The following contains potential spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 recently answered some important questions about the Gommage, including what happens when someone has their birthday after the number goes down, and when the first disappearance was recorded. Though this information is not available in the game, it provides further context for players to better understand one of the major plot points of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
The Gommage is an annual event in the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 where the Paintress inscribes a number on her great Monolith, after which everyone of that age vanishes. It serves both as one of the major driving forces of the narrative, as well as one of the game’s greatest mysteries.
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Now, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has answered two of the biggest questions about how the Gommage works. Compiled in a Reddit post by IcyEmployment5, the first of these questions pertained to what happens when someone turns the age of the number on the monolith after Gommage day, and was answered by the official Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 account on Twitter. People of the written age or older only disappear the day the Paintress awakens; if someone turns 34 during the year when the Monolith displays the number 34, they will not Gommage until it drops to 33. As such, being born the day after the Gommage is seen as good luck, as the individual essentially gets an “extra” year to live.
When Was the First Gommage in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
The second question – when the first Gommage happened – was actually answered by Clair Obscur lead writer Jennifer Svedberg Yen in an Instagram post earlier this year. In the comments, she wrote an in-universe Clair Obscur journal entry explaining that, while people began to disappear immediately, these incidents were attributed to denial and grief. However, in the year 85, Anne and Gabrielle, two elderly twins, disappeared when the Paintress did her work, proving to Lumiere the meaning of the Paintress’ numbers after 15 years.
Grasping how the somber world of Lumiere and The Continent works can be challenging, as much of the story of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is open for interpretation. Even so, fans clearly appreciate having some hard facts about how the Gommage works – and as players unravel even deeper mysteries within the game, this information will no doubt take on even more interesting hues.
Sandfall Interactive’s indie RPG has taken the world by storm in no small part because Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn’t afraid to take risks that set it apart from its peers. A solid contender for Game of the Year 2025, fans likely won’t want to miss out on Expedition 33.
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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
Once a year, the Paintress wakes and paints upon her monolith. Paints her cursed number. And everyone of that age turns to smoke and fades away. Year by year, that number ticks down and more of us are erased. Tomorrow she’ll wake and paint “33.” And tomorrow we depart on our final mission - Destroy the Paintress, so she can never paint death again.
We are Expedition 33.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a ground-breaking turn-based RPG with unique real-time mechanics, making battles more immersive and addictive than ever. Explore a fantasy world inspired by Belle Époque France in which you battle devastating enemies.
- 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
