Interesting fact: “Obscur” in Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 this is a reference to how confusing all of the game's menus and systems are.
Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 brings you a group of magical Instagram influencers, led by Britain's Daredevil, with a mission to allow everyone in the world to become old enough to have gray hair. It's a turn-based RPG, but it also features Soulslikes-inspired real-time parrying, and this confusing mix of gameplay is encased in a lexicon that seems straight out of art school.
It's one of the biggest games of the year, selling millions of copies and winning Game of the Year at the Game Awards 2025. The game is a little off-putting at first, but once you download it, you'll discover a rich, engaging RPG experience that's unlike many other modern games. Below are 10 tips for beginners Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33, have resurfaced since the original publication date around the game's April release.
Change party members frequently
IN Expedition 33your party members receive 50% more experience points in battle if they took part in it. (Yes, this is one of those games.) Additionally, there are several points where the game forces you to keep certain characters in your party. (This is one of those games too.) The simplest solution to both of these problems? Rotate your party members frequently and do your best to keep them all at the same level or so.
The good news is that if you need to grind, it happens pretty quickly. Battles provide a generous amount of experience, which is often enough to level up after two or three battles. And you can reset area enemies by resting at the expedition flag – the checkpoints that fill each level – so if you need to rack up a ton of experience points quickly, just fight the enemies near the flag, rest at the flag, and repeat the process until you've leveled up a few times.
Change accessories frequently
There are two ways to provide passive benefits to your party members: Pictos and Luminas.
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Pictos are accessories that increase stats, but also have a passive skill. Each party member can equip up to three Pictos. When a Picto is equipped, if you win four battles with that Picto, you will unlock his Lumina.
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Luminas aren't accessories themselves, but you could think of them that way. Each character has several Lumina points (which you can increase through items and leveling up). Each Lumina has a predetermined Lumina Point value. As long as a given character has enough Lumina Points to unlock one of them, there is no limit to the number of characters that can use the same Lumina, meaning you can chain passive perks together for your entire team.
The most effective approach here is every time you get a new Picto, make sure one of your party members equips it, then win four battles. This will unlock the Lumina associated with it, so at least you can use it whenever the need arises.
If you don't have any new Pictos you want to upgrade, simply equip the Pictos with better stats.
Parrying is not the only option
Expedition 33The big trick is that it combines turn-based combat with real-time parrying. The thing is, no matter how difficult the level is, the parry window is short and you'll miss it. At best we're talking about 0.00000005 frames. If you want to keep your party members (and your controllers) from dying, focus on dodging instead.
When you parry, you restore one AP to that character, allowing that party member to use skills, as well as deal a ridiculous amount of extra damage. So yes, there is definitely a benefit to parrying rather than dodging. But you can equip some Picto and Lumina, which will give you AP if you successfully dodge. And if you still can't parry the blow, you still won't get any benefit from the damage. If you have trouble with the parry window, equip Luminas, which restore AP when dodging.
Taking a break is your secret weapon
Break is a status effect that can turn the tide of most battles. As you destroy an enemy's health bar, you will gradually fill the gold meter below that health bar. When it's full, it means you can inflict Break, a status effect that reduces an enemy's defense by 20% and prevents them from attacking for the entire turn. This is the most powerful status effect, but only certain attacks can truly break it. Check out our guide on how break enemies for more details.
Level up intentionally
You can reset attributes and skills with an item called Recoat, but this is a fairly rare item. Before you invest attribute points and skill points, think about how you want to build that party member's skill tree, and then outline a plan.
Always stop at the expedition flag.
Resting under the Expedition Flag also fully heals your party and restores all your healing items, including Chroma Elixirs (Potions) and Shades of Rebirth (Phoenix Fall). Every time you see a flag, stop there!
Expedition flags are also the closest to waypoints you'll find in Expedition 33. No map. There's no compass. There are no real waypoints. But every flag has a name and a number. When you reach an expedition flag, you will see a list of all the expedition flags you found in the level in the fast travel menu. It's not much, but it can give you a sense of progress.
Paint cages are always worth it
Dye Cages are essentially glowing locked chests that require you to find and shoot three hidden locks in the level before you can get the loot inside. However, these loots are always worth the effort, including items such as outfits or weapons. The three linked locks are not always in obvious places, but in our experience they are always relatively close to the paint cage. If you can't find the lock, try smashing some boxes nearby or try looking up!
Yes, fight the merchant
Each merchant has a unique item that is not listed. To get them to sell you this item, you need to target one party member and defeat them in one-on-one combat. It's worth doing every time, as these items are one of a kind (and often quite powerful). For example, the first merchant you meet will sell you Picto, which inflicts a defenseless debuff that increases the damage you deal to a hit enemy by 25%.
Trust AutoSave
There is no option to manually save Expedition 33. However, at least on the PlayStation 5, the game automatically saves after almost every action—finishing a fight, purchasing an item, exiting a menu—and saves your last 20 autosave files. When you screw up, you don't lose. What significant progress by returning to the last save.
Learn each character's quirks
When you unlock a new party member, you will have one chance—and one chance only—to complete that character's combat training. Expedition 33 does a good job of getting the point across, but doesn't delve into the finer details. To this end, we will give you a series of tips for each group member.
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Gustave: Give preference to quantity (of appeals) over quality (of appeals). If you can fill his overload meter in two turns, you will be able to land a single, but very powerful attack.
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Moon: Light spots can replace any of the other four elemental spots. So if, for example, you need to use two ice spots for an attack bonus, but you don't want to use ice attacks to create those spots, use light magic to create universal spots instead.
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Mael: Whatever you do, use weapons and skills that allow you to play Virtuoso Stance, which gives Mael a 200% damage increase on her next turn.
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Strength: Against normal enemies, don't worry about building up large stacks of Divination. Against bosses, try to build up your Divination stacks to at least 10 before using them.
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Downside: It's no use, so don't even try to ignore Clive's accusations from Final Fantasy 16. Oops! Real advice? Use Verso to mark enemies, leaving them vulnerable to additional damage on their next attack.
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Monoko: Defeat every enemy type using Monoko in your party at least once. Each type of enemy you defeat with Monoco will unlock a new skill for it.
Keep in mind that some of the terminology above may not make sense until you have unlocked and played several battles for each character. Yes that means Expedition 33 passed on to us, and this is a terrifying revelation, because we will soon be 33 years old. Please, for our sake, defeat the Artist!
Correction (December 24): An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the difference in experience earned between characters in your party and those outside your party.
