Summary
The world ofClair Obscur: Expedition 33is pretty devoid of friendly faces, that is, until you come across the Gestrals. These friendly, if not a little dense, race of creatures are usually willing to lend the party a hand, and even have their own series of challenges as well.
As part of the main story, you’ll need to beat the first Gestral Arena, but this is far from the only challenge the Gestrals have to throw at the party. With a couple extra arenas hidden around the world, as well as various non-combat challenges at Gestral Beaches, there’s plenty of tough side content to sink your teeth into.
8Gestral Village Arena
One-On-One Combat Challenge
As the only Gestral game you need to play to complete the main story, luckily enough, the first Gestral Arena isn’t too difficult at all. It’s one of the first times since Lune joined the party that you’re forced to play with only one party member, but luckily, the series of Gestral opponents that you’re up against are easy to parry thanks to simple attack patterns.
It’s a nice surprise torun into Scielat this point and complete your Act 1 party, but like the Gestrals that came before her, she isn’t too much trouble to beat either. Even though this isn’t an optional challenge, you’ll still be rewarded with a new weapon for the trouble, as well as a new party member in Sciel.
7Gestral Beach South East Of Sirene
Climbing Wall Challenge
The Gestral Beaches are spread all throughout the continent, and these surreal areas are used as a rare chance to test your platforming skills. Since platforming is otherwise quite a minor aspect of Clair Obscur, this can be quite jarring, but it’s still nice to have fun with this otherwise overshadowed aspect of the game’s design.
While these beach challenges provide a unique hurdle, the beach found southeast of Sirene is by far the easiest. Challenging you to climb a large wall and avoid oncoming fireballs, it’s initially quite tough, but once you get the rhythm of jumping between the grips and watching for when fireballs curve from the top, it’s pretty easy to beat. Paired with its short length and lack of time limit, it’s easy to pick up Maelle’s swimsuit from the Gestral at the top.
6Hidden Gestral Arena
After you find the Gestral Villageand beat the arena there, it might be a shock to learn that there’s another arena close by that you can access as soon as you’ve beaten the first. The Hidden Gestral Arena is a little to the West of the Gestral Village, and can be accessed as early as Act 1.
It’s a significant step-up in difficulty from the first arena, but it’s possible to defeat it during Act 1 if you’re willing to learn the enemy’s attack patterns. It’s worth beating all the adversaries here, since you’re rewarded with unique Pictos that specifically give buffs if you’re the only character on the field, perfect for harder one-on-one challenges later in the game.
5Gestral Beach East Of Sirene
Parkour Race
Just a little to the southeast of Sirene’s island, you’ll find one of the last Gestral Beaches in Clair Obscur. In spite of how long it takes to find this beach, it ends up being one of the easiest.
It’s one of the only challenges to give you a time limit, and you’ll need to complete a simple parkour race to get to the end, with a bronze, silver, and gold prize depending on your speed. The course is much shorter than it looks, and as long as you don’t fall off and take the route on the right at the split pathway, you should easily be able to snag the gold prize, being Verso’s second swimsuit (the first unlocked as part of Sciel’s relationship storyline).
4Gestral Beach West Of Monoco’s Station
Gestral Acsension Challenge
By far the most imposing Gestral Beach challenge of them all, the Gestral Acsension challenge found near the snowy Monoco’s Station, and it isn’t too hard once you’ve worked out its layout. It’s clearly inspired by viral climbing games, as you’ll need to ascend a series of floating objects to make your way to the top.
Once you know what you can and can’t climb on, it isn’t too tricky, but part of the challenge is dealing with the stress while trying to make some of the more challenging jumps. If you’re lucky, some of your falls will be caught halfway down, saving a full re-attempt, but it’s one of the most demoralizing if you fall all the way to the bottom after a particularly janky jump. It’s worth it though, since at the top you’re greeted by dancing Gestrals, as well as a speedo for Monoco.
3Gestral Beach Under Flying Casino
Beach Raft Volley Challenge
While most of the Gestral Beach challenges will focus on some form of platforming, the one stand out from this is the beach found under the Flying Casino. This area is home to the Beach Raft Volley Challenge, where you’ll need to repel Gestral projectiles using the overworld attack command to deflect them towards your opponent’s raft.
If it sounds finnicky, that’s because it is, and aiming your magic blast in time with the thrown Gestral has a surprisingly steep learning curve. However, once you’ve mastered the precise reaction, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with any of the three levels. For completing these, you’ll get a new swimsuitfor both Sciel and Lune.
2Gestral Beach Near Gestral Village
Parkour Challenge
For the most part, the Gestral Beach challenges feel punishing, but fair, but by far the most awkward course to complete is actually the first Gestral Beach you can find, and it’s parkour challenge.
Making your way over the thin tree trunks, and managing to latch onto certain platforms feels much more challenging compared to the Ascension challenge, and even though it’s shorter, it feels a lot more punishing to retry. Luckily, it’s not timed, and if you manage to beat it you’ll get a swimsuit for Lune.
1Dark Gestral Arena
While most of the Gestral games can be completed with ease during the main story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the one exception to this is the Dark Gestral Arena you’ll find floating above the southern part of the Continent.
As its name implies, it’s a step up from the first two arenas, and even though you’ll have to wait until Esquie can fly in Act 3 to access it, you’ll need to grind to get the one party member you’re allowed in to stand a chance. Each of the four enemies hit hard and have deep pools of HP, but it’s worth to beat them for the rare Pictos and consumables you’ll get as a reward.
