Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Chapter Two – "When the Waves Hide Secrets, the Land Bleeds"

The journey continues as we press deeper into the Stone Wave Cliffs, uncovering hidden treasures, unlocking Paint Cages, and battling the strange and powerful Hexga. Along the way, the Paintress Shrine and the Old Farm reveal both deadly enemies and rare rewards including Chroma, Pictos, and powerful allies.

From the treacherous Tide Caverns to the flooded ruins and the looming Basalt Waves, danger strikes without warning. A brutal encounter with the Lampmaster shatters the calm, only to be followed by the sudden arrival of the White-Haired Man. What begins as a mission for Esquie ends with betrayal, revelations, and a parting of allies.

Every step forward brings us closer to the Paintress… but at what cost?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a 2025 turn-based role-playing game from French developer Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive. Set in a hauntingly beautiful dark fantasy world inspired by the Belle Époque, the story unfolds on the isolated island of Lumière, where each year a mysterious event known as the Gommage erases all citizens whose age matches the number painted by a spectral entity known only as The Paintress.

To stop this annual erasure, the people of Lumière send forth a group of volunteers Expedition 33 on a desperate mission to slay the Paintress before another number is marked, and more lives are lost.

Gameplay blends classic turn-based combat with real-time mechanics such as timed actions and quick-time events. Players guide a party of characters from a third-person perspective, exploring richly detailed environments rendered in Unreal Engine 5.

The concept was born during the COVID-19 pandemic by Guillaume Broche, a former Ubisoft developer, who assembled a 30-person core team and a network of subcontractors to bring the vision to life. Inspired by legendary JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Persona, Sandfall set out to craft a high-fidelity, story-rich experience a genre they felt had been overlooked by modern AAA studios.

Released on April 24, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 earned universal acclaim, selling over 3.3 million copies in just 33 days.