Despite the perilous journey across the Continent in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of the most fascinating and friendly characters in the game is Esquie. This legendary deity who has supposedly been around since the dawn of time becomes one of your most important allies for a particular reason - his abilities.
To reach every possible corner of The Continent in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you need Esquie's help to do it with his many different abilities. If you're not sure how to unlock them all, this guide can help with all that it entails.
How to Find and Unlock Esquie in Clair Obscur Expedition 33
Disclaimer: The following guide contains HEAVY story-related spoilers, so please read ahead with discretion.
You first meet the legendary creature Esquie in the latter half of Act 1 after finishing the initial story objectives at the Gestral Village. Chief (sorry 'Chef') Golgra will unlock the path that leads to Esquie's Nest, which is east of the village. Head there, and your first encounter with Esquie is an unexpectedly jovial and amusing one.
As mentioned by Golgra, Esquie is capable of providing incredible abilities that the party needs to cross the sea to reach The Paintress, such as swimming and flying. To make use of them, however, he first asks the group to find one of his lost rocks called Florrie. He initially claims that his "neighbor" Francois took the rock, imploring the group to go retrieve it by force if necessary.
Bear in mind that one of the game's secret Mime bosses is in Esquie's Nest as well, on the path to Francois (seen above). Defeat it to obtain Sciel's Baguette outfit.
After you beat Francois, the begrudged turtle will hand over what seems to be Florrie, allowing you to return it to Esquie. However, it turns out that wasn't Florrie and Esquie reveals he actually lost it over in the Stone Waves Cliffs. Once you leave Esquie's Nest for the first time, he'll become an option for you to summon during your travels in the overworld, initially on the ground.
To start, you can use his sprint/charge ability to clear and traverse areas blocked by blue rocks. This includes the path leading north to the Stone Waves Cliffs. Have him ferry your group up there and then you can enter the region to search for Florrie and unlock the rest of his abilties.
You can also find Esquie at your Camp where he can make for some entertaining banter and also relationship points, if you feel inclined.
How to Unlock All Esquie Abilities in Clair Obscur Expedition 33
Aside from the default ability Esquie starts with to clear rocky obstructions around the overworld, he has a few other exceptionally important abilities that you can unlock by retrieving each of his lost rocks. Once you find one, the game will notify you that its respective ability has been unlocked for your party, allowing you to access areas in the overworld that you normally can't reach on foot.
Swimming Ability
You unlock Esquie's swimming ability after defeating the Lamplighter boss twice at the end of Act 1. The group recovers Esquie's beloved rock Florrie, and, after a sequence of cutscenes, you'll be able to start using the swimming ability in the overworld. As with his other abilities, it can be used to reach explorable areas on the Continent that were otherwise out of reach, find hidden special enemies such as Bourgeons, or even find Gestral Merchants with unique items for trade.
Swimming is also the first ability you can unlock while following the story's events, as you need it to cross the sea toward the isle where The Paintress resides.
Expedition Escape Ability
This ability is unlocked after completing the Old Lumiere section of the main story. It acts as an additional feature of any Expedition Flag that allows the party to fast travel directly back to The Continent when necessary. This can help players looking to maneuver between locations more efficiently without having to manually leave an area on foot. However, keep in mind that this feature won't be available at some Expedition Flags at certain junctions of the story.
Coral Break Ability
To get this ability for Esquie, you need to complete the Old Lumiere section of the main story, similar to the Expedition Escape ability. While swimming or flying, Esquie can use this ability to break barricades of corals blocking off hidden areas on the overworld map.
Flying Ability
Esquie's flying ability cannot be unlocked until you defeat The Paintress as part of the story during Act 3. Once done, you can now use Esquie to fly anywhere on the overworld map and access an impressive number of new areas floating in the sky, such as the infamous Endless Tower. Other fearsome foes up above include the Serpenphare optional boss, whom you can see floating around as early as Act 1 of the game. Essentially, this ability gives you access to virtually all the endgame content, so make sure to prepare accordingly.
Diving Ability
This particular ability is not story-driven and thus can be missed if you're not careful. To obtain Esquie's diving ability, you need to increase your Relationship Level with him up to Level 6, at which point you'll be asked to find yet another one of his beloved rocks. This will trigger yet another battle with his grumpy neighbor, Francois (1v1 this time, so prepare accordingly), and upon defeating him you'll obtain the missing rock as a reward. Return it to Esquie and the diving ability will unlock.
This ability can be used while Esquie is swimming to dive underwater in spots where the water is glowing and bubbling. Items such as various types of Chroma Catalysts can be retrieved for the party to use.
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- April 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Kepler Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Playable
- PC Release Date
- April 24, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- April 24, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- April 24, 2025
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 42.33 GB
- Wiki
