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There are two endings inClair Obscur: Expedition 33, and players get to pick which one they receive during the final moments of the game.
After beating the final boss, an additional fight occurs between Maelle and Verso, where the player gets to choose who to fight as. The ending the player receives depends on who they choose.
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Bothendings are vastly different from one another, with one being considered the “good” ending and the other the “bad” ending. However, it all comes down to interpretation.This guide will explain both endings in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s endings are up to interpretation and some players may find different meanings.
Verso Ending Explained
If youchoose to fight as Versoagainst Maelle in the game’s final moments, you’ll receive what I like to call “Verso’s Ending.” It’sconsidered the good endingof Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
After defeating Maelle in combat, we see her start to vanish. As she falls to the ground, Verso runs over to her and catches her in his arms, where they have one final conversation with each other.
Maelle tells Verso, “Don’t do this. “Don’t leave me again.” If you have been confused up to this point due to thecomplex narrative, then you may be questioning what she means here.
Well, in the real world outside the canvas, the real Maelle, who is actually named Alicia, survived a fire. Unfortunately,the real Verso died in this fire, leaving the entire family in grief.
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Since the painted version of Verso wants to destroy the canvas, so his family can move on from his death and his spirit can rest, Maelle is telling him not to, since the canvas is the only way to interact with him.
Finally, Maelle vanishes for good. Next, we see Esquie and Monoco entering the scene. Verso, Monoco, and Esquie hug each other one last time and say their final goodbyes. Sadly, we then see Monoco and Esquie vanish entirely.
Lastly,we see Scielvanish and then Lune. With all of Verso’s party members gone, he walks over to the boy painting and tell him it’s time to stop painting.
He calls the boy “Verso,“indicating thatthis boy is actually the last sliver of Verso’s spirit that has been keeping the canvas alive. As the boy and Verso walk away from the painting, they both disappear once and for all.
Verso’s Memorial
The next scene takes us to the Dessendre household, where the real family, Clea, Alicia, Renoir, and Aline, are outside standing in front of a memorial.This memorial is for the real Verso.
This memorial scene represents the family finally trying to move on andaccept that Verso is gone. This is especially important for Aline, who was living in denial of her son’s death by remaining in the canvas for so long.
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As the memorial for Verso comes to an end, Alicia looks off into the distance and imagines her old friends: Gustave, Sciel, Lune, Monoco, Verso, and Esquie. She even sees her painted self, Maelle.
And then, all these old friends vanish yet again. While this is up for interpretation, it’s safe to say their vanishing represents Alicia moving on from the fake canvas world for good and leaving her friends in the past.
Maelle Ending Explained
Players can receive the “Maelle Ending” bychoosing to fight as Maelleagainst Verso in the game’s final moments. This ending is a bit more complex than Verso’s, so bear with me here.
After defeating Verso in a fight, we begin to see him vanish as he begs Maelle to make the boy stop painting on the canvas. “Alicia, I beg you, stop him from painting,” Verso says. Remember, Maelle is actually named Alicia in the real world.
Verso continues to plead with Alicia, demanding she unpaint him since she’s the “only one that can do this.” He says he doesn’t want to live like this and begs for help one last time before vanishing for good.
Verso saying he “doesn’t want to live like this”, is referring to the last piece of his soul, which is the boy painting the canvas. He’s keeping the canvas alive by continuing to paint, and doing so makes it impossible for Verso’s soul to finally rest.
It seems that as long as the canvas is around, Verso will remain in this world, regardless of him vanishing now. Also, it’s almost as if he’s pleading with Alicia to not repaint him, which we learned earlier she has the power to do.
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Before he vanishes, however, Alicia tells him that she wants to live this lifetime together, since they didn’t get the chance to live a normal life together in the real world. That was taken from them due to the fire that took Verso’s life.
Alicia sits by herself, as the little boy continues to paint in the background, watching the pieces of Verso fly away for good.
Alicia looks like she’s thinking to herself, but we aren’t sure what about. Is she going to listen to Verso? Or is she going to continue living in this fake world with a piece of her brother?
The scene concludes as it fades to black, and we can hear Maelle’s voice speaking. She says, “If you could grow old, would you find a reason to smile?”
The Theater
The next scene opens up, similar to how the game began, with a view of Lumière and the introduction song playing.
Next, the cutscene brings us to a theater, where we see Esquie and Monoco outside its doors. Then Maelle, accompanied by a little boy (who may or may not be Verso’s younger self), Sciel and Lune take a seat near the front row.
But, those are not the only people who show up. Gustave and Sophie, who died earlier in the game, show up too and take a seat with the others. The show at the theater begins, where we see Verso appear on stage. This shows us that Alicia repainted Verso into this world.
As Verso takes his seat at the piano to perform the show, we see him take a moment to look around and think to himself. While there’s no definite answer as to what he’s thinking about, the gloomy look on his face suggests he’s thinking sad thoughts.
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It’s possible that Verso is deep in thought about how he knows this world isn’t real, and the real version of him is actually dead. I think anyone knowing this would make them depressed.
While Verso is taking a long time to get started on his performance, the game shows Sciel, Lune, and then Maelle. As it cuts to Maelle, a horrifying piano note plays, and we see her real appearance —a disturbing and deteriorating face.
The way Maelle’s face looks tells us thatshe’s been inside the canvas for a very long time. Remember how The Paintress, who was actually Alicia’s and Verso’s mom, had a face of the same nature? Except, her face was much worse than what we see here.
Maelle has begun the process of turning into what the mom became, a shell of what she once was. The longer a real person stays in the canvas, the sicker they get and the more they start to lose themselves.
Finally, Verso begins playing the piano andthe ending credits appearon the screen. It’s safe to say this is considered the “bad” ending.
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