The following contains major spoilers forClair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33has made waves for many reasons, but one of its best qualities is, without a doubt, its story. From the prologue to the very end,Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s story is filled with emotional highs and lows, and twists and turns that keep its biggest narrative beats from being predictable. All of these eventually culminate into one of two endings that are determined by a major choice players make inClair Obscur’s final moments.
Shortly after the fight with Renoir near the end ofClair Obscur’s story, Verso attempts to enter the gateway to reality in order to see his mother, but he ends up in the heart of the canvas instead. There, he finds the soul of the real Verso painting away at a canvas on the ground, and he knows that if the boy quits painting, it will erase both of them from the canvas and allow them a chance to rest. For a brief moment, while Verso is speaking to him, the boy does quit painting andVerso begins to Gommage, but the boy sees Maelle in the background and hurriedly gets back to work. Verso then confronts Maelle, whom he suspects lied to Renoir about how long she plans to stay inside the canvas — which, in reality, is forever. From there, players must choose to fight as either Verso or Maelle, with each choice leading to a unique ending.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Verso Ending
OfClair Obscur’s two endings, the “good” ending is triggered when players choose to fight Maelle as Verso. This may not be the choice players initially make due to Maelle’s role only recently seeming to change from protagonist to antagonist, or simply because they feel Maelle’s pain. However, should they choose to fight as Maelle first, they can always reload a previoussave inClair Obscurto witness this ending as well. The reasonClair Obscur’s “good” ending might be referred to as such is because the game’s story ultimately revolves around how powerful unchecked grief can be, and choosing this ending frees Maelle (Alicia in the real world) from her grief and allows her a chance to not only accept her scarred body but also the loss of her brother.
Once the fight concludes, Verso holds a dying Maelle in his arms, reassuring her that everything is going to be okay. She is eventually erased from the canvas, and all of Verso’s other friends begin to appear in the heart of the canvas before being erased themselves. This occurs because they are constructs within the Canvas and cannot exist beyond its boundaries. Their disappearance thus signifies the dissolution of the painted world as its foundational elements are undone. Shortly thereafter, an epilogue scene begins.
The reasonClair Obscur’s “good” ending might be referred to as such is because the game’s story ultimately revolves around how powerful unchecked grief can be, and choosing this ending frees Maelle (Alicia in the real world) from her grief and allows her a chance to not only accept her scarred body but also the loss of her brother.
During this scene, Alicia and her family are shown standing before Verso’s grave, surrounded by flowers to commemorate him. Renoir and Aline, Alicia’s parents, have been reunited after warring with one another inside the canvas for so long, and rather than choosing to let their war continue, they embrace one another. Alicia is seen standing nearby with a doll ofClair Obscur’s Esquie, who was one of Verso’s closest friends inside the canvas and has now been revealed to be as much because it was likely Esquie was a doll that belonged to Verso when he was a child.
Alicia’s family soon departs the scene, leaving her standing near the grave by herself. As the camera zooms out, each ofClair Obscur’s party members, including Esquie, appear on the other side of the grave and begin waving “goodbye” to Alicia before being erased. Presumably, these figures appear only in Alicia’s mind, symbolizing her decision to finally let go of the past, embrace the state of her life right now, and move on into the future. Eventually, Verso leads the boy, who represents the last fragment of the real Verso’s soul, away from the painting. By releasing this fragment, the magical essence sustaining the Canvas dissipates, leading to its collapse. This act symbolizes the final acceptance of loss and the end of escapism, allowing the Dessendre family to begin healing in the real world.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Maelle Ending
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s “bad” endingmay seem like the right choice to make at first, but its epilogue eventually implies that it wasn’t the best decision to make. When choosing this path, after the fight between Maelle and Verso, Verso lies on the ground with Maelle over him as he is being erased. “I don’t want this life,” he says, in reference to the fact that he knew he would just be reborn if the boy kept painting, all while Maelle tries to convince him that she is in the right. In pain, Verso cries out to the boy for help, but it is too late. Maelle then sits with what appears to be an expression of regret on her face until the screen fades to black and the game’s “bad” epilogue begins.
During this epilogue, titled “A Life to Paint,” Lumiere is shown whole again and populated by people. The camera eventually zooms into the city’s theater, where Maelle is shown standing near a young boy who is presumably Verso. As the sequence plays out, all of Maelle’s friends are shown, includingLune and Sciel, who are sitting in some of the theater’s seats awaiting the impending performance. Maelle and the young Verso take a seat before Maelle looks back to see that Gustave and Sophie have arrived, who then make their way to their seats next to Maelle and the others.
If the young boy is indeed a young Verso, it can be assumed that Maelle has chosen to create another Verso, as the one in her current world is getting old.
The next segment is shown inblack and white, and an aged Verso can be seen approaching a piano on the stage. He sits down on the piano bench and prepares to play before each of his friends are shown looking at him — Sciel, then Lune, and then Maelle. However, something is different about Maelle here, as her eyes are now covered in paint and her right eye is missing. This is the same thing that began to happen to their mother, Aline, after she was in the canvas for too long. In short, Maelle’s real self, Alicia, is now beginning to merge with her painted self, effectively making her the new Paintress, the governess of the canvas, and the very thing she initially set out to destroy with Expedition 33.
