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 one more playthrough), IGN has you coated 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 sort of like Ultimate Fantasy VII… sort of) set on the earth 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 abilities and parries to deal harm to bosses with “tells” and loads of secret weak factors, you and your social gathering 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 crew to deal ridiculous combo-based harm, one thing that hardcore gamers have come to like about Expedition 33.
In the event you’re an RPG fan however do not have time to sink 100+ hours into them, Expedition 33 could also be good for you. In the event you 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. In the event you’re set on finishing all the things, it will take roughly 65 hours. And if you wish to beat a bunch of elective bosses with loopy builds, you are able to do that, too. Oh and we gave Expedition 33 an excellent rating in our assessment 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 implies that everybody in battle, together with enemies, assaults separately, slightly than everybody without delay – suppose traditional Ultimate Fantasy, Persona, or Baldur’s Gate 3.
You do not simply anticipate enemy assaults to hit you, although. Right here, one of many essential 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 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.
In relation to your personal abilities, these are powered by Pictos and Luminas. Pictos are particular items of kit that you just equip to characters to grant particular advantages and enhance stats. Luminas, working hand-in-hand with Pictos, are particular abilities that unlock after you’ve got gained a battle with a Picto 4 occasions, and might be carried over and used with each member of your social gathering.
Builds are an important a part of fight in Expedition 33, and you will must pay thoughts to not solely your Pictos and Luminas, however weapons and attributes. Irrespective of the character, we have Construct Guides that will help you plan, so that you’re all the time 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 all the things it’s worthwhile to find out about Expedition 33’s battle system in additional element, together with the extra intricate mechanics we have not coated right here. For extra fight and party-adjacent Recreation Assist, take a look at:
- Lumina Factors Defined
- Methods to 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 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 prevented).
As well as, The Continent is house to varied collectibles to seek out, Elective Bosses to take down, and Aspect Quests to finish. In the event 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 software to help you in exploring The Continent. Not solely does it lay the complete space out that will help you plan your subsequent transfer, however it additionally tracks important places, reminiscent of new areas, aspect quests, collectibles, and executives, so that you all the time know the place to go to satisfy your goal.
We have now loads of Recreation Assist obtainable that will help you in exploring and gathering all the things 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 Recreation Awards on December 11, 2025. It added new content material, reminiscent of Luminas and weapons, bosses, Picture 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 obtainable. For now, you may take a look at all the things that was added on our Replace 1.5.0 Patch Notes web page.
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides crew, with a give attention to tendencies. When she’s not working, you could find her enjoying an RPG, getting Victory Royales in Fortnite, or cuddling her corgi.