Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Notes
I initially played this game via Xbox Game Pass on PC when I still had a subscription. That’s where I did my first full playthrough of it. According to TrueAchievements.com, this is where I left the game then:
Since getting a PlayStation 5 Pro, I bought the game for real and started a second playthrough, this time being more thorough than before so I covered the things I may have missed in my first run.
From here on out, there may be potential spoilers. Certain sections will be marked accordingly 😄
6 Jan 2026
I’m just writing a note based on where I’m at when I last left the game.
New location from Thank You update
I visited the new location from the Thank You Update, Verso’s Drafts. I’m just taking me time in this space as I want to explore the different dialogues from the gestrals. The fights here are a bit easy, so long as I either dodge or parry well, but they can hurt if I’m too careless.
Act 3 near end spoilers
Technically I can finish the game already, as the only remaining thing I need to do is to fight Renoir at Lumière. I wanted to level up a bit more before I faced him though, but I know I could always just do it afterwards.
Discussion about E33 endings
Even in this second playthrough, I think I’ll still go with the Verso ending. I know how the Maelle ending’s already gonna play, as I watched it on YouTube after I did my first full playthrough. I initially intended to do both in game, but I thought I messed up my saves and couldn’t go back to the save before I could make the choice between Maelle and Verso. I eventually learned in the PS5 that the “Recent Saves” is scrollable, though… so maybe I could’ve done it before, I just didn’t know at the time.
Anyway, I still stand by Verso’s ending even if it’s bittersweet for Maelle. While I understand her position and how she wants to be able to live rather than just exist, which is her reality, I would like to believe that by moving on from the grief of Verso’s death, they—her and the whole Dessendre family—would have the opportunity to do something more with their lives. It’s definitely not gonna be easy, but I’d think it’d be a better way to respect what Verso would have wanted for them rather than to continue being delulu and slowly killing yourself through going into the Canvas or the Painted World.
I’ll not argue whether the people in the Painted World would be considered real or not, because I also do recognize they have their own autonomy given what we’ve seen and experiences as we go through the game.
But that doesn’t remove the fact that with Maelle going into the Canvas, she risks damaging her physical self more and more. That wouldn’t have anything to do with the Canvas, and if Renoir did decide to erase everyone and all, that’s tragic from the perspective of the people in the Painted World, but would be looked at differently from the perspective of those from the “Real” world. I don’t think the lives of the people in the Canvas and the Dessendres should be put in equal footing simply because the latter can leave the Canvas, while the former cannot.
Either way, it’s a tragic story no matter how you spin it. Even if I say this now, I understand why others would resonate with Maelle’s ending more. I just think the Verso ending makes more sense to me given also my own personal experiences.