Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Deep Dive Details Revealed at Xbox Developer Direct

Written by Brandon Hofer on January 24, 2025

News: Fans received an extended behind the scenes look at this fascinating role playing game that is set to arrive in a few months.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was one of the games featured during Xbox’s recent Developer Direct presentation. This deep dive revealed new story, gameplay details, and characters that fans can look forward to interacting with when the game arrives in April. Additionally, digital pre-orders for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are now available as well.

During the presentation, Sandfall Interactive shared details about Expedition 33’s development origins, plus several new gameplay features sure to intrigue fans looking forward to the game’s upcoming release. Filmed on location at Sandfall Interactive’s studio in Montpellier, France, several members of the development team shared more detail on the game’s emotional story, stunning art direction inspired by Belle Epoque France, and its reactive turn-based combat gameplay, which infuses traditional RPG mechanics with real-time defensive and offensive abilities.

Additionally, the team revealed brand-new characters players will encounter during their adventure: the friendly, yet bloodthirsty, Monoco (voiced by Rich Keeble) and the larger-than-life Esquie (voiced by Maxence Cazorla). Monoco the Gestral joins the Expedition as a fully playable character, bringing his own unique playstyle to battles by transforming himself into the enemies the party encounters and using their abilities against them, while Esquie is an altogether more unusual character that players will befriend and use to discover the game’s explorable world. Throughout the game, players will unlock more abilities with Esquie, letting the Expedition climb aboard and traverse, swim, and soar across the game’s newly revealed overworld map.

Reminiscent of classic RPGs that inspired Expedition 33’s turn-based gameplay, the world map gives players freedom to explore various new locations and secrets on their path to destroy the Paintress. Outside of rich level-based environments like Ancient Sanctuary and the Gestral Village, the overworld has unique discoverable caves and bespoke locations hosting challenging optional battles and side quests, providing extensive opportunities for players to test their mettle and master the game’s deep and rewarding character building mechanics. Players will also be able to set up camp on the overworld, taking time to reinforce their character weapons and builds, listen to the game’s original score via an in-game record player, and have conversations with their teammates to learn more about their stories and motivations on their path to destroy the Paintress.

Alongside the physical Standard Edition of the game, fans can also pre-order the premium Collector’s Edition of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for PlayStation 5 from today, which includes:

The base game

A 20.3cm hand-painted Monolith music box

A collectible Steelbook® case featuring Gustave, Maelle, and the Paintress

The Expeditioner’s Journal 48-page hardcover artbook

The “Flowers” Collection (six outfits and hairstyles inspired by the flowers of Lumière (DLC), plus six Gommage outfit variations (DLC)

A "Clair” custom outfit for Maelle (DLC)

An “Obscur” custom outfit for Gustave (DLC)*

Fans in North America can pre-order and learn more about the physical editions of Expedition 33 exclusively via GameStop, while fans in Europe and select global markets can visit Laced Records.

Additionally, fans can pre-order the digital Deluxe Edition of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from today, which includes:

The base game

The “Flowers” Collection (six outfits and hairstyles inspired by the flowers of Lumière (DLC), plus six Gommage outfit variations (DLC)

A "Clair” custom outfit for Maelle (DLC)

An “Obscur” custom outfit for Gustave (DLC)

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be available on April 24 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC (via Steam and Epic Games Tore). It will also be a day one game on Game Pass, so those with an active Game Pass membership will be able to download and play the game for free.

If you want to watch the deep dive from the Xbox Developer Direct on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, check out this video.

If you just want to look at the trailer, we have that for you here as well. Are you excited for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?