Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Chapter Three – "Painted Truths, Broken Realities"

Last time, We confronted Aline, only to uncover that the true story stretched far beyond Lumière. In a flashback to Paris, the truth of the Dessendre family is revealed: Alicia, Verso, Aline, and Renoir were Painters creators of magical Canvases that birthed entire worlds. The real Verso perished in sacrifice, Alicia was scarred and manipulated, and Aline sought refuge in the painted copy of her son.

Now, the fragile balance between the Painters, the Canvas, and reality itself is unraveling. Alicia reborn as Maelle awakens her Painter powers, forced to decide between protecting this world or letting it vanish. As the Expedition rises once more, the truth of Lumière and its painted heroes can no longer be denied.

Will Alicia’s revival be salvation, or the beginning of the end?

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.