[STEAM] Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Starter Guide - Beginner Tips, Systems Explained, and More

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has officially been named Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025, alongside multiple other wins. If that winning sweep has you jumping in for the first time (or returning for another playthrough), IGN has you covered with guides, explainers, and wikis to help you get started for your journey across The Continent.

What Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? Should You Play It?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG (it's kind of like Final Fantasy VII... kind of) set in the world of The Continent. It follows a group called Expedition 33 on a mission to destroy The Paintress, a mysterious figure who wipes out anyone over a certain age in a yearly ceremony called the "Gommage."

Alongside extremely unique turn-based combat, which emphasizes various skills and parries to deal damage to bosses with "tells" and plenty of secret weak points,

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explore various different areas, encountering enemies, finding treasure, and discovering what happened to other Expeditions that ventured out to beat the Paintress - and failed - before. You also can also build your team to deal ridiculous combo-based damage, something that hardcore players have come to love about Expedition 33.

If you're an RPG fan but don't have time to sink 100+ hours into them, Expedition 33 may be perfect for you. If you solely focus on the main story, you can expect to roll credits in around 28 hours. With side quests, this increases to 45 hours. If you're set on completing everything, it'll take roughly 65 hours. And if you want to beat a bunch of optional bosses with crazy builds, you can do that, too. Oh and

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if you want a more in-depth take!

If you're brand-new to Clair Obscur, check out

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for essential tips and tricks, and don't forget to follow our Walkthrough for help getting through the game's main story quests and use our checkmarks to keep track of your exact progress.

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How Combat Works in Expedition 33

As mentioned previously, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 features turn-based combat, which means that everyone in battle, including enemies, attacks one at a time, rather than everyone at once - think classic Final Fantasy, Persona, or Baldur's Gate 3.

You don't just wait for enemy attacks to hit you, though. Here, one of the main selling points is the ability to parry, dodge, and jump to avoid and counter attacks. When an opponent uses a move, you're able to press a button that, when timed right, either dodges, jumps, or parries to avoid damage completely or deal damage back to them.

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When it comes to your own skills, these are powered by Pictos and Luminas. Pictos are special pieces of equipment that you equip to characters to grant special benefits and increase stats. Luminas, working hand-in-hand with Pictos, are special skills that unlock after you've won a battle with a Picto four times, and can be carried over and used with every member of your party.

Builds are a crucial part of combat in Expedition 33, and you'll need to pay mind to not only your Pictos and Luminas, but weapons and attributes. No matter the character,

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to help you plan, so you're always suited up in the best gear and stats.

If all this sounds confusing or overwhelming to you,

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that explains everything you need to know about Expedition 33's battle system in more detail, including the more intricate mechanics we haven't covered here. For more combat and party-adjacent Game Help, check out:

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Exploration and World Design Explained

After you set off on your journey to defeat the Paintress, you'll arrive at The Continent, which is essentially a giant overworld. Not only is this how you travel to new areas during the main story, but there are also enemies that roam around, waiting to be defeated (or avoided).

In addition, The Continent is home to various collectibles to find,

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to take down, and

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to complete.

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, you can spend hours just on The Continent overworld alone, tracking down every item,

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, and

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possible.

Our

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is the perfect companion tool to aid you in exploring The Continent. Not only does it lay the entire area out to help you plan your next move, but it also tracks essential locations, such as new areas, side quests, collectibles, and bosses, so you always know where to go to meet your objective.

You can filters specific markers on

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by using the filters in the left-hand sidebar. You can also track your exact progress by using our checkmarks.

[/url] We have plenty of Game Help available to help you in exploring and collecting everything that The Continent has to offer, including:

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The "Thank You" Update

Released as a thanks to the community, the free Expedition 33 "Thank You" update was surprise-dropped during The Game Awards on December 11, 2025. It added new content, such as Luminas and weapons, bosses, Photo Mode, and a new environment to explore, plus a handful of improvements and bug fixes.

We'll have a full walkthrough of the new content soon, which we'll link here when available. For now, you can check out everything that was added on

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.

For the complete list of all our Clair Obscur Game Help,

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.

[/url] Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she's not working, you can find her playing an RPG, getting Victory Royales in Fortnite, or cuddling her corgi.

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