Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has formally been named Sport of the 12 months at The Sport Awards 2025, alongside a number of different wins. If that profitable sweep has you leaping in for the primary time (or returning for one more playthrough), IGN has you lined with guides, explainers, and wikis that will help you get began in 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 type of like Remaining Fantasy VII… type of) set on the planet of The Continent. It follows a gaggle known 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 known 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.
If you happen to’re an RPG fan however do not have time to sink 100+ hours into them, Expedition 33 could also be excellent for you. If you happen to solely give attention to the primary story, you may count on to roll credit in round 28 hours. With aspect quests, this will increase to 45 hours. If you happen to’re set on finishing every thing, it will take roughly 65 hours. And if you wish to beat a bunch of non-obligatory bosses with loopy builds, you are able to do that, too. Oh and we gave Expedition 33 a terrific rating in our assessment in order for you 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 by one, somewhat than everybody directly – assume traditional Remaining Fantasy, Persona, or Baldur’s Gate 3.
You do not simply await enemy assaults to hit you, although. Right here, one of many foremost promoting factors is the flexibility to parry, dodge, and soar to keep away from and counter assaults. When an opponent makes use of a transfer, you are capable of press a button that, when timed proper, both dodges, jumps, or parries to keep away from harm utterly or deal harm again to them.
On the subject of your personal expertise, these are powered by Pictos and Luminas. Pictos are particular items of kit that you simply equip to characters to grant particular advantages and enhance stats. Luminas, working hand-in-hand with Pictos, are particular expertise that unlock after you’ve got received a battle with a Picto 4 instances, and may 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. Regardless of the character, we have got Construct Guides that will help 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 every thing you might want to learn 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 Sport Assist, try:
- Lumina Factors Defined
- Methods to Parry
- Attributes
- Weaknesses Chart
- Standing Results Checklist
- All Pictos Checklist and Results
- Greatest Pictos
- All Weapons
- Greatest Weapons
Exploration and World Design Defined
After you set off in your journey to defeat the Paintress, you may arrive at The Continent, which is basically a large 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 averted).
As well as, The Continent is residence to varied collectibles to search out, Non-obligatory Bosses to take down, and Facet Quests to finish. If you happen to’re a completionist, you may spend hours simply on The Continent overworld alone, monitoring down each merchandise, Secret, and Easter Egg doable.
Our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 interactive map is the right companion software to assist you in exploring The Continent. Not solely does it lay all the space out that will help you plan your subsequent transfer, nevertheless it additionally tracks important areas, equivalent to new areas, aspect quests, collectibles, and executives, so that you at all times know the place to go to fulfill your goal.
We have now loads of Sport Assist obtainable that will help you in exploring and accumulating every thing that The Continent has to supply, together with:
- Expedition Journal Areas
- All Outfits and Haircuts
- Paint Cage Areas
- Methods to Unlock Underwater Diving
- Methods to Unlock All of Esquie’s Traversal Skills
- All Nevron Quests
The “Thank You” Replace
Launched as a because of the group, the free Expedition 33 “Thank You” replace was surprise-dropped throughout The Sport Awards on December 11, 2025. It added new content material, equivalent to Luminas and weapons, bosses, Photograph Mode, and a brand new atmosphere 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 obtainable. For now, you may try every thing 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 give attention to tendencies. When she’s not working, yow will discover her taking part in an RPG, getting Victory Royales in Fortnite, or cuddling her corgi.