Turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has already proved a phenomenally good time for fans of old-school JRPGs and those who appreciate solid storytelling and rewarding battle systems. But with today’s 1.4.0 patch, the game has received some much-needed improvements in key areas. If you’re like me and the final few hours of the game still remain out of reach, consider this new patch your invitation to see it through to the end.
Battle Retry is arguably the headlining feature of the new update. If you’ve played Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, you’re probably familiar with how this works: Die in a fight, and you’ll see a window asking you if you want to retry the battle. This is super helpful for getting straight back into the action without breaking any flow state you’re trying to lock into. It’s also good if you like to use a first run-in with a boss as a learning opportunity in which you expect to lose. Also, it’s not uncommon to hit difficulty spikes in Expedition 33, so this will make those hurt a little less.
That’s not all the reasonably sized 2.5GB update contains. New audio settings allow you to dial in a better mix of all the chaos that happens across the stereo field—a feature that needs to be standard on every damn game in 2025. Now you can tweak how loud music, voices, and game sounds are with options specifically for levels in and out of combat. Gorgeous.
The Lumina Cost Display is another fantastic addition, making it so much easier to plan out builds. In Expedition 33, characters can equip “Pictos” to augment their existing abilities or learn new ones. Pictos equipped after four battles see their ability “unlocked,” so-to-speak, for anyone to equip so long as they have enough Lumina points.
This has been a bit of a tricky thing for some players to wrap their heads around. The combination of subsystems and fantasy language makes the whole thing feel more complicated than it actually is.
The update allows you to see how many Lumina points a Picto will cost once it’s unlocked. This makes it far easier to plan builds in advance, but you can also make better decisions as to which abilities should take up a Picto slot and which should use Lumina, all with far less menu diving.
You can read the full patch notes here, which include other details such as improved DLSS and XeSS features.
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