Fun fact: the “Obscur” in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 might as well be about how opaque the menus are.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 drops you into a troupe of magically-inclined influencers — led by a very British Daredevil type — on a mission to let people live long enough to actually go gray. It’s a turn-based RPG that sneaks in snap-real-time parries straight out of Soulslikes, and then describes everything with art-school vocabulary. It’s weird. It’s also one of the year’s biggest hits, selling millions and nabbing Game of the Year at the 2025 Game Awards. Once the opening haze lifts, there’s a deep, rewarding RPG underneath. Here are 10 beginner tips for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, resurfaced from around its April launch.
Change party members often
In Expedition 33, anyone who actually participates in a fight earns 50% more XP from that battle. (Yes, it’s one of those.) On top of that, the story will occasionally lock certain characters into your lineup. (Also one of those.) The easiest fix is to rotate your crew consistently so everyone stays roughly the same level.
Grinding isn’t too painful. Encounters pay out generously — often enough to level after just a couple fights — and resting at an expedition flag resets nearby enemies. If you need fast XP, loop fights near a flag, rest, repeat.
Change accessories often
There are two lanes for passive perks: Pictos and Luminas.
- Pictos are accessories with stat boosts and a passive skill. Each character can equip up to three. Win four battles with a Picto equipped and you’ll unlock its associated Lumina.
- Luminas aren’t gear, but treat them like passive slots. Characters have a set number of Lumina Points (which you can raise via items and leveling). Each Lumina costs a fixed amount of points, and multiple characters can equip the same one — great for stacking team-wide perks.
Best approach: whenever you pick up a new Picto, slap it on someone and win four fights to bank its Lumina for future builds. No fresh Pictos to level? Equip the best-stat options and move on.
Parrying isn’t your only option
The headline mechanic pairs turn-based turns with real-time parry prompts. The catch: the parry window is microscopic even on lower difficulties. If your thumbs (and controllers) are suffering, lean on dodges.
Perfect parries are great — they refund 1 AP and juice your damage — but several Pictos and Luminas also refund AP on successful dodges. If the parry window is giving you nothing but whiffs, build around dodge-to-AP instead and keep the momentum going.
Break is your secret weapon
As you chip away at an enemy’s HP, you’ll fill a gold meter beneath their bar. Max it out and you can inflict Break, which reduces their defense by 20% and skips their next turn. It’s absurdly strong. Only specific skills can trigger Break, though, so plan your rotations to fill that meter and cash in when it matters.
Level up intentionally
You can respec attributes and skills with an item called a Recoat, but Recoats are rare. Before you start spending, get a feel for a character’s kit, sketch out a path through their tree, and then commit.
Always stop at the expedition flag
Resting at a flag fully heals your party and refills all healing items — Chroma Elixirs, Revive Tints, the works. See a flag? Use it.
“Every time you spot an expedition flag, rest at it.”
Flags are also your only real navigational breadcrumbs. There’s no map, no compass, no traditional waypoints. Each flag has a name and number, and the fast travel menu lists every flag you’ve found in the area, which at least gives you a sense of how far you’ve pushed through a zone.
Paint Cages are always worth it
Paint Cages are the glowing locked chests that demand you find and shoot three hidden locks in the area. The rewards are consistently worth the hunt — think Recoats, weapons, high-value items. The locks aren’t always obvious, but they’re usually close to the cage. If you’re stuck, smash nearby crates or, seriously, look up.
Yes, fight the merchant
Every merchant secretly carries one unique item. To unlock it, you’ll have to pick a party member and beat the merchant in a one-on-one duel. It’s always worth it — these are one-of-a-kind items and often quite strong. The first merchant, for example, offers a Picto that applies the defenseless debuff, increasing damage taken by 25%.
Trust in the autosave
There’s no manual save. On PlayStation 5, the game autosaves after basically everything — finishing fights, buying items, leaving menus — and it keeps your 20 most recent autosaves. If something goes sideways, you usually won’t lose much progress rolling back.
Learn each character’s quirks
When a new party member joins, you get a single shot at their playable tutorial. It covers the basics but skims the nuance. A quick lightning round to help you get rolling:
- Gustave: Prioritize hit count over big swings. If you can fill Overcharge within two turns, you’ll cash out with a nasty single strike.
- Lune: Light stains are wildcards and can stand in for any element. If you need, say, two ice stains for a bonus but don’t want to spam ice, generate light stains instead.
- Maelle: Build for Virtuose Stance. Anything that lets you play into it is worth equipping since it grants a 200% damage boost on the next turn.
- Sciel: Don’t sweat big Foretell stacks on trash mobs. Against bosses, try to build Foretell to at least 10 before spending.
- Verso: The resemblance discourse will follow him; ignore it and mark targets so they take extra damage on your next hit.
- Monoco: Bring him along to finish off each enemy type at least once. Every unique foe he defeats unlocks a new skill.
Some of that vocabulary won’t fully click until you’ve run a few fights with each character. Which is very Expedition 33 of it. We, uh, may have internalized the vibe — and some of us are dangerously close to turning 33. For everyone’s sake, please go stop the Paintress.
Correction (Dec. 24): An earlier version of this article misstated the difference in earned XP between characters in or out of your party.