Expedition 33 Sequel Needs Its Own ‘Gommage,’ But That Cat is Already Out of the Bag

Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the most notable game releases of 2025 so far. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s mix of turn-based and real-time combat mechanics, hauntingly beautiful art and sound design, and equally heartbreaking but uplifting emotional journey saw it become widely embraced and praised. Clair Obscur has gone on to sell over 3 million copies and counting, and is currently a major contender for game of the year.

With it being such a resounding critical and commercial success, it’s natural that many are wondering where the studio will take it from here, and if there will be either DLC for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or a full sequel. Sandfall developers have stated that they already have “ideas in place” for future content. Wherever it takes fans next, though, one of its core conceits, the Gommage, will likely need to be included in some way. But given that the secret behind the Gommage is known, this may be a tricky task.

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A Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Sequel Might Need to Find a Way to Incorporate the Gommage Without Feeling Stale

The Gommage is One of Clair Obscur’s Boldest Ideas and Shocking Twists

In the lead-up to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s release and in much of the marketing material, the concept of the Gommage featured prominently. The term is French for “disappear” or “erase,” and that is precisely what happens to those affected by it in the story. At the start of the adventure, the imposing and inscrutable god-like figure of The Paintress marks a number on her giant monolith, which tells the citizens of the city of Lumiere the age of those that it will target that year. Visually, the Gommage resembles the Thanos snap from the MCU, with characters disintegrating into a dusting of flower petals as they vanish from existence. Stopping this disturbing process is the initial impetus for the titular expedition.

As the party undertakes their mission, they eventually unravel the truth behind the Gommage through their interactions with Renoir and Verso Dessendre, and coming face to face with The Paintress herself. Their entire world is actually a magical painting, and most of the characters are fictional creations kept alive by The Paintress, revealed to be Aline Dessendre, Renoir’s wife and Verso’s mother. Aline’s grief over Verso’s death in the real world overcame her, causing her to retreat into the world of the Canvas to preserve his memory. The monolith’s number was not a threat, at least in the manner previously interpreted. It was Aline’s desperate warning that, as her powers weakened, that was the maximum age of the painted people she could continue sustaining.

How a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Sequel Could Play with the Concept of the Gommage Again

As with many stories of this nature, once the audience has been shown the secret behind the curtain, it can be difficult to pull off another similar narrative device. Along with the above reveal, one major narrative hook in Clair Obscur‘s conclusion is the mention of the Painters’ feud with the Writers in the ostensibly “real” world outside the Canvas. This conflict was the cause of the Dessendre family’s tragedy, and it seems to be ongoing. Thus, it could inform how the Gommage might return in the future.

Sandall has displayed an impressive level of creativity, and if it follows down this framework, a sequel could possibly show what the internal worlds created by Writers are like, complete with an equivalent of the Gommage. While fans might then know in advance that these are false realities, the exact depiction could be much different from what has been shown, and see the two sides entering each other’s creations, struggling to enact their own versions of the Gommage against each other within the proxy worlds.

Another way to further explore this in a Clair Obscur sequel might be to split the plot between taking place in true reality and inside the other worlds, with events in one rippling across another, particularly in the case of a Gommage-like element. Either way, with it being such an intrinsic component in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, there’s plenty of interesting room to expand on this aspect, and it will be exciting to see what Sandall does with it going forward.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Released

April 24, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

Developer(s)

Sandfall Interactive

Publisher(s)

Kepler Interactive

Engine

Unreal Engine 5