Clair Obscur only gets better after you beat its final boss

Amidst all the Summer Game Fest announcements and shadow drops, there’s still one game holding my attention like none other: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Specifically, its postgame, which includes more content than some AAA full releases.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is divided into three acts (missed opportunity not to have 33 acts), but there is so much more to do after you beat the story’s final boss. While you can explore the continent and all its late-game reveals immediately after Act 2, the recommended route is instead to head straight to Lumiere and its climactic showdown. The story’s final boss won’t scale with you, so if you wait and level your crew up some more, what should be a challenge becomes a trifle, especially with how powerful Maelle becomes (even post-nerf).

After seeing one of the game’s two endings (or both — just go ahead and reload a recent save to make a different ending choice), the game will put you back outside the final boss’ arena. From here, you’re free to explore the continent, further Verso’s relationships with companions at camp, battle the game’s toughest fights, and discover several secret story bosses. Clair Obscur has a massive postgame hiding behind its “Act 3” descriptor.

Now that Esquie can fly, there are plenty of sky islands to find floating around the fractured continent — and plenty of them will be red “danger” areas as you have a lot of leveling up to do if you want to battle everything. Thankfully, the Endless Tower is here for that. The Endless Tower — whose location was right there teasing you as flightless Esquie could only swim past it earlier — is now accessible and delivers on its name. It offers 33 (of course) battles of increasing difficulty. My party’s levels started in the low 70s when I entered and needed to be just under 90 for me to finish the Tower, making the battles a fun way to grind as well as to get Nevron feet for Monoco and some high-level Pictos. And grinding you’ll need to do if you want to battle all the game’s bosses (and collect all the trophies); the boss at the bottom of Renoir’s Drafts is undoubtedly the toughest in the game, and will still prove quite the challenge when you hit level 99.

A fading version of Clea stands sentry in the Endless Tower. After popping up during the flashbacks following Act 2, she finally gets to become more of a character in the postgame. Her voice shines in dialogue with Maelle at the Endless Tower, teasing her sister while later offering her view on the grief that has consumed the Dessendres.

Clea, or rather yet another version of her, again makes an appearance upon completing the Flying Manor, a high-up sky island not too far away from the Endless Tower. Like the Endless Tower, the Flying Manor has several tough boss fights to take on before you can interact with Clea (and listen to her theme, which is one of the soundtrack’s best). The version you meet is quite tragic and is good for one of the game’s tougher boss fights, and certainly one of the most fun. If you thought the tears were done flowing after rolling credits, you’d be wrong; be prepared for some very heavy emotional story content at the end of the Flying Manor.

Even down on the ground, there’ll be a few new areas Esquie can now reach. By the exit to Forgotten Battlefield, you’ll find two journal entries that are some of the more illuminating entries in the game. After starting as a filthy liar, Verso may have spilled most of the beans to your crew at this point, but there are a few major events from his past he’s holding close to his vest, and the “Julie” and “Verso” journals will build out his character and lay his heart bare. Don’t miss them.

As Verso, continue speaking with companions at camp. Not only will you unlock the most powerful gradient attacks, but progressing their storylines — particularly Maelle’s — proves essential to getting the most out of Clair Obscur. Plus, you don’t want to leave Noco hanging, so get talking to Monoco!

But not everything in Clair Obscur’s postgame is doom and gloom; there are still plenty of gestral merchants to find, a final gestral beach to conquer, and Petanks to break. Even after credits are rolled, Clair Obscur won’t stop. Like its expeditioners, it is relentless in pressing forward and offering up new content for you to enjoy. While you can best its final boss after 40 or so hours, Clair Obscur has almost another game’s worth of content to enjoy after its credits roll. The battles will challenge even the best of players, and new story revelations will provide more context to the games’ narrative — alongside more emotional gut punches. No matter how hard a postgame enemy hits, Clair Obscur’s narrative hits even harder.