Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has formally been named Recreation of the 12 months at The Recreation Awards 2025, alongside a number of different wins. If that profitable sweep has you leaping in for the primary time (or returning for an additional playthrough), IGN has you lined with guides, explainers, and wikis that can assist you get began to your journey throughout The Continent.
What Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? Ought to You Play It?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG (it is form of like Closing Fantasy VII… form of) set on this planet of The Continent. It follows a gaggle referred to as Expedition 33 on a mission to destroy The Paintress, a mysterious determine who wipes out anybody over a sure age in a yearly ceremony referred to as the “Gommage.”
Alongside extraordinarily distinctive turn-based fight, which emphasizes varied expertise and parries to deal harm to bosses with “tells” and loads of secret weak factors, you and your occasion discover varied completely different areas, encountering enemies, discovering treasure, and discovering what occurred to different Expeditions that ventured out to beat the Paintress – and failed – earlier than. You can also additionally construct your staff to deal ridiculous combo-based harm, one thing that hardcore gamers have come to like about Expedition 33.
When you’re an RPG fan however do not have time to sink 100+ hours into them, Expedition 33 could also be excellent for you. When you solely deal with the primary story, you may anticipate to roll credit in round 28 hours. With facet quests, this will increase to 45 hours. When you’re set on finishing the whole lot, it’s going to take roughly 65 hours. And if you wish to beat a bunch of non-compulsory bosses with loopy builds, you are able to do that, too. Oh and we gave Expedition 33 an ideal rating in our overview if you’d like a extra in-depth take!
How Fight Works in Expedition 33
As talked about beforehand, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 options turn-based fight, which signifies that everybody in battle, together with enemies, assaults one after the other, relatively than everybody directly – suppose basic Closing Fantasy, Persona, or Baldur’s Gate 3.
You do not simply look forward to enemy assaults to hit you, although. Right here, one of many most important promoting factors is the power to parry, dodge, and soar to keep away from and counter assaults. When an opponent makes use of a transfer, you are in a position to press a button that, when timed proper, both dodges, jumps, or parries to keep away from harm utterly or deal harm again to them.
With regards to your personal expertise, these are powered by Pictos and Luminas. Pictos are particular items of apparatus that you just equip to characters to grant particular advantages and enhance stats. Luminas, working hand-in-hand with Pictos, are particular expertise that unlock after you have received a battle with a Picto 4 instances, and could be carried over and used with each member of your occasion.
Builds are an important a part of fight in Expedition 33, and you will have to pay thoughts to not solely your Pictos and Luminas, however weapons and attributes. Irrespective of the character, we have got Construct Guides that can assist you plan, so that you’re at all times suited up in the very best gear and stats.
If all this sounds complicated or overwhelming to you, head to our Fight Information that explains the whole lot you could find out about Expedition 33’s battle system in additional element, together with the extra intricate mechanics we have not lined right here. For extra fight and party-adjacent Recreation Assist, take a look at:
- Lumina Factors Defined
- How one can Parry
- Attributes
- Weaknesses Chart
- Standing Results Listing
- All Pictos Listing and Results
- Finest Pictos
- All Weapons
- Finest Weapons
Exploration and World Design Defined
After you set off in your journey to defeat the Paintress, you will arrive at The Continent, which is actually an enormous overworld. Not solely is that this the way you journey to new areas throughout the primary story, however there are additionally enemies that roam round, ready to be defeated (or prevented).
As well as, The Continent is house to varied collectibles to seek out, Non-compulsory Bosses to take down, and Facet Quests to finish. When you’re a completionist, you may spend hours simply on The Continent overworld alone, monitoring down each merchandise, Secret, and Easter Egg potential.
Our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 interactive map is the right companion instrument to assist you in exploring The Continent. Not solely does it lay your complete space out that can assist you plan your subsequent transfer, but it surely additionally tracks important areas, corresponding to new areas, facet quests, collectibles, and managers, so that you at all times know the place to go to satisfy your goal.
We’ve loads of Recreation Assist accessible that can assist you in exploring and amassing the whole lot that The Continent has to supply, together with:
- Expedition Journal Areas
- All Outfits and Haircuts
- Paint Cage Areas
- How one can Unlock Underwater Diving
- How one can Unlock All of Esquie’s Traversal Talents
- All Nevron Quests
The “Thank You” Replace
Launched as a because of the neighborhood, the free Expedition 33 “Thank You” replace was surprise-dropped throughout The Recreation Awards on December 11, 2025. It added new content material, corresponding to Luminas and weapons, bosses, Photograph Mode, and a brand new setting to discover, plus a handful of enhancements and bug fixes.
We’ll have a full walkthrough of the brand new content material quickly, which we’ll hyperlink right here when accessible. For now, you may take a look at the whole lot that was added on our Replace 1.5.0 Patch Notes web page.
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides staff, with a deal with tendencies. When she’s not working, you’ll find her enjoying an RPG, getting Victory Royales in Fortnite, or cuddling her corgi.