Reviews

Massive spoilers below for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (obviously) so I don’t recommend reading unless you’ve completed the game.

A Portrait Divided

There are two official endings to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, where the player is asked to decide the fate of the Canvas – you can side with Maelle, and preserve the Canvas, save the residents of Lumiere, and watch her choose to live her life there permanently, seemingly forsaking the “real” world entirely. Or, you can side with Verso, destroy the Canvas, say goodbye to everyone within and condemn Lumiere to oblivion, and as a consequence, force Maelle, Aline, and the rest of the Dessendre family back to Paris. Maelle is Alicia once more, scarred, in pain, and alone.

I found it interesting that the two endings were so divisive that the developers, Sandfall Interactive, actually released a statement to clarify that neither ending was “correct” and both were valid choices. Why were people so convinced that one ending was preferrable, the better of the two? Which did people prefer, and why? I want to take a quick look at both before discussing why I dislike the way they are presented. Expedition 33 started to lose me in Act III, but seeing the endings really solidified my disappointment in the direction the writing took, after such a promising start to the narrative. This game was easily my personal game of the year, and one of the best I’ve played in a long time, but I did have some complaints about the writing, and the presentation of certain characters. As per.

Fight as Maelle

This is the ending that I chose for my own playthrough. The first thing that struck me about Maelle’s ending was the tone – her final sequence is so horror-coded, I was genuinely taken aback. We understand the implication of Maelle choosing to stay in the Canvas (it means her inevitable degeneration, and of course, death) but I was expecting some kind of positive undertone when it came to the residents of Lumiere, and the Expeditioners we’ve grown to love. Instead, we get a finale that centers an older Verso – with all of Lumiere gathered, he approaches the piano to play in the opera house. As the world fades to black and white, the expression on his face reads as a mixture of pain and reluctance. It feels like we’re watching a puppet, forced to perform a fantasy not his own. It’s completely silent, and it feels so heavy – until the piano thrums loudly and we see Maelle again, her eyes already occluded with swirls of ink. Verso plays and we fade to black.

Fight as Verso

So, I won’t lie, I was absolutely bawling during this ending. Verso hugs Esquie and Monoco as they Gommage, and we see Lune and Sciel one last time. While Sciel appears sad but understanding, you can tell Lune is furious – “as long as one stands, we continue.” Lune sits. The Canvas is destroyed. The epilogue focuses in on the Dessendre family, gathered around Verso’s grave in Paris. Renoir and Aline seem to have made up, which feels a bit strange given the severity of the conflict in the Canvas, as they hold each other regardless. Clea is her usual indifferent self, the first to step away and leave the scene, followed by her parents. Maelle, Alicia now, stands alone at her brothers grave, clutching an Esquie plush, while she envisions her friends from the Canvas waving goodbye. The ending is sad, painful, but the music feels somehow hopeful as the credits roll.

A Life to Love?

It doesn’t surprise me that a lot of players felt Verso’s ending was “correct” and the preferable of the two (judging by a lot of comments in various online spaces I’ve seen). I don’t agree, but the way that the writing presents both endings, in my opinion, frames Verso’s ending in a much more positive light than Maelle’s. The sinister undertone in Maelle’s ending, combined with the focus on her “forcing” Verso to continue living a life he never chose, just feels so bitter. There’s no attention paid whatsoever on the people of Lumiere, or the Expeditioners we’ve spent the entire game with. Characters that I grew to love. I wanted to see Gustave working with his apprentices, Lune playing music, Sciel enjoying a quiet moment with her husband. Is Monoco re-teaching Noco the ways of the world? Is Esquie still making a successful living by ragebaiting Francois? Who cares, I guess, since we don’t get to see any of it. Expedition 33, which asked me to care about these characters, to invest myself in their world, suddenly decides to shift focus (my major issue with Act III, generally) and asks me to dismiss them. Meanwhile, Verso’s ending destroys an entire world of people, including all of the characters I’ve become so attached to, and completely removes any agency from Maelle to choose the shape of her own life. But I’m supposed to feel hopeful, and celebrate a single family beginning to heal from their grief?

I think the crux of choosing an ending comes with the answer to a single question: Are the people of Lumiere real? If you see them as shadows, characters in a storybook fantasy world, created by the Painters and living their simulated lives, then no, saying goodbye to them isn’t much of an ask at all. If, however, you accept the Canvas as an alternate world, full of real people with unique dreams, thoughts, and experiences – suddenly, sending Lumiere to the Shadow Realm feels a lot more serious. You’re deciding to destroy the world of people who have lived lifetimes of love and loss, because of the whims of one single family. The lack of care from the Dessendre family was a bit baffling to me – and it made me resentful. They didn’t seem to feel any sort of responsibility for the world and the people they created, the lives they initially made possible. I guess as much as they feel entitled to use it as a personal playground, they feel equally as entitled to destroy it. For me, Lumiere was just as real as Paris, and I couldn’t bring myself to watch it die.

Accidental Misogyny

Promise I won’t be on my soapbox too long. But I do think in our world – in media, books, music, everything – that misogyny is a leak. If you leave certain gaps or cracks (intentional or otherwise), it creates space for misogyny to bleed in and fill those spaces. Just to be perfectly clear, I’m not trying to suggest the writers of Expedition 33 hate women or wrote this intentionally into the narrative, so I’m not trying to criticize too heavily. However, I don’t think they considered some important ramifications of the story they’d written – and how it positions the most important female characters to be so easily villainized. I think this is a combination of some writing choices on part of the game, but it’s also an example of the general lack of media literacy from the playerbase.

No shade to any of these Redditors/commenters either. But I think it’s incredibly reductive to conclude that Renoir is the hero (along with Verso, according to some), Aline, the villain, and Maelle is simply a girl with a god-complex who wishes to live in a fantasy world that she controls. I don’t think this game has any true villains (well, maybe the Mimes), just a lot of very human characters struggling with grief, pain, and loss. And frankly, I find it baffling that the same people who would condemn Maelle for, say, not letting Verso say goodbye to Painted Alicia (or have any say in her fate) easily forgive Verso for allowing Gustave to die. He openly admits he could have saved him and chose not to, and still has the audacity to scream at Maelle for letting Alicia go. Similarly, Renoir is just a family man trying to pick up the pieces, not judged or remembered for slowly murdering the residents of Lumiere. Verso also has blood on his hands from previous Expeditions (namely, Julie), but again, rarely do I see players condemning him for his actions.

Why does Maelle catch all the heat from players, while Verso is lauded for being so complex and tortured? Maelle is a 16 year old girl – a child. She’s lived two entire lifetimes, one in Paris, and one in Lumiere. She’s been through unimaginable tragedy in both, and I think she deserves some empathy. I never saw any desire for control from her, only a wish for the people of Lumiere to be given a chance to live the lives they had taken away. Aline is even worse off, in some ways. She loses her son, and becomes intoxicated by the power of his Canvas, and its ability to bring a version of her family to life. Maybe it was a lack of support, a lack of closure (we are told The Writers are responsible for the fire that causes Verso’s death, but the circumstances remain a mystery), or maybe just desperate escapism, but she retreats to the Canvas regardless. On top of her apparent disregard for her “real world” problems, we see her unflattering (to say the least) painted versions of her family, Alicia especially, making it even harder to sympathize with her position. The story makes it so easy to see Aline as heartless. It requires a lot more emotional work on the part of the player to feel for Aline, because the narrative paints her in such a negative light.

Aline and Maelle are defined by their apparent need for control, while Renoir, who strong arms his family into doing things his way, and Verso, who lies and manipulates to achieve his ends, are not. Aline is selfish for not letting Verso go, for choosing to sustain his remnants in the Canvas. Maelle is selfish for forcing Verso to continue living. Is Verso selfish for being willing to sacrifice an entire living, breathing world to get his way? Is Renoir? Why are Aline and Maelle – presented as emotional, grieving, illogical – attacked for their suffering, and how they choose to express it within the narrative? Why aren’t Verso and Renoir – on the other hand, always practical, rational – criticized in the same way? Why are these women held to a different standard? I know the answer, because I see it in the cracks of this story, but it’s disappointing to see nonetheless. Some of the online discourse surrounding these characters, and especially their endings, is more than a little frustrating. The amount of nuance you can tease out of the narrative they built is far greater than what I could possibly cover alone (or in such a short space) and I wish people would think a bit more critically about the game, and the female characters especially.

Alicia’s Letter

As a final, quick point – part of the reason I was so crushed by both the endings of Expedition 33 is the false hope that Alicia’s letter gave me; her letter gave the impression that a third ending was possible – a middle ground compromise, one that Maelle was in a unique position to find. A child of both Paris and Lumiere, a writer and a painter – a reacher.

 We all wish for our families to thrive. Your family, however, believes only one can survive. But perhaps you’ll find another way. You who have lived amongst us. Perhaps you differ from your father and your sister, as I differ from mine.
Your mother paints life. Whilst your father, death.
What will you paint?
– Alicia

Does Maelle find another way, does she find a unique path to paint? No. I understand this game is about grief, and in a lot of ways, the understanding that loss is inescapable. A sad finale feels necessary, doesn’t it? And I wasn’t expecting a happy, perfect ending – just one where Maelle, Lumiere, and her family were all given a chance to find a way forward. Instead, we choose between two different types of destruction, both presented as an inevitable end. I wish Maelle had been allowed to do more.

Fin

It shouldn’t surprise me that a game titled Clair Obscur gave me a choice between black and white – light and dark. I was looking for the gray inbetween, but unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. The narrative shift in Act III to focus on the Dessendre family was jarring for me personally, because Lune and Sciel become background characters, the future of Lumiere suddenly feels inconsequential, and stopping the Gommage doesn’t matter. When the truth behind the story is revealed, it’s incredible for sure, but it asks us to put the Greatest Expedition of All Time on the back burner, and for me, that was a near impossible task. Even worse, the tone of Maelle’s ending felt like the opposite of Verso’s – the game (inadvertently or not) presents a weirdly ominous conclusion for our Expeditioners in the Canvas, with Maelle positioned as its delusional puppeteer. Verso’s end, on the other hand, is solemn, crushing – but somehow hopeful by the end. Verso appears like he’s making a tough, but “right” decision, whereas Maelle seems like a selfish tyrant. I really wanted this game to present these endings with more nuance, to make it harder for people to choose (and make it harder for them to hate the women in this story). I had a small amount of hope that Maelle might be able to find a middle ground for her spiraling family, where the destruction of the Canvas didn’t feel like a necessity, but the story goes its own way. Both endings felt heart-wrenching for me in different ways, but I just can’t bring myself to side with Verso, or choose his ending. I don’t think Maelle’s ending is “correct” or better necessarily, but it’s the only choice for me.

Both endings are depressing, and while I still love this game to bits, I do think the progression from Act III to the finale could have been a lot better; better in the sense that, Lune and Sciel should have been given more space to explore their understanding about the nature of the Canvas and Lumiere. I wish Maelle had been able to use her unique position to paint an alternative path for her suffering family, and the people of Lumiere. There’s a lot more that I think the writers could have done to make the conclusion of Expedition 33 more satisfying, but at the same time, I think they stayed true to the theme they maintained throughout the game. I took the loss hard, as I’m sure every player did, and the narrative won’t be leaving my mind any time soon. And ultimately, I love seeing all the chatter online about this game and the endings, different opinions on the characters, and how people viewed them. Expedition 33 might be over, but tomorrow still comes, and I look forward to seeing where this developer takes the next installment of Clair Obscur.