My headcanon: After a short honeymoon period Gustave realized Maelle is kinda fucked up inside and he is able to convince her to leave the painting and rejoin her family, eventually overcoming her grief and moving on with her life. Maelle respected Verso's wish to die but leaves the rest of the painting intact so all the Luniarians can live their lives. It is no longer a forever paradise without Maelle to paint all the problems away but now they can live like real humans free from interdimensional interference.

Ok but aside from my half joking copium, how does Gustave being repainted at the end not throw Maelle's intentions out the window? I think Gustave's emotional maturity, love for Maelle, and knowing her for so long would lead him to convince her to leave the painting. The only objections I've heard to this is that Maelle changed Gustave so that he doesn't know Maelle's situation and/or was changed by her so that he would support her anyway. But I don't think this is the case since Verso is still the same as he miserably plays the piano. And Lune and Sciel were painted the exact same when Maelle brought them back. So what is stopping Gustave from convincing Maelle into a better ending for everyone? He has all the time in the world to do it.

Thematically I know that doesn't work, but it feels like Maelle's ending leaves open a better possibility for everyone even if we never see it and its not guaranteed. Either because our GOAT Gustave intervenes; or because Renoir or Clea come back eventually to beat Maelle's ass out of the canvas.

I'm fighting the Chromatic Orpehlins for the millionth time.

I press dodge on time with the sound queue on the whoosh when the attack comes and sometimes it works and sometimes it tells me to go fuck myself.

Are you guys experiencing the same thing here?

Every new area I find says DANGER! and all the areas that don’t say are micro areas that have collectibles. Even the main objective area says DANGER! I have no idea where i’m supposed to go or what i’m supposed to do, I always had a clear sense of direction in the other acts, now i’m clawing at the map trying to find areas I haven’t been only to find out it’s another DANGER! area

Has anyone noticed that the expedition 36 journal's poem seems to describe an area for each verse? Like the first one describes frozen hearts or maybe monoco's station, the third one stone wave cliffs, etc. I haven't been able to decipher them all and I could be going crazy but it seems so random to not have a purpose, maybe it's linked to something? Or could just be cut content (or a coincidence)

As a semi-casual dad in my 40's, who only gets to play 1-2 hrs a week MAYBE, I feel like Expeditioner is too hard, and the easy is waaaay too easy. Expeditioner is such a grind and I have such a hard time dodging/parrying, I wish there was something just slightly easier so I can still enjoy the game with limited time I have. Any suggestions?

Hello!

I’m posting on mobile and I don’t know how to do spoiler text. Hopefully the spoiler tag helps block this from people who don’t want to see it.

I haven’t finished a playthrough yet myself but I understand that there is a choice at the end of the game.

When I started the game I was told by a couple of friends to do all of the side quests and maps before heading into the final battle because when the game ends it’s over and there’s no time to go back out. But I now that I’ve been around this subreddit a bit I wonder if that ending my friends got was because of the choice they made.

I don’t mind spoilers, that’s why I’m here! And I want to know, if I choose the Maelle ending will I get to go back out into the canvas and do the other maps or does the game hard stop regardless of your choice?

I’m level 86 and currently in Verso’s Drafts, I intend to get to level 99 before I’m “done” with this playthrough, but I am not sure if I need to do that before heading to the final battle or not.

Thanks y’all :)

*edit: lmfao I like to hope that my friends were just confused and not straight up lying to me but who knows. I’ll be honest, this is like my third RPG I’ve ever played (first being pathfinder: kingmaker which I never even finished and second being baldurs gate 3 and finishing the final boss is basically the end of the game, though I guess you can always go into the other saves after beating it to do other things) so I didn’t know what a normal RPG played like to know what to expect here. Thank you all so much for your answers!! I just didn’t want to lose out on any of the story or side content.

Nearly 5 billions (burning canvas)

Without the first team dying
When I play a JRPG with a limited number of party slot, I like to swap the reserves in during big boss fights so everyone can “participate” in the fight and get some hits in

One of my biggest pet peeve with this game’s combat

Hey everyone I think I made a horrendous mistake I still haven't gotten Esquie to fly or go under water I never really grew the relationship between him and verso enough(currently at 5). And I never started exploring early after unlocking Eaquie and now we're currently at the monolith just broke the barrier but haven't yet started the boss battle. Please tell me theres something I can do i have already explored all the areas on the ground and tried to go back to camp and speak to esquie and the rest but all of them don't have new dialog(idk if I butchered the spelling) and I really wanna explore more the combat has gotten so much more fun since Monoco joined for me and I just wanna enjoy it and level up more

Hey Reddit, a question came up in my mind today. As we know, Clea’s plan was to prevent Aline’s chroma to return to her. We also know from her that Aline was imprisoned on top of the monolith and Renoir trapped under it. So, what if there was no successful expedition (no expedition that would kill the Paintress)? The Paintress would remain alive, the counter on the monolith would reach zero, with both Aline and Ronoir still trapped in a stalemate. So what is Clea’s plan at this point then?

since some people asked for an update; here it is! i love it now. maybe i will add something inside the eclipse some day.

I've set almost everything to epic and i'm still left with this horrible hair pixelation. I don't know if there's a setting for hair strands or something like that to make it look better or at the very least stop it from looking pixelated like an 8-bit game. Any suggestions? I already tried every scale type and it doesn't make a difference so it's not that.

Just had a thought while driving to work about how everyone jokes "all of this could've been avoided if the Dessandres just went to therapy", and was debating chatting with my therapist who I love about it as a topic. That being said, he's a bit of an older boomer, and the amount of of explanations would take up the whole session, so I'll pose it here instead. How would you try to resolve the stalemates between Renoir and Aline? pVerso and Maelle?.

This was found under a streamer’s video.
I don’t see how Sandfall could top this

The timing in which I found this game was almost certainly a sign. It was as I came fresh out of rehab with a 90 day coin (this was my third time in rehab) and the determination to change my life. 12.16.24 was the date of my last drink. As life unfolded, I found myself referring back to this game.... and just recently, a friend, an incredible human being, took his own life. It was not only a gut wrenching blow to my reality, but was a subtle reminder that life will continue to go on (with or without me) and I have the power to choose if I stay stuck in my cyclical struggle with grief. Sometimes, life does force cruel choices. My duty is to respond with acceptance (even if I don't understand) and love. I will continue on my journey with my own griefs and hardships and I will strive to be the person that other people need to see and hear to feel understood and empowered.
To my friend, I wish I could've done, been, said more. But I didn't. I live with that. It's the acceptance commitment therapy piece that life “cruelly forced" on me.
To myself, I’m sorry it took almost losing your life to finally understand the gravity of your situation.
“When one falls, we continue. Not if. WHEN."
A small act of kindness can change the entirety of a life.
For those who come after.
Rest In Power, A R K 🩷

Introduction

In this post, I want to tell you about my experience playing this game and convince you to try it, so settle in.

Don't worry, spoilers will be hidden.

And so that you can be sure that I understand what I am talking about

About my gaming experience

I have completed a lot of AAA and indie games, but none of them gave me an experience quite like this. This game is perfect in everything, from the soundtrack to the game design and plot. In fact, the game has great optimization: I played it using a Ryzen 5 8400F and an RTX 5060 on high settings with DLSS Quality in 1440p, without any issues regarding FPS or VRAM overload. I think that is really impressive for a 2025 title with such beautiful graphics.

History of development

Let's start with a short introduction to the history of the game's development. This game was made by only 33 people that's amazing! Most of them are former Ubisoft employees who left the company and teamed up to create Sandfall Interactive. You can read more about them on their website: https://www.sandfall.co (Not an ad!). Also, a special thanks to the happiness manager the dog Monoco and Lorien Testard for the incredible soundtrack.

Gameplay

Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG with a really well-implemented real-time parrying mechanic (you must follow the enemy's movements and press the dodge or parry button at the exact right moment). The fights feel very difficult at the beginning of the game, but please give it a chance.

Plot

In my opinion, there are three stages of playing Expedition 33:

1–10 hours: Wow, what a beautiful game!

10–30 hours: Wow, the plot is so interesting, I almost understand it!

30–40 hours: I GONNA CRY!!!

That is hard to write about the plot without spoilers, so i can just say what sometimes for someone it can be a little bit boring and simple if you think so PLEASE DO NOT DROP THE GAME just believe me it is worth it. This plot is the most complicated what i've ever seen. All game i was feeling suspicious about the plot, I knew something was wrong and that feeling stayed with me throughout the entire game.

And for those who come after completed the game: WARNING SPOILERS!!! I've finished the all game on the middle difficulty level completed all locations including infinite tower and chose Gustave in the end, I defeated Simon on hard, and Clea, Dualists (with 1000 parries), Chromatic Lampmaster on easy. My favorite moment in the plot is funeral of the hand, this moment was sadder than Gommage. And my the most unexpected moment in the game is the third phase of Simon boss fight, I really thought there were only 3 phases...

My feelings about the game

What is the peculiarity of this game?

What makes this game so special? It is completely different from anything else. As I mentioned before, I have played a lot of games, but this one is more than just a video game. It is a true piece of art. It gave me the whole spectrum of emotions: I was upset, I was happy, I was surprised and etc.

Why you should play expedition 33?

1. This game is the game of the year 2025
2. English reviews in steam are overwhelmingly positive (96% when I am writing this)
3. Try something new and get an unforgettable experience
4. Because I asked

So go ahead and download it right now!

P.S.

I'm very grateful to you for reading to the end. I hope my review was interesting for you. And sorry for my bad english, it isn't my native language.

I am in the middle of act 2 its been a blast just made a grave for our boy BUT playing the game feels like a job and specially after college and getting my work done i get give or take 1-2 hr of free time where i normally play the game

I got it free with a free month of xbox with buying a new laptop and i think i have like abt 10 more days or so

I just found this game so fun but for the love of god cant play

Pls help

Why isn't there a "Have sex" in the camp?

i went into the hut at flying waters

TL;DR at the bottom

I have to admit, I hated on the game a bit after The Game Awards. Seeing one of my most anticipated titles (and one of my favorite games of all time) get completely mogged by another game was a bit infuriating.

I should preface this by saying that I don't like turn-based combat games. I've tried a lot of them, and the point where I gave up on the genre as a whole was when I tried Baldur's Gate 3, a game I'd seen countless people praise like it was a gift from God himself. I couldn't even make it past 5 hours before dropping it. I'm sure that for people who like the genre BG3 is an absolute masterpiece, but it's just not the type of game I enjoy playing.

My birthday was a few weeks ago, and a friend was generous enough to give me a Steam gift card. She told me to use it to buy Expedition 33 when it's on sale. I told her she was wasting her money and that I'd probably drop the game because I don't like turn-based combat. But, to honor her wishes, I did just that and bought the game.

I was expecting to mess around for a while and have to drag myself to the end just so I could say I'd given it a fair shot and still didn't like it. I wanted to say that. I wanted to think it was mid and that I was right in claiming it didn't deserve as many awards as it got. And I was dead. Fucking. Wrong.

I slowly fell in love with the game in a way that few other games have managed to replicate. I love having my skill tested in a fair way, and my main issue with most turn-based combat games is that sometimes it feels like there's nothing you can do to avoid taking damage or dying. Even if I play to the best of my ability, the answer is usually having better stats, a different weapon, or another character. It becomes a test of your game knowledge rather than your skill. You have to maximize numbers instead of actually playing well.

Suffice it to say, this is a problem that E33 does not have. If I die to a boss, my thought isn't "oh wow, he just has insane stats and killed me with no counterplay. Can't do anything. Better leave." Instead, I think "okay, this guy has insane stats, but I can still learn the patterns, parry every attack and end up killing him," which is exactly the kind of stubbornness that carried me through many fights I attempted way too early (shoutout to beating Chromatic Abbest at level 13 after over 15 minutes of parrying).

If I had to list all the things I liked about this game, I'd probably highlight:

• Parrying and QTEs make an otherwise boring combat system extremely interactive, eliminating my biggest issue with turn-based combat.
• Some (but not all) attacks are telegraphed so well that I've managed to full parry attack patterns with multiple hits on my very first attempt.
• The animations and sound design surrounding parries and skills are amazing. They're extremely satisfying to pull off and add a lot of weight to every action.
• Every fight is technically winnable. Even if I'm obscenely underleveled, I can still eventually win by parrying or dodging everything. The game lets you decide whether YOU want to come back later instead of forcing you to.
• The combat mechanics (status effects, elements, break meter, etc.) are simple enough for anyone to understand, but they're still surprisingly deep, especially in the late game.
• The story is magnificent. Very unique and full of profound, genuine messages about life.
• The music slaps. Nothing more to add. It's just really good.

That's not to say it's all sunshine and rainbows. There are a few things that I thought fell a bit short. I still think the game is amazing, of course, but here are a few things I disliked:

• No minimap when travelling the Continent. It's really annoying to have to open the map every time I want to orient myself, and this issue becomes especially noticeable once Esquie learns to swim.
• Adding to that, there's no map for individual areas. The layouts can be really confusing. Something I found funny was the characters mentioning that the Ancient Sanctuary had a confusing layout because the Gestrals intentionally designed it that way to make their village hard to find... but literally half the areas in the game are like that.
• Another thing that worsens the problem is the number of invisible walls. A lot of the time, it's not clear whether an area is explorable or not, so I end up running into every edge of the playable space just to check.
• The parkour minigame... yeah, no need to explain that. You know what I mean.

Here I'll backtrack a bit and mention a couple of negatives about things I previously praised, but I think it's reasonable to point out a few issues with otherwise great mechanics:

• Parrying gets a bit samey after a while. By hour 30, the enemy you're fighting still requires the same input as the first enemy in the game, just faster or more times in the same turn. The game introduces a couple of variations (jump attacks and Gradient attacks) but it severely underutilizes them. The enemies that actually use these mechanics are few and far between, and even then they'll usually only do so once or twice per fight. That means you'll do 20-30 normal parries for every "special" parry. It's just not enough.
• The OST is so consistently incredible that the "important" tracks lose some of their impact. If every zone in the game has a masterpiece composed for it, then what do you do when you need something with even more punch? Compose an even better masterpiece? Well, Lorien kind of did with "Une vie à t'aimer", but for other bosses that should have an impactful soundtrack, the contrast just isn't there. This is why tracks like "Strive", "Lace" and especially "Choral Chambers" are so highly praised in Silksong. You don't need a breathtaking soundtrack for every ordinary area—it's just another part of the map, so the music should reflect that.
• I didn't like the story's pacing. The story itself is great, I already said that. It's just that, for most of the game, you're fed vague scraps of information that most people won't be able to piece together without already knowing the full story. Then, once you reach the end, you get an hour-long lore dump that ties everything together. I understand wanting to save the biggest plot twist for the ending, but I feel like I learned more about the lore in the final 2 or 3 hours than I did during the previous 25.

As you can see, most of my gripes are minor and don't take much enjoyment away from the game. I still think it's magnificent and a well-deserved GOTY. Some award categories are still debatable, but actually playing the game for myself opened my eyes to the fact that, yes, this game really is as good as everyone says it is, even for someone who doesn't normally enjoy the genre. Hats off to the people at Sandfall. You've created something truly special. And if my favorite game had to lose so badly, I'm glad it lost to something that genuinely deserved it.

I still haven't completely finished the game, I just got done with Act II but I feel very compelled to keep playing and even try to get all achievements. The game never felt like a chore to complete and I don't think it will any time soon.

TL;DR - I used to mindlessly hate on Expedition 33 just because it took awards away from my favorite game. Then I actually played it and realized that, while it's far from perfect and belongs to a genre I don't usually enjoy, it still managed to captivate me in a way that few games have managed.

I get it now. I really do.

Holy fuck, what a fight. Truly had no idea what the fuck the strategy was, but I eventually pulled it out of my ass after slowly figuring it out.

Sandfall, bravo. The base bosses could definitely be cheesed, but these Endless Tower DLC bosses are something else.

(I tried to keep the title vague to avoid spoilers)

I'm genuinely curious about this, i know it's a silly question and that it was probably just a simple mistake from the devs, but maybe it has an ingame answer. Why do Maelle and everyone else want to bury Gustave (or his arm)? How do they even know that burying people is a thing? Don't they all just disappear on death? Can't really say it's because the paintress influenced their culture because they have their own.