You knew it was coming, but it still felt pretty good to see Clair Obscur sweeping The Game Awards. From composer Lorien Testard and lead vocalist Alice Duport-Percier winning Best Soundtrack to the nervousness of Guillaume Broche accepting Best Direction and eventually Game of the Year, it was a lovely night overall. Of course, Sandfall Interactive didn’t just leave things on that note and released the game’s major free update before the show went off the air.
Simply titled “Thank You,” this is less of a patch with some new content and more like free DLC. And, above all else, it’s fantastic. Let’s dive into everything great about this, starting with the new area. Light spoilers follow for certain bosses if you have yet to explore much of the game, but we’ll keep story spoilers to a minimum.
Definitely on the larger side compared to many others in the game, it’s considered one of the oldest parts of the world, and it’s easy to see why. Upon entering, it feels like paint is scattered haphazardly in places; other spots feature simpler, child-like patterns. It’s not long before you’re introduced to the gorgeously bizarre landscape as a whole, teeming with lollipops, balloons, and the giant stone face of Esquie in the distance. Even the save point flag isn’t a traditional Expedition banner, but one of a familiar-looking boy and his dog, playing.
Further exploration yields even more incredible sights. Gestrals are simply hanging out in the resort-like surroundings. Esquie-shaped flowers blooming all over the place. Even a joyous carousel that each party member can take turns riding on (unlocking some neat outfits and hairstyles as a result). A lone piano awaits in a treehouse. It’s almost like a vacation away from the main game, which makes sense given its purpose as a hideout.
There are still plenty of threats awaiting, though, as the upbeat music twists into something more melancholic whenever danger is near. New Chromatic enemeis await, which introduce the cotton candy-styled Barbapapa effect. Any character afflicted by this has their skill damage reduced to 1 for the next hit. So if you’re using any multi-hit skills – Crystal Crush with Lune, for example – the first hit will only deal 1 damage. If you have four stacks, then it can effectively neutralize the former’s entire combo.
Fortunately, new Pictos and weapons abound to provide some advantages and new build-crafting possibilities. They start simple enough, like automatically consuming a Healing Tint if your health drops below 50 percent or inflicting Slow with basic attacks for one turn. Then you have truly insane stuff, like consuming three Gradient Charges to deal 200 percent more damage for that turn. Don’t worry about building the Gradient bar either – equip Gradient Parry and voila, five percent earned with each successful parry (and there’s a lot of parrying to do in this DLC).
The weapons are no joke either, including Duollison for Sciel, which allows Free Aims to apply one Foretell. Execute a Base Attack, and you’ll deal 50 percent more damage per Foretell Consumed. Do this during the Twilight phase, and that Foretell won’t be consumed, allowing you to effectively scale damage for your Base Attack. Don’t even get me started on Esquim for Lune, which converts all Stains generated from Base Attacks into Dark Stains – if you have four of them active, your next Skill consumes them all to deal 300 percent more damage. Combine that with everything else, and suddenly, Lune becomes the nuke, wiping out bosses left and right.
Though that may not necessarily apply to the newest bosses. Osquio will probably be the first if you go through the new area first, and while he won’t deal too much damage for late-game characters, parrying his attacks and avoiding the Barbapapa status for those big, damaging skills is vital. Of course, this entire exercise is more whimsical than life-threatening, but it’s still great for sharpening your skills if you haven’t played in a while.
If you choose to explore the new area further, you’ll discover hidden puzzles, and some funny conversations with Gestrals. But if it’s a greater challenge you want, head on over to the Endless Tower where four new bosses await.
And they’re definitely no joke. Remember the Duolliste boss that wiped out many expeditions before yours? How about fighting two at once? To clarify, you’re not just fighting two of them – they’re both almost constantly attacking at the same time, and the combos are long. Of course, they’ll seem like a mercy when you encounter the Chromatic Lampmaster, whose lamp trial and projectiles remain as obnoxious as ever.
You’ll also fight a stronger version of a boss from the Flying Manor, which ups the memory game aspect of its regular version by only allowing you to deal damage if you successfully counterattack. However, all of them pale in comparison to Simon, the Divergent Star. As a stronger version of the strongest post-game boss, every single aspect of this fight is a test of your utmost parrying and jumping skills. Of course, you’ll also need some of the strongest weapons, skills and Pictos in the game to stand a chance. A truly fitting test for some of the most broken builds out there.
Even if you don’t challenge what’s now the toughest content in the game, this update offers a lot in terms of quality-of-life features and new additions. Photo Mode is one, finally allowing you to capture the game’s gorgeous art direction and characters from every angle. You can also finally save multiple Lumina loadouts instead of manually swapping them out depending on the boss. Other outfits and hairstyles lie waiting to be discovered, and if you haven’t had a chance to mop all the content, there are plenty of additional resources, like Chroma Catalysts and Lumina Points, to power up your party.
Adding on to all this is FSR 4 upscaling and Frame Generation support for smoother performance, input remapping for more comfortable play, and even an option to scale the HUD’s elements. Combined with Steam Deck and ROG Xbox Ally verification – alongside other tweaks like adjusted graphics settings, turning off VSync, and better text legibility- and Clair Obscur is now even better to play on the go.
What’s interesting about this update is that it feels like a send-off of sorts for the title that captured so many hearts and minds throughout the year. The overarching universe will no doubt continue – it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Sandfall wanted to expand Clair Obscur to encompass other mediums and emotions. But there’s a celebration to all of this and, more importantly, an appreciation, which is still funny considering that the development team essentially gave away a DLC-sized update for free.
With the new year upon us and many more hyped titles to come, it’s worth looking back at what Clair Obscur accomplished. From an underdog releasing in the shadow of a much bigger franchise to a universally beloved RPG and now a record-setting Game of the Year winner, it’s something special that comes around only so often. Here’s hoping it’s only the beginning of Sandfall’s legacy and the cornerstone for many more excellent RPGs to come.
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