This text comprises spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 facet content material. It doesn’t spoil the primary story.
Because of its astonishing, completely absorbing story, I discovered little time for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s facet content material. For 2 dozen hours I stayed true to the mission and pushed onwards in the direction of my objective of defeating The Paintress. Not that I might see a lot else to do; non-obligatory areas and targets appeared few and much between. But upon reaching the ultimate section of the story, by which you unlock the flexibility to fly across the overworld map, my assumption about facet content material was confirmed completely mistaken. This world is a lot greater and extra spectacular than I realised.
Soar up into the clouds and also you’ll discover scattered floating islands, each dwelling to the likes of a gladiatorial enviornment, on line casino, crimson forest, or one thing stranger. Push past the boundaries of the primary continent and also you’ll uncover hidden doorways, wild platforming challenges, and elaborate mazes. And, deep beneath the ocean floor, there’s the toughest boss of all of them. Sure, there’s what looks like a complete different recreation past the primary path, a lot of which is designed to be Expedition 33’s endgame. Clair Obscur isn’t solely a story-focused expertise, at the very least not for many who dare to proceed.
Developer Sandfall Interactive has taken a cheap strategy to facet quests (comprehensible, contemplating the studio’s small measurement.) You received’t discover any of the sprawling facet tales that make video games like The Witcher 3 so beloved. Many of the non-obligatory areas are small – some are even a single ‘room’ considered from a static digital camera, designed to evoke the pre-rendered backdrops of PS1-era Last Fantasy greater than provide any form of exploration worth. For the story-hungry, there’s treasured little past the handfuls of Journals that recount the trials of failed expeditions earlier than you. Small however nonetheless attention-grabbing lore drops (resembling, as an example, the origin of the Nevron enemies you face all through the story) do, occasionally, make the facet content material narratively richer, however this is not a pursuit for anybody anticipating the identical grand story ambition as seen in the primary quest.
As a substitute, Expedition 33’s MO for facet content material is gameplay-driven. But whereas it’s all constructed on the identical core ideas as the primary marketing campaign – easy exploration, turn-based fight encounters, and character buildcrafting – the actions out there actually have a really completely different flavour. For essentially the most half, it is all designed to push these foundational concepts so far as they will probably go. Exploration turns into trickier due to labyrinthine environments that require puzzle fixing to progress, whereas extremely highly effective bosses demand each full mastery of the fight system and deep understanding of how one can assemble your characters’ stats, talents, and gear.
As with the primary story, there’s area made for each the enigmatic and eccentric. Random doorways present in each ranges and the overworld will transport you to the Manor, a grand home crammed with locked rooms. Every new door discovered breaks the seal on a type of rooms, granting entry to the collectables inside. Opening up the entire home is naturally the objective, however there’s extra hiding inside its halls. A collection of secret levers within the eating corridor triggers shifting structure, which not solely grants entry to a hidden passageway, but in addition suggests there’s extra hid within the Manor than it first appears.
Stranger nonetheless are the Gestral-populated areas, the place sentient paintbrush-like creatures ask you to resolve quirkier issues. On the Flying On line casino, as an example, a Gestral holed up inside refuses to talk to any human – overcome that subject and also you’ll be rewarded with one of many extra humorous costume choices. Equally, heading to the Gestral seashores will see you rewarded with swimsuits to your crew (positive to grow to be “fan favourites”, I’m positive), however you’ll must succeed at a little bit of operating and leaping to web them. A number of the time that’s fairly straightforward – a race via a fundamental impediment course, as an example. But one seaside asks you to climb an impossibly tall tower of precariously balanced junk, a feat that calls for affected person and exact platforming, not least as a result of a single slip-up sends you proper again to the beginning.
Combining concepts from these aforementioned areas is the Portray Workshop. A monochrome realm hanging inside an abyss, you need to fastidiously navigate its pathways made from canvases and film frames with a view to strategy an ominous sculpture. Discovering the Workshop’s a number of entrances within the overworld will let you full the sculpture and set off a boss struggle towards the Lampmaster, a horrifying mass of arms, lamps, and an enormous sword that requires you to resolve a light-weight puzzle between fight rounds. You fought this monstrosity a lot earlier within the recreation, however this model is considerably more durable.
That issue doesn’t simply apply to the Lampmaster – it impacts Expedition 33’s facet content material virtually universally. Abandoning the overwhelmed path early on solely to find a boss clearly designed for the endgame is one factor, however it’s one other to reach on the endgame and nonetheless really feel completely underprepared. It rapidly turns into clear that high-level problem is very a lot the philosophy by which lots of the actions reside by.
The Darkish Gestalt Enviornment and the Countless Tower are basic JRPG-style battle gauntlets, asking you to succeed via a variety of more and more troublesome fights. In the meantime, lurking across the overworld are a wide range of extremely highly effective adversaries, such because the ethereal Serpenphare floating across the sky islands to the north, or the titan-like Sprong that wades via the ocean. Even after you break via the 9,999 harm restrict, inflicting ache on these creatures calls for unimaginable talent and persistence. There’s no cheat code to bypass this – dropping right down to story mode issue does little to enhance your probabilities towards them. These bosses demand that you just put within the effort to coach, enhance, and refine your characters. In lots of cases, you’ll must respec and reconfigure your crew with a view to deal with a boss’s weak spot and bolster your defences towards its particular assaults (all of a sudden it is smart why you choose up a lot respec foreign money throughout the marketing campaign). If you happen to’re a fan of the Japanese RPG grind, you’ll be in good territory right here.
Due to this, Clair Obscur’s endgame feels very very like its personal expertise, reasonably than the extra typical “mopping up” of facet quests that occurs in an RPG’s twilight hours. I’ll have began my journey via it at degree 50, however that’s successfully degree 0 on the subject of the challenges that await. My strategy has been to return to the marketing campaign’s place to begin and systematically full every non-obligatory space I missed or prevented, which has created a extra approachable problem gradient. What was as soon as a near-impossible process, marked with crimson “DANGER” textual content on the UI, is now an simply surmountable one. Finishing challenges on this order will assist elevate me to the suitable ranges wanted to tackle the endgame’s true trial; one other main boss who lurks deep beneath the ocean inside the pages of Renoir’s Drafts. From what I perceive, you want a celebration of degree 90 characters to face an opportunity towards him. Proper now, fairly contemporary out of the story’s finale, it seems like there’s an entire second recreation between me and it.
As I emerged into Expedition 33’s endgame, I used to be struck by the identical feeling I had after I dived into the Depths that conceal beneath The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Hyrule. All these sky islands, all these new lands, and all these ocean whirlpools signalled a wealth of additional issues to do. I used to be additionally transported proper again to my youth, when defeating Sephiroth was removed from the conclusion of Last Fantasy 7 for me. Clair Obscur has its personal variations of the Emerald and Ruby weapons, the Gold Saucer Battle Sq., plus a number of of its personal concepts on high. If you happen to’ve really fallen for Expedition 33, particularly the fight and RPG stats facet of issues, then its facet content material and difficult endgame are an absolute should. You’ll want to try our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 information when you want any assist alongside the way in which.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Options Editor.