Summary

  • Sandfall Interactive launched Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in April 2025, telling the tale of expeditioners on a desperate quest to defeat the painter and end a cursed ritual.
  • The turn-based RPG offers a rich fantasy world, immersive lore and storytelling, and complex mechanics that require mastery for easier progress.
  • This Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Beginner Guide provides players with tips, tricks, and advanced knowledge that will make gameplay less challenging.

The world of Sandfall Interactive’s turn-based role-playing game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, teems with mystery and magic. Here, exploration and combat propels you toward your main goal: to defeat the Paintress and break her cycle of death. Figuring out the game’s complex mechanics allows you to embark on this quest without too much hassle. If you want a smoother playing experience, check out this Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Beginner Guide to get you started.

Exploration

Exploring and navigating the continent is a fundamental mechanic that will lead you to new areas, quests, and other discoveries. At first, you’ll only be able to travel Clair Obscur’s Belle Epoque France-inspired world by foot. However, it won’t be long until you unlock Esquie, which will then improve your land mobility and even unlock aquatic and aerial travel later on.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Beginner Guide Exploration Tips:

    • Look for Paint Cages, which are locked chests with valuable loot inside. They can be opened after shooting three hidden locks near the area. Break some crates and objects or carefully scan your surroundings to find the locks.
    • Chase Petanks and defeat them for drops that can be used to upgrade weapons and characters.
    • Collect Lost Gestrals to unlock rewards and gain an ability to break Paint Spikes.
    • Try to explore each area to unlock side quests, solve puzzles, and encounter hidden rewards before moving on with the main story.
    • Camp to rest and interact with expedition members. You can do this by pressing D-Down on the world map.

During exploration, you’ll come upon Expedition Flags, which are checkpoints that restore your party’s health. They also serve as fast travel points to help you navigate the map easily.

Combat

In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, combat is a hybrid experience, combining turn-based mechanics with real-time combat. This allows players to plan ahead and strategize as well as actively control their characters during fights. This Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 beginner guide will tell you how the turn-based and real-time combat work together.

The turn-based aspect allows your characters to go first or get as many turns as possible depending on their speed. During your turn, your characters can:

  • Use regular attacks
  • Spend AP (Action Points) on skills
  • Use Free Aim shots to target weak points
  • Deploy items like Healing Tints

When enemies attack, you must react in real-time by:

  • Dodging (B button): Easier but less rewarding
  • Parrying (RB button): Trickier timing but grants +1 AP and counterattack opportunities
  • Jumping (A button): For specific enemy attacks
  • Using Gradient Counters: For powerful enemy moves

Pay attention to enemy attack patterns and elemental weaknesses. Breaking shields and exploiting weaknesses are key to victory.

Characters and Party

6 characters are officially in your Expedition party, but you can only deploy 3 of them in your active party. You can, however, rotate them regularly to keep everyone’s level balanced, as only those in your active party will be able to gain experience.

If all your 3 active party members fall in battle, the remaining ones in your party can continue combat in their stead. You can also arrange your party according to enemies to cover multiple damage types.

Beginner guide to every Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 characters and their abilities:

  • Gustave: Builds Charges for powerful Overcharge attacks that can Break enemies
  • Lune: Manipulates Elemental Stains to trigger specific effects, deal damage, and support teammates
  • Maelle: Switches between three different combat Stances, each with its own unique effect
  • Sciel: Generates Sun and Moon Charges through the Foretell system and can enter a Twilight state which dramatically buffs her
  • Verso: Accumulates Perfection to increase Rank, subsequently boosting his damage. Taking damage instead reduces Rank.
  • Monoco: Uses the Bestial Wheel to empower different abilities through switching between different masks

Progression System

This Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Beginner Guide wouldn’t be complete without explaining the key progression systems:

Attributes and Weapons

Each character earns 3 attribute points per level to distribute among:

  • Vitality: Increases health
  • Might: Boosts attack power
  • Agility: Enhances speed and defense
  • Defense: Improves defense and critical rate
  • Luck: Affects critical rate and other factors

Weapons have elemental types and scaling factors (D→C→B→A→S) that determine how much benefit they receive from your attributes. Upgrade weapons at camp using Chroma Catalysts.

Pictos and Luminas

Pictos are equippable accessories that provide stat boosts and special effects. Each character can equip three Pictos, and after winning four battles with a Picto equipped, you unlock its Lumina.

Luminas are passive abilities that can be equipped using Lumina Points. Unlike Pictos, multiple characters can use the same Lumina effects, allowing you to stack powerful bonuses across your team.

Conclusion

This Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 beginner guide should equip RPG fans and even complete newcomers alike with vital information. The game gives a pretty comprehensive tutorial to walk players through basic mechanics and will allow you to better master them. This guide prepares you with tips in advance and an overview of the most crucial game aspects. Are you ready to embark on the grim journey to stop the Paintress?