Summary

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 paints a story of tragedy, life, and loss, dealing with death and grief as players progress.
  • A major plot point of the game revolves around the Gommage, where the Paintress paints a number on her monolith and erases everyone whose age is the same as and above that number.
  • The game features several character deaths, including those of minor and major characters.

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers about the game’s lore and the characters’ status.

Death is inevitable in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Every year, the Paintress paints the age of people who would then turn into scarlet petals, vanishing forever. The ones who remain set off on a quest to end this cycle of death. In the story, it is Expedition 33’s turn to stop her from painting. It is never easy, and in this desperate journey, players get to see several Expedition 33 deaths. 

Quick List: All Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Deaths in Order

In such a grim story featuring many obstacles along the way, players of the game are bound to witness the deaths of minor and major characters alike. Here are all of the most important deaths in order:

Act 1

  • Sophie
  • Expedition Members (Alan, Jerome, Lucien, Margot, Unknown Expeditioner)
  • Gustave

Act 2

  • Painted Renoir
  • The Paintress (Painted Aline)

Act 3

  • Sciel and Lune
  • The Curator (Renoir)
  • Maelle/Alicia or Painted Verso

Act 1 Deaths

Act 1 revolves around Gustave, the lone survivor among a group of Expeditioners who encountered the “white-haired man”. The first among major Clair Obscur: Expedition deaths is that of his lover, Sophie, who vanished in the Gommage. Gustave was with Sophie when the Paintress painted the number 33 on her monolith. Following this event, every person at that age and above turned into scarlet petals carried away by the wind, and Sophie soon vanishes too, leaving Gustave alone.

Gustave sets off on a journey to stop the Paintress as part of Expedition 33. In a cutscene, he, along with his party members, encounters a man who clearly is older than 33 and yet is still alive. His fellow Expeditioner named Alan confronts the white-haired man about this, and instead was met with a beheading strike. Jerome, who screams for everyone to run, was next to die. Gustave hides with three other Expeditioners: Lucien, Margot, and another unnamed man. Yet, they all fall one by one until only Gustave is left. He ends up surviving and soon reunites with Lune, Maelle, and Sciel.

At the end of Act 1, the party sets off to journey across the sea. Maelle and Gustave talk for a while before joining Lune and Sciel aboard Esquie. While they are talking, Gustave gets hit in his abdomen by the white-haired man, who later on is revealed to be named Renoir. He soon dies by another piercing stab from Renoir, and disappears completely from the story.

Act 2 Deaths 

At the end of Act 1, Maelle runs to Gustave’s dead body, and was protected by the “Stranger” from Renoir. This Stranger is eventually introduced as Verso and joins the party on their expedition to defeat the Paintress. Act 2 reveals that Verso is Renoir’s son, but they are fighting on different paths.

Much later into the story, they encounter Renoir for the final time. The Curator joins them in battle and in defeating Renoir. In his final moments, Renoir talks to the Curator about a son and wife, which at that point would be baffling. When everything is revealed toward the end of the whole story, though, it will become clear that this “Renoir” is a clone, while the real Renoir is locked within the Curator. Painted Renoir dies when the Curator and Maelle force him to vanish.

Soon after, the party faces the Paintress herself at the peak of the Monolith. A cutscene will reveal her identity as the Painted clone of Aline, Verso’s mother. Verso in real life has died and in her grief, Aline entered a canvas that he had painted in order to “be with him”. Verso and Maelle’s party will fight her, ending in one of the most important Expedition 33 deaths.

After defeating her in combat, many more cutscenes follow. These will reveal the truth about Maelle, who turns out to be a Painted clone of Alicia, the youngest daughter of the Dessendre family. Players will learn more about the Dessendre family and how they are currently fighting inside the Canvas. 

Act 3 Deaths

The final Act in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 involves Maelle/Alicia and her struggle to keep the Canvas. Like Aline, she had grown attached to the world that the real Verso had created within it. However, Renoir insists that this is not the right way to confront grief. He had erased everything in the Canvas including Sciel and Lune to free their family from the Canvas.

Yet, with her Paintress powers, Maelle/Alicia brings Lune and Sciel back to life. She initiates a rebellion against Renoir, and uses old chromas to raise an army of half-dead people. He tells Renoir about how she prefers to live in the Canvas describing her real life as plainly existing. Maelle/Alicia ends up defeating Renoir and kicking him out of the Canvas. 

The most experience-defining among Expedition 33 deaths is a choice that players have to make. Players can play as either Painted Verso or Maelle/Alicia to defeat the other. If you play as Maelle/Alicia and defeat Verso, you’ll get the “A Life to Paint” ending. Here, Alciia revives everyone in the canvas with her Paintress powers and continues to spend her energy in the real world to remain there.

Defeating Maelle/Alicia as Painted Verso will instead give the “A Life to Love” ending. This ending shows everything in the Canvas vanishing and the Dessendre family reuniting in the real world at Verso’s grave. Aline and Alicia finally try to face their grief, with Renoir and Clea by their side.

Conclusion 

Many Expedition 33 deaths touch the heart of players. Beyond a fascinating turn-based RPG, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 delivers an emotional narrative about love, grief, and loss. Whether the story ends in Alicia facing reality or living a comfortable fantasy is up to the players to decide. Here, we recounted all character deaths that drove the story forward. Which of them did you find most heartbreaking?