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Part of what makesClair Obscur: Expedition 33such a narratively enticing game is the world that it takes place in. Starting in Lumiere and following Expedition 33 to the Continent, we’re given details not just about what is going on, but what has led up to this point.
While we follow the surviving members of Expedition 33, throughout the game’s story we’ll learn more about the Expeditions that came before them, and their unique experience on the Continent. Through the journal entries of previous Expeditions, we don’t just learn about the world, but also the history of the whole Expedition program.
What Is The Expedition?
Starting withExpedition 0, soon after the Fracturethat tore the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 apart, groups of adventurers have been sent on anannual journey in an attempt to take down the Paintress at the Monolith. The beginning of Expedition 33 shows that the tradition in Lumiere is for the Expedition to leave as part of a departure festival that comes soon after the Gommage that wipes out all citizens who are the age of the Paintress' number on the Monolith.
Most members of the Expedition, especially those who took place recently before Expedition 33, will befilled with those who will die at the next Gommage. While we don’t get many canon ages for those on the Expedition, Gustave is 32, and it’s implied thatLune and Sciel are at a similar ageas well, so this would likely be their last chance to take part in an Expedition.
It’s also why Maelle’s choice to go on an Expedition is so controversial, since at 16, she has plenty of years ahead of her, and could easily participate in a future Expedition.
While the Expedition is shown to be a widely respected group based on the reaction they get at the departure festival, it’s revealed by Emma, Gustave’s sister, and a Lumiere Council Member, that the Expedition is nowseen in some circles as a fool’s errand, and not worth losing the people who leave for the Expedition. Emma uses Gustave as an example of this, begging him to stay behind since she believes he would be more useful as a researcher for his final year rather than wasting time on the Expedition.
In spite of such an influential Council Member not personally believing in the Expedition, it’s still officially supported by the government of Lumiere, and while we don’t see it in-person, there’s even an Expedition training academy with the sole purpose of researching and preparing for future journeys to the Continent and the Monolith.
With one notable exception, the members of Expedition 33 don’t meet any members of previous Expeditions, but this doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything that can be learned from them. Throughout the Continent, there are 49 well-hidden journals that serve as logs from previous expeditions. While these are spotty for the early years of the Expedition,following Monolith Year 70, there is a log for every following Expedition up until 33.
Not only do these journals provide a brief insight into the goings-on of each Expedition, they also give a look into the history, strategies, and attitudes, of those that came before the current Expedition.
A common theme with the Expedition logs is that they are recorded in thefinal moments before passing. Sometimes these Expedition journals are fully self-aware that they’re recorded as a dying message, while others are instead just foreshadowed.
Different Expedition Behavior
Following Expedition 33, we get a unique perspective since the journey is thrown off course so quickly, thanks to Renoir’s massacre as soon as the Expedition reached the Continent. Because of this, we don’t get too much of a first-hand insight into how an Expedition would usually behave. By looking at previous Expedition journals we get a more detailed insight into the different ways Expedition groups acted during their multiple failed attempts to stop the Paintress.
The earliest journal entry in Clair Obscur is from the 84th Expedition, the first Expedition to take place after the mysterious Expedition 0. Unlike the later Expeditions, since most citizens of Lumiere haven’t yet been affected by the Gommage since 84 is well above the average life expectancy, and the Expedition has only failed once before, thisExpedition log is much more optimisticthan the others.
Yasmine, the author of the log, makes jokes about the Paintress being a demonic maths teacher, and mentions how excited she is to be outside Lumiere. In spite of this, doubt still seeps through, with mention of howno signs from the previous Expedition 0 can be found.
One of the most common fates Expeditions end up with issuccumbing to madnessthanks to the environment of the Continent. For example, Luc from Expedition 67 details how his team are starting to get distracted by Sirene’s emotional manipulation, and Albert from Expedition 39 records that he’s so unnerved by the terrifying masks at Visages that he’s considering putting one of them on, an act that would end in him losing his mind.
While the goal of the Expedition is to take down the Paintress, plenty of Expeditions record giving up, or getting distracted from this goal to instead just try andweaken the Paintress' forces by hunting Nevrons.
This behavior can be seen in Expedition 41, where Emilie details that her troop isfocused on hunting and carrying around the trophies of Nevrons that they’ve defeated, referring to themselves as the WOLF Expedition. This focus on hunting is also seen in Expedition 62, where Virgile mentions that he’s taking part in a hunting competition with Eugene, and the recording cuts off right before he attempts to attack a large oncoming Nevron.
The journals also provide insight into Expeditions where the team was not able to cooperate. A particularly toxic example is Expedition 48, where Vincent complains about the Expedition leader Jean being incompetent and to blame for multiple Expedition members dying. He’s shown to haveplanned a mutinyagainst Jean and even used the journal as an official record of him enacting Expedition Code 23, to relieve Jean of his duty, to ensure those who died already wouldn’t have died in vain.
By far one of the most common examples of failed Expeditions witnessed in the journals is those who’veabandoned their missionsto live out the rest of their life on the Continent. Both Expedition 37 and 38 happen to have logs detailing an abandoned mission.
38’s Genevive mentions burying a member of her Expedition by a lake, and how only she and one other member of her team have survived. They’re content with the fact that they’ve failed and will justwait until their Gommage. 37’s Laure is a little more lighthearted, noting that she doesn’t feel as guilty as she would’ve expected, since her team never listened to her, and they were mostly killed by Nevrons and Renoir. Shelived the rest of her life on a Gestral Beach, never able to beat the Gestral’s challenge, citing it as her only regret.
We’re also privy to the more eccentric Expeditions. Expedition 47 labeled themselvesthe Drunken Brigadeas they intentionally inebriated themselves to inspire courage to face Nevrons in battle. The log from Expedition 60 is said to be legendary before you even get a chance to read it.
The journal is read by Expedition 60’s William, who describeshis team’s nudist tendencies, and how they’re at their peak physical form, and are more agile and aerodynamic without their uniforms.
Warnings For Future Expeditions
While most of the Expedition logs are just a pure insight into how that team lived before they inevitably failed their mission, we also see how these journals are used aswarnings for future Expeditionsto avoid making the same mistakes, so they have a better chance at succeeding.
Expedition 44’s Nicolas details an attempted strategy ofskinning Nevrons to use their flesh as a disguise. While his crew believed this method would yield results, he warned future Expeditions to avoid the strategy since Nevrons were immediately able to see through the disguise, and he theorized that they were able to sense the different Chroma levels.
On the topic of Nevron flesh, Expedition 59’s Julien warns againsteating Nevrons.He complains that Laure, another Expedition 59 member, convinced them to eat the Nevron meat as they were running low on supplies, but it wasn’t worth it since the entire team became sick afterward.
Recon Expeditions
Even though it might seem counterintuitive, and particularly demoralizing for those who took part in these Expeditions, there were some earlier teams sent out with thesole goal of reconnaissance and setting up future Expeditions for success.
The most notable examples of these recon/support Expeditions are 70, 69, and 67. Gustave explicitly points out that theclimbing grips were set up by 69, the climbing Expedition, and later in the game Fleur’s log can be found which details this team’s goal. Fleur mentions her love for mountaineering and how much satisfaction she’s gotten from scaling the mountains of the Continent and chartering different maps.
While the climbing grips are explained right away, the grapple hooks are mostly ignored throughout the length of the game, but that changes upon discovering Expedition 70’s journals. Led by Charlotte, she records how proud she is of her team for being able toinstall the grapple pointsbefore their Gommage, and even though they didn’t take down the Paintress, she’s pleased that their personal mission was successful.
Expedition 67’s mission was more niche, tasked with explodingvarious walls in Sirene, so future teams would be able to progress through the labyrinthian dungeon with fewer problems.
Previous Expedition Technology
After the departure festival, Expedition 33 was shown to use standard ships to reach their destination, but by looking back at previous Expedition journals, we can see thatdifferent technologiesand modes of transport were used in previous attempts.
Expedition 63’s Damien mentions that thereinforced carsthat they used were proven useless after crashing into the Gestral village. In a more harrowing story, Expedition 40’s Avril mentions watching her teammates useglidersin an attempt to reach the Monolith, only to be abruptly Gommaged as they ran into the Chroma barrier surrounding it.
Carla of Expedition 57 expresses her fear that thesiege enginesthey brought won’t be enough to face the Monolith, and Expedition 43’s Sabine mourns the destruction of theirsubmarineby a snake Nevron, leaving them stranded without any of their supplies, effectively dooming their Expedition to failure.
Vehicles aren’t the only tech that Expedition journals mention. Gilles from Expedition 55 describes how his team usedmusic to enhance their Pictosin battle, and Corinne of the previous Expedition 34 explains that theirelemental-focused battle strategyfailed thanks to element-immune Nevrons. However, she goes on to mention thatGustave’s Lumina Convertermight have potential for success.
Relationships With Locals
Some of the more heartwarming Expedition logs detail the relationships these Expedition members can form with the residents of the Continent. A prime example is Expedition 65’s Aurelian, who describes that his Expedition members are now living ahappy life alongside the Grandis in Monoco Station. Similarly, 37’s Laure mentions having a friendly relationship with the Gestral who lives at the Gestral Beach with her.
Not every Expedition has such a positive relationship with the locals, however, withExpedition 66 doomed by taking the immortal Esquie’s adviceand eating poisonous mushrooms as their leader Marcel damns Esquie, who he calls a talking marshmallow, as their Expedition has failed without making any meaningful progress. Similarly, Expedition 52’sTheo has his skull broken by a Gestralduring a “friendly fight”, and he complains that the Gestral medic is useless as he realizes that he’s likely going to die from bleeding out.
Renoir’s Presence
The most threatening local presence, even more threatening than the Nevrons, is the passing references to Renoir. 37’s Laure mentions that most of herteam were slaughtered by the man with white hair, and 64’s Epsilon theorizes that their radios could be getting hacked in an attempt to sabotage their Expedition.
The most harrowing tale is from 56’s Lisette, who mourns her lost friend Simone, who died at the hands of Renoir, and goes on to mention that they’vetaken Alicia hostage. While Lisette seems confident she’llfeed Alicia to Nevrons in an attempt at revenge, it’s clear this didn’t go to plan, as Alicia is still alive by the time Expedition 33 reaches the Continent.
Anger Towards Lumiere
While there is shown to be a sense of pride surrounding most members of the Expedition who leave as part of 33, it’s clear that this wasn’t always the case. In arguably the most chilling log, Constantine of Expedition 54 describes how participants in Expeditions are not volunteers, but insteadselected by Council Members in Lumiere looking to punish political dissenters.
This gives unparalleled insight into the middle-years of the Expedition, where the age limit was starting to gradually get more and more tight, but it was also clear that theeffort was becoming a lost cause, a death sentence for those participating.
