Summary
- High-level optional areas in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 offer some of the hardest bosses and rewarding challenges.
- Players need to be fully prepared before entering difficult zones like Endless Tower or Dark Shores.
- Some of the toughest optional areas include Endless Night Sanctuary, Flying Manor with secret bosses, and Renoir's Drafts leading to The Abyss.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 features a vast, explorable map divided into numerous unique areas, each with its own visual design, mood, music, enemies, bosses, and optional challenges. The game doesn't overly handhold players during their journey, so while exploring the Continent, they will frequently encounter high-level zones and bosses too difficult to defeat initially. Players need to note these challenges and return to them later, after gaining levels and collecting or upgrading more powerful weapons and Pictos.
Clair Obscur Expedition 33: Best Pictos That All Characters Should Have
Regardless of a player's build, every party member in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 should have these Pictos equipped for any combat encounter.
Upon reaching Act 3 and unlocking all of Esquie's traversal abilities, players gain access to every location on the map. However, there's no set order for clearing each area, nor are there mandatory requirements to do so. Once again, players are left to explore the remaining map through trial and error, as many endgame areas remain difficult until characters reach at least level 70. Below are the hardest optional areas in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that aren't required to complete but offer the most rewarding and engaging challenges to clear.Late-game spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.
6 Dark Gestral Arena
Elite Version of the Arena with Much Tougher Duels
Players can't reach the Dark Gestral Arena without Esquie's flying ability, underscoring this location's high-level appeal. Unlike standard Gestral Arenas, where players face relatively easy Gestral opponents in one-on-one duels, the Dark Gestral Arena pits players against elite Chromatic Sakapatate enemies, which are far more challenging to defeat solo.
On top of that, after defeating Catapult Sakapatate, Ranger Sakapatate, and Robust Sakapatate, the leader of the Gestral Village, Golgra, arrives to check what's going on — and she's not in a good mood. This is the toughest version of the demanding Golgra fight in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, so players should be fully prepared to face her at her strongest one last time.
5 Dark Shores
Small, Terrifying, and Super-Rewarding
Dark Shores is a compact but impactful area featuring elite and challenging Noir enemies — the ones that devastate the entire Expedition 33 at the game's outset. Players are advised to avoid exploring this zone until at least mid-Act 3, as Noirs are deadly foes capable of easily wrecking even a strong party.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - 7 Hard Optional Enemies You Should Leave For After The Story
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 features a variety of challenging boss fights, but these hard optional bosses are best left until after the main story.
Once each character reaches at least level 60 to tackle groups of two to three Noirs, Dark Shores becomes one of the best XP farming spots in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Every defeated enemy yields around 400,000 XP and plenty of Grandiose Chroma Catalysts for upgrading weapons.
4 Endless Night Sanctuary
Only a High-Level Party Is Welcome Here
The Endless Night Sanctuary is one of the largest high-level optional areas available in Act 3 or during the endgame, and players are strongly advised against rushing to explore it. As revealed by the Grandis Engineer NPC in this location, he spent years enhancing the Gestral Sakapatate enemies there, so players brave enough to face them must come well-prepared.
In addition to tougher versions of the Ranger Sakapatate, Robust Sakapatate, and Catapult Sakapatate encountered in the Dark Gestral Arena, players will face the strongest Ultimate Sakapatate boss in the game, with extended combo lengths and enhanced regular turns. Fortunately, the rewards and drops from the Endless Night Sanctuary are well worth the challenge, as is the zone's mysterious atmosphere.
3 Flying Manor
Huge Zone Filled with Bosses, Including a Challenging Secret Encounter
Flying Manor is arguably the best optional area in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, though also one of the most difficult. This expansive location spans multiple floors connected by elevators and is brimming with secrets, enemies, and rewards. To reach the secret Clea boss encounter — one of the game's hardest bosses — players must first defeat four other bosses hidden in various corners of the zone, which can be difficult to locate and easy to miss.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - 7 Hardest Bosses, Ranked
From hand cramps to ridiculous self-healing abilities, the hardest bosses in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 expect mastery from players, and nothing less
While exploring Flying Manor, players will face elite versions of the Lampmaster, Goblu, and Dualliste, as well as three Eveque bosses in a single battle. These are in addition to several challenging mini-boss encounters, such as Bourgeon and Gargant. Designed for a high-level party of at least level 70, Flying Manor stands as one of Expedition 33's ultimate endgame challenges.
2 Endless Tower
33 Trials to Complete with Increasing Difficulty
Despite its imposing size on the Continent's map, Endless Tower is somewhat underwhelming as an area from within. All players can do there is interact with a single painting to trigger 33 trials from 11 stages to participate in, and claim valuable rewards.
Naturally, the difficulty of combat encounters escalates dramatically as players progress, facing dozens of unique and challenging bosses as the final trial of each stage. Most likely, players won't be able to defeat even the first boss trial upon initially reaching Endless Tower, so it's advisable to revisit the challenges periodically to gauge the party's growing strength.
1 Renoir's Drafts and The Abyss
Deadly Enemies and the Hardest Boss in the Game
Renoir's Drafts is easily the hardest optional area in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, featuring the deadliest high-level enemies and bosses, including Creations, Aberrations, Bouchecliers, and Contorsionnistes — all packed into tight spaces and often unavoidable. Players are strongly advised against venturing into Renoir's Drafts before reaching at least level 80.
8 Strongest Characters In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Ranked
From NPCs to party members, these Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 characters can demolish small cities if they want.
However, everything in Renoir's Drafts serves as a warm-up for The Abyss, a small arena at the area's end where the game's hardest boss, Simon, patiently awaits. This fight tests every skill players have honed throughout their journey and will likely require hours of attempts to master Simon's moves and defeat him.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Released
- April 24, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
