Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Starter Guide - Beginner Tips, Systems Explained, and More

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has officially been named Game of the Year astatine The Game Awards 2025, alongside aggregate different wins. If that winning expanse has you jumping successful for the archetypal clip (or returning for different playthrough), IGN has you covered with guides, explainers, and wikis to assistance you get started for your travel crossed The Continent.

What Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? Should You Play It?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is simply a turn-based RPG (it's benignant of similar Final Fantasy VII... kind of) acceptable successful the satellite of The Continent. It follows a radical called Expedition 33 connected a ngo to destruct The Paintress, a mysterious fig who wipes retired anyone implicit a definite property successful a yearly ceremonial called the "Gommage."

Alongside highly unsocial turn-based combat, which emphasizes assorted skills and parries to woody harm to bosses with "tells" and plentifulness of concealed anemic points, you and your party research assorted antithetic areas, encountering enemies, uncovering treasure, and discovering what happened to different Expeditions that ventured retired to bushed the Paintress - and failed - before. You besides tin besides physique your squad to woody ridiculous combo-based damage, thing that hardcore players person travel to emotion astir Expedition 33.

If you're an RPG instrumentality but don't person clip to descend 100+ hours into them, Expedition 33 whitethorn beryllium perfect for you. If you solely absorption connected the main story, you tin expect to rotation credits successful astir 28 hours. With broadside quests, this increases to 45 hours. If you're acceptable connected completing everything, it'll instrumentality astir 65 hours. And if you privation to bushed a clump of optional bosses with brainsick builds, you tin bash that, too. Oh and we gave Expedition 33 a large people successful our reappraisal if you privation a much in-depth take!

How Combat Works successful Expedition 33

As mentioned previously, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 features turn-based combat, which means that everyone successful battle, including enemies, attacks 1 astatine a time, alternatively than everyone astatine erstwhile - deliberation classical Final Fantasy, Persona, oregon Baldur's Gate 3.

You don't conscionable hold for force attacks to deed you, though. Here, 1 of the main selling points is the quality to parry, dodge, and leap to debar and antagonistic attacks. When an hostile uses a move, you're capable to property a fastener that, erstwhile timed right, either dodges, jumps, oregon parries to debar harm wholly oregon woody harm backmost to them.

When it comes to your ain skills, these are powered by Pictos and Luminas. Pictos are peculiar pieces of instrumentality that you equip to characters to assistance peculiar benefits and summation stats. Luminas, moving hand-in-hand with Pictos, are peculiar skills that unlock aft you've won a conflict with a Picto 4 times, and tin beryllium carried implicit and utilized with each subordinate of your party.

Builds are a important portion of combat successful Expedition 33, and you'll request to wage caput to not lone your Pictos and Luminas, but weapons and attributes. No substance the character, we've got Build Guides to assistance you plan, truthful you're ever suited up successful the champion cogwheel and stats.

If each this sounds confusing oregon overwhelming to you, head to our Combat Guide that explains everything you request to cognize astir Expedition 33's conflict strategy successful much detail, including the much intricate mechanics we haven't covered here. For much combat and party-adjacent Game Help, cheque out:

• Lumina Points Explained
• How to Parry
• Attributes
• Weaknesses Chart
• Status Effects List
• All Pictos List and Effects
• Best Pictos
• All Weapons
• Best Weapons

Exploration and World Design Explained

After you acceptable disconnected connected your travel to decision the Paintress, you'll get astatine The Continent, which is fundamentally a elephantine overworld. Not lone is this however you question to caller areas during the main story, but determination are besides enemies that roam around, waiting to beryllium defeated (or avoided).

In addition, The Continent is location to assorted collectibles to find, Optional Bosses to instrumentality down, and Side Quests to complete. If you're a completionist, you tin walk hours conscionable connected The Continent overworld alone, tracking down each item, Secret, and Easter Egg possible.

Our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 interactive map is the cleanable companion instrumentality to assistance you successful exploring The Continent. Not lone does it laic the full country retired to assistance you program your adjacent move, but it besides tracks indispensable locations, specified arsenic caller areas, broadside quests, collectibles, and bosses, truthful you ever cognize wherever to spell to conscionable your objective.

CLICK ON THE MAP ABOVE TO GO TO OUR EXPEDITION 33 INTERACTIVE MAP!

We person plentifulness of Game Help disposable to assistance you successful exploring and collecting everything that The Continent has to offer, including:

• Expedition Journal Locations
• All Outfits and Haircuts
• Paint Cage Locations
• How to Unlock Underwater Diving
• How to Unlock All of Esquie's Traversal Abilities
• All Nevron Quests

The "Thank You" Update

Released arsenic a acknowledgment to the community, the escaped Expedition 33 "Thank You" update was surprise-dropped during The Game Awards connected December 11, 2025. It added caller content, specified arsenic Luminas and weapons, bosses, Photo Mode, and a caller situation to explore, positive a fistful of improvements and bug fixes.

We'll person a afloat walkthrough of the caller contented soon, which we'll nexus present erstwhile available. For now, you tin cheque retired everything that was added connected our Update 1.5.0 Patch Notes page.

Meg Koepp is simply a Guides Editor connected the IGN Guides team, with a absorption connected trends. When she's not working, you tin find her playing an RPG, getting Victory Royales successful Fortnite, oregon cuddling her corgi.