the seal connected 1 of those rooms, granting entree to the collectables inside. Opening up the full location is people the goal, but there’s much hiding wrong its halls. A bid of concealed levers successful the eating hallway triggers moving architecture, which not lone grants entree to a hidden passageway, but besides suggests there’s much concealed successful the Manor than it archetypal seems.

Stranger inactive are the Gestral-populated regions, wherever sentient paintbrush-like creatures inquire you to lick quirkier problems. At the Flying Casino, for instance, a Gestral holed up wrong refuses to talk to immoderate quality – flooded that contented and you’ll beryllium rewarded with 1 of the much humorous costume options. Similarly, heading to the Gestral beaches volition spot you rewarded with swimsuits for your squad (sure to go “fan favourites”, I’m sure), but you’ll request to win astatine a spot of moving and jumping to nett them. Some of the clip that’s reasonably casual – a contention done a basal obstacle course, for instance. But 1 formation asks you to ascent an impossibly gangly operation of precariously balanced junk, a feat that demands diligent and precise platforming, not slightest due to the fact that a azygous slip-up sends you close backmost to the start.

The Flying Casino is 1 of Expedition 33's much eccentric pieces of broadside content. | Image credit: Sandfall Interactive / Kepler

Combining ideas from those aforementioned regions is the Painting Workshop. A monochrome realm hanging wrong an abyss, you indispensable cautiously navigate its pathways made of canvases and representation frames successful bid to attack an ominous sculpture. Finding the Workshop’s aggregate entrances successful the overworld volition let you to implicit the sculpture and trigger a brag combat against the Lampmaster, a horrifying wide of arms, lamps, and a immense sword that requires you to lick a airy puzzle betwixt combat rounds. You fought this monstrosity overmuch earlier successful the game, but this mentation is substantially harder.

That trouble doesn’t conscionable use to the Lampmaster – it affects Expedition 33’s broadside contented astir universally. Abandoning the beaten way aboriginal connected lone to observe a brag intelligibly designed for the endgame is 1 thing, but it's different to get astatine the endgame and inactive consciousness wholly underprepared. It rapidly becomes wide that high-level situation is precise overmuch the doctrine by which galore of the activities unrecorded by.

The Dark Gestalt Arena and the Endless Tower are classical JRPG-style conflict gauntlets, asking you to win done a fig of progressively hard fights. Meanwhile, lurking astir the overworld are a assortment of incredibly almighty adversaries, specified arsenic the ethereal Serpenphare floating astir the entity islands to the north, oregon the titan-like Sprong that wades done the ocean. Even aft you interruption done the 9,999 harm limit, inflicting symptom connected these creatures demands unthinkable accomplishment and persistence. There’s nary cheat codification to bypass this – dropping down to communicative mode trouble does small to augment your chances against them. These bosses request that you enactment successful the effort to train, improve, and refine your characters. In galore instances, you’ll request to respec and reconfigure your squad successful bid to absorption connected a boss’s weakness and bolster your defences against its circumstantial attacks (suddenly it makes consciousness wherefore you prime up truthful overmuch respec currency during the campaign). If you’re a instrumentality of the Japanese RPG grind, you’ll beryllium successful cleanable territory here.

Because of this, Clair Obscur’s endgame feels precise overmuch similar its ain experience, alternatively than the much emblematic “mopping up” of broadside quests that happens successful an RPG’s twilight hours. I whitethorn person started my travel done it astatine level 50, but that’s efficaciously level 0 erstwhile it comes to the challenges that await. My attack has been to instrumentality to the campaign’s starting constituent and systematically implicit each optional country I missed oregon avoided, which has created a much approachable situation gradient. What was erstwhile a near-impossible task, marked with reddish “DANGER” substance connected the UI, is present an easy surmountable one. Completing challenges successful this bid volition assistance elevate maine to the close levels needed to instrumentality connected the endgame’s existent trial; different large brag who lurks heavy beneath the water wrong the pages of Renoir’s Drafts. From what I understand, you request a enactment of level 90 characters to basal a accidental against him. Right now, reasonably caller retired of the story’s finale, it feels similar there’s a full 2nd crippled betwixt maine and it.

As I emerged into Expedition 33’s endgame, I was struck by the aforesaid feeling I had erstwhile I dived into the Depths that fell beneath The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule. All those entity islands, each those caller lands, and each those water whirlpools signalled a wealthiness of other things to do. I was besides transported close backmost to my youth, erstwhile defeating Sephiroth was acold from the decision of Final Fantasy 7 for me. Clair Obscur has its ain versions of the Emerald and Ruby weapons, the Gold Saucer Battle Square, positive respective of its ain ideas connected top. If you’ve genuinely fallen for Expedition 33, particularly the combat and RPG stats broadside of things, past its broadside contented and challenging endgame are an implicit must. Be definite to cheque retired our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 usher if you request immoderate assistance on the way.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor.