Summary
A major recurring theme inClair Obscur: Expedition 33is the idea of building something better for successive generations. To that end, the titular expeditions, almost all of which having departed on a doomed quest to defeat the Paintress and prevent the genocidal countdown that is erasing Lumiere, were built on the backs of the expeditions that came beforehand. Expedition 33, the focus of the game, follows dozens of similar quests that all ended in failure, but each of them contributed something vital to the quest to tame the Continent and reach the Paintress.
As players journey through the Continent on their own desperate mission, they willfind numerous audio journals left overfrom the expeditions that came before, serving as mementos for those who come after. Each expedition had its own unique approach and suffered from its own unique fate, but these are the most noteworthy, prominent, and successful expeditions to come before Expedition 33.
9Expedition 65
First Contact
If Expedition 65 performed any particularly impressive feats of engineering or magic, they weren’t recorded in the journal players can find at Monoco’s Station. What they did accomplish was no less significant, however, since Expedition 65 was the one that made contact with the Grandis, a peaceful tribe of creatures whomake their home in the frozen north.
The record of this meeting is bittersweet, as the expeditioners had clearly given up on their main goal by the time they encountered these creatures. Still, the knowledge that other friendly creatures survived the devastating Fracture that ruined Lumiere gave the expedition’s surviving members hope, and the friendly relations they established with the Grandis would prove quite helpful to future expeditions, including Expedition 33.
8Expedition 41
Food For The Wolves
If their journal is to be believed, Expedition 41 excelled at one thing, and that’s killing Nevrons. When this expedition realized they wouldn’t be able to reach the Paintress, they devoted the remainder of their time to slaughtering the monsters prowling the Continent. Some, like Emilie, the recorder of the journal, even took to harvesting trophies from their kills.
As anyone who’s played the game can attest, the supply of Nevrons inClair Obscuris functionally endless. Expedition 41 may not have meaningfully thinned the ranks for future expeditions, but Emilie mentions experimenting with techniques forusing multiple weapon Pictos at once, a predecessor to the intense Lumina combos that members of Expedition 33 can use to push their damage into the millions.
7Expedition 50
The Wheel
Expedition 50 was a particularly memorable one. This team’s engineers created a massive wheel-shaped vehicle, similar to and possibly repurposed from a Ferris wheel, and used it to navigate the dangerous Continent, potentially crushing smaller Nevrons in their path. Unfortunately, this impressive and original approach was halted by a massive serpent, who attacked Expedition 50 over the open seas.
The Expedition becamestranded in the Stone Wave Cliffs region, trapped with no way to repair their wrecked vessel. The massive wheel still stands wrecked upon the rocks, as a stirring reminder not only of Expedition 50’s ingenuity, but also of the beauty and peace of the world before the Fracture.
6Expedition 55
The Music Men
The world ofClair Obscurfeatures a remarkable magic system based on Pictos. As the game demonstrates, these mystical sigils offer a great deal of variety and customization for expeditioners to make use of as they brave the dangers of the Continent. Expedition 55 made particularly creative use of this system by augmenting their Pictos with music to supercharge their effectiveness. This sonic weaponry made them virtually unstoppable throughout most of their journey.
Unfortunately, this powerful strategy failed in the face of Sirene. This bewitching Axon’s domain rings with her own enchanting melody, which completely drowned out Expedition 55’s music and nullified its effects. While Expedition 55’s unique strategy may have hit an insurmountable roadblock, they did an excellent job demonstrating the versatility of Pictos, a system that would go on to allow Expedition 33 to one-shot eventhe most powerful bosses in the game.
5Expedition 69
The Climbers
Unlike most of the expeditions inClair Obscur, Expedition 69 did not depart Lumiere with the aim of defeating the Paintress. This distinctly recon-focused expedition set out to chart the Continent and make it easier to traverse for future missions. The main way they did this was through installing climbing handholds throughout the land, making even the steepest cliffs accessible to expeditioners yet to come.
Since Expedition 69 never tried to defeat the Paintress, their mission never truly failed. In fact, givenhow frequently Expedition 33 relies on these handholds, Expedition 69 could truly be the most successful one on record. If nothing else, this group’s dedicated work encapsulates the spirit of the Expeditions in laying the path for those who come after.
4Expedition 70
The Grapple Point Team
Over the course ofClair Obscur, players will have ample cause to use grapple points, slinging their Pictos-fueled magic out to launch themselves over large gaps or up to high platforms. Each time a player uses a grapple point in the game, they should thank Expedition 70, the team that worked to set them up across the breadth of the Continent.
Even though Expedition 70 was mainly focused on recon and grapple points, they did manage to do the unthinkable and enter the Paintress’s monolith, setting up grapple points throughout the secret realm within. It’s unclear how this team managed to pierce the deadly Barrier surrounding this massive dungeon, but Expedition 33 never would have made it as far as they did if they hadn’t found a way in.
3Search and Rescue
Ancient History
Search and Rescue was one of the first Expeditions to leave Lumiere after the Fracture. It was so early that it largely predates the numbering system that would come to define later missions. This team is noteworthy for establishing a baseline of knowledge regarding the world after the Fracture and for countingthe mysterious party member Versoamong its ranks.
Julie, the team member who recorded the Search and Rescue journal, has a lot to say about Verso and the strange quirks that make him such an enigmatic character. Her journal and the one next to it reveal a lot about Verso’s past and his history with the Expeditions that followed in Julie’s wake.
2Expedition 35
The Bridge
Expedition 35 quite literally embodies the maxim of the Expeditions, “for those who come after.” As players learn early on in their journey, people who die in the Continent leave physical corpses behind, unlike in Lumiere, where they simply dissolve into flower petals. Expedition 35, slain by a particularly vicious set of Chromatic Nevrons, used this fact to their advantage, forming their petrified bodies into a gruesome bridge of bodies so that future expeditions could follow in their footsteps and finish what they started.
The area where this body bridge can be found is an optional one, sotheir sacrifice was not neededfor Expedition 33 to complete the mission. But it speaks volumes to how dedicated the members of Expedition 35 were that they were so ready to sacrifice themselves to accomplish even a relatively minor victory like this. Slaying the Nevrons on the other side of the bridge is all that more meaningful because of them.
1Expedition 60
Brilliant Bodybuilding
Expedition 60 is notorious, not only for its unconventional methods, but for the staggering success it achieved with them. This boisterous crew did not rely on the magic or engineering of their peers; in fact, they even eschewed clothing. The members of Expedition 60 focused entirely on honing their physical strength and fitness, and despite the ridicule this earned them from the people of Lumiere, they came closer than any other expedition before 33 to finishing the mission.
Using nothing more than the strength of their muscles, Expedition 60 was able to strongarm their way past the Barrier protecting the Monolith and fight their way to the very top, beating every Nevron in their way into submission with their bare hands. They then became the only expedition before 33 to learn the truth about the Paintress and the Gommage, and they only failed to warn the rest of Lumiere because their messenger was Gommaged en route to the city. Given that the man’s Journal is later recovered within city limits, this last message was very nearly another major success for Expedition 60.
