Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 New Game+ Complete Guide - What Carries Over & Missable Content

Ready to conquer Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a second time? New Game+ offers a fresh challenge with your hard-earned power intact, but navigating what carries over and what resets is crucial. This guide breaks down the exact requirements, essential collectibles, and strategic prep you need to maximize your NG+ run and avoid costly mistakes.

Understanding NG+ Requirements & What Carries Over

How to Unlock New Game+ Mode

The path to NG+ in Clair Obscur isn't something you can just jump into from the start. First things first, you need to beat the game completely by reaching one of its endings. That means taking down the final boss, Renoir, at the conclusion of Act 3 - there's no way around this requirement.

After you've defeated Renoir and watched the credits roll, you must select 'Continue' from the main menu to be returned to the world map just before the final confrontation. The NG+ option then becomes available at any Rest Point Flag (such as the Camp), not by interacting with a new flag that spawns in the world. You can access the NG+ menu from any Rest Point after beating the game.

What Transfers to NG+ (Permanent Progress)

The good news is that you get to keep a surprising amount of your progress when starting NG+. All your character progression stays with you, including: - Earned stats and levels - Unlocked skills

Your inventory is completely safe too - every weapon, piece of armor, accessory, and other collected item transfers over to your new playthrough. Even your currency (Écu) and all crafting/upgrade materials carry over, so you won't have to grind for resources again.

Better yet, cosmetic outfits discovered throughout the world remain permanently in your collection, and you'll still have access to your Music Records and other collectibles. While the items themselves are wiped from your inventory, the tracking for monsters and collectibles like Monoco's Skills (44 total) persists.

What Resets in NG+ (Must Complete Before Starting)

Unfortunately, the world itself will forget all about your previous adventures when you jump into NG+. All main story and side quest progress gets completely wiped, meaning you're starting from Act 1 all over again. This includes the White Nevron quests and the Endless Tower, which must be completed again from scratch.

Even more frustrating, all your relationship levels and interactions reset to starting values, so you'll need to rebuild those connections with characters throughout the world. The Nemesis Quests, Gestral Games, andLost Gestrals you might have found also reset, requiring you to collect them all again.

Perhaps the most painful part is that the entire map reverts to fog of war - you'll need to re-explore every corner of the world all over again. While your collection tracking for items persists, Expedition Journals from your base playthrough carry over, and 9 new 'Author's Cut' journals appear exclusively in NG+. One important thing to note: when you start NG+, your previous playthrough save is deleted and replaced with a new NG+ save file, essentially trading your old progress for a new beginning with the gear and skills you've earned.

Essential Collectible Completion (185 Items Total)

So, you're aiming for 100% completion. This is the big list of everything you'll need to find in a single playthrough, and trust me, you want a game plan. Most of this stuff resets in New Game+, so let's break it down.

49 Journals - Follow the Trail Achievement

Alright, let's talk Expedition Journals. The base game features 49 of these glowing blue prisms scattered across the world, and crucially, they do not reset for New Game+, so they're permanently collected. In NG+, there are 9 additional 'Author's Cut' journals (crimson diamonds) that replace some original spawns and are exclusive to NG+. And here's the critical part: one of the base game journals is extremely missable. Journal #7 (Survivor) requires an Old Key from the Prologue's festival area, which you get by trading a Festival Token. If you walk out of the Prologue without that key, you're locked out of this journal for good. Finding every journal unlocks the "Follow the Trail" achievement, and as a small bonus, you can trade them to Berrami in Gestral Village for some cash, but that's really not the point here.

10 Nevron Quests - Aiding the Enemy Achievement

While most Nevrons you meet are hostile, you'll occasionally run into peaceful, white-colored ones. Your job is to help them out across 10 different quests to unlock the "Aiding the Enemy" achievement. You should always choose to help these White Nevrons rather than attack them. It's not just for the trophy; they'll hook you up with some actually great loot—crafting mats, gear, and even powerful charms that make your journey easier.

5 Gestral Games - Gestral Games Achievement

Need a break from the nail-biting combat? The game's got you covered with five mini-games at hidden Gestral Beaches. This part's just for fun—completing all five gets you the Gestral Games achievement and some sweet swimsuit cosmetics for your crew. These minigames are a stark contrast to the main game, offering unique mechanical challenges. Unfortunately, because this is tied to a collectible, your progress here is completely wiped in New Game+, so you'll have to do them all again if you're chasing the achievement on a second run.

9 Lost Gestrals - Lost Gestrals Achievement

Back at your camp, you'll meet Sastro, who's lost nine of his little imp-like companions. It's your job to hunt them down and bring them home. Be warned, some of these Gestrals are stashed in tricky spots that require specific abilities, like Esquie's slam to break floors or diving to reach underwater areas. Doing so doesn't just unlock the Lost Gestrals achievement; Sastro also rewards you with powerful combat skills and some unique cosmetic items. Like everything else on this list so far, your progress resets with NG+, so find them all the first time.

44 Monoco Skills - Feet Collection Achievement

Okay, this is the big one for New Game+ planning. Monoco's skills are a major collectible that DO NOT reset. Unlike other collectibles, you get her 44 skills permanently by defeating specific Nevron enemies, and all that progress carries over. This hunt begins after Monoco officially joins your party in Act II. Because of this, if you're planning a second run, prioritize hunting these down. It's a massive head start that makes NG+ significantly less of a grind. Finding all of them unlocks the "Feet Collection" achievement.

33 Music Records - Connoisseur Achievement

Here's some good news for completionists: Music Records, of which there are 33, also carry over into New Game+. But you can't get complacent, because some of them are painfully missable. The "Lumiere" record is found by defeating a Mime in the Prologue in Lumiere (before the Gommage), but another version of this record becomes available in Act III at the same plaza if missed. However, the "Lettre a Maelle" record IS permanently missable; it appears in camp only once after defeating your first Axon in Act 2. If you do not camp and collect it immediately, it is gone for that playthrough. If you manage to avoid those traps, you can find the rest through exploration, chests, affinity rewards, and quests. Collecting them all unlocks the "Connoisseur" achievement.

35 Relationship Interactions - Character Achievements

Building bonds with your crew is a core mechanic. You'll have opportunities to deepen your relationships with Sciel, Monoco, Maelle, Lune, and Esquie at camp after Verso joins you in Act 2. Reaching relationship level 7 with each of them is how you unlock their individual character achievements. While you can romance Sciel and Lune at specific milestones, the other relationships are purely about building trust and unlocking new team perks. Be extremely careful with Maelle's route, though. She has a missable interaction tied to Gustave's Journal at your camp. Consistently writing in it is the only way to unlock her secret skill, so make it a habit if you want to see all of her content.

Strategic Resource & Progression Preparation

Lumina Farming & Currency Stockpiling

Let's talk about the single most important thing you can do for your NG+ run: farm Lumina and Colour of Lumina (CoL). These are your tickets to unlocking and upgrading skills, and crucially, all of your resources carry over to the next playthrough. This means any time you invest now is a direct investment in having a massively overpowered start later. Don't skip this part.

To get you started, the easiest early-game loop involves a miniboss at Tower Peak (at the end of Act 2). You can take this boss on, earn 5 CoL, rest at a camp to make it respawn, and repeat. For an infinitely more efficient method, your end-game destination is Renoir's Drafts, where you can repeatedly fight Grour who respawns instantly. If you want to try something more advanced, running a specific double-drop Contorso build can effectively halve your farming time by triggering double Lumina drops on a reliable basis, so you can head into NG+ with every skill you could ever want.

Crafting Material & Upgrade Stockpile

Your skills are only half the equation; your gear is the other. Since your goal is to hit the ground running, you'll want a stockpile of the best crafting materials. Your absolute top priority is the Perfect Chroma Catalyst. This rare material is the gatekeeper for upgrading your weapons to the maximum Level 33, and you won't get far in NG+ without that extra punch. While you can't effectively farm them until you're in NG+ proper, you should know that Gestalt Village is the best spot for it later on, so put a pin in that. For now, grab the 10 or so guaranteed ones from fixed chests in late-game areas like the Labyrinth of Obsession, but remember you'll first need Grandiose Chroma Catalysts to even reach Level 32.

Beyond that, you should be hoarding any legendary-tier materials you find, like Forgotten Alloy, Celestial Ore, and Phoenix Feathers. These are used for NG+ exclusive gear, so having a supply on day one is a massive advantage. Don't forget the basics either; you'll need mountains of common metals, fabrics, and essences for comprehensive upgrades across your entire party, so don't pass on grabbing those materials either.

Character Build Optimization & Skill Purchases

Here's the best part of NG+ prep: your character levels, unlocked skills, and all your equipment carry over. This gives you a unique opportunity to finalize and experiment with powerful builds before you even begin. Since all your hard-earned Lumina is coming with you, make sure you spend it. Purchase every available skill for your characters now. This frees you up to respec into advanced strategies from the very first moment of your NG+ run.

For example, you could turn Gustave into the ultimate tank by focusing his build on Vitality and Resilience, using Pictos that enhance his parry ability. Or, you could maximize Lune as a glass cannon by stacking Intellect and Willpower for devastating elemental burst damage. Similarly, building Maelle for high-frequency, potent AOE healing by focusing on Willpower will make your party virtually unkillable. The real power, however, comes from synergy, so think about how all these builds can work together, not just in isolation.

Secret Bosses & Endgame Content

Before you commit to ending your current playthrough, you need to clean up the world. Clair Obscur is packed with optional content that provides crucial, NG+-defining rewards. We're not just talking about a handful of hidden fights; there are a staggering 165 bosses in the game, the vast majority of which are optional secret encounters with massive EXP and item payouts. These are your main targets for pre-NG+ power.

Specifically, there are three major secret bosses you should hunt down in Act 3. The Fallen Guardian, found in a secluded courtyard, is weak to fire and drops high-tier weapons. The Chromatic Hydra uses rotating elemental attacks, so you'll need to adapt on the fly, but it drops rare resistance accessories and top-tier materials. Finally, the most challenging is the Void Harbinger, who uses shadow clones and teleport strikes. Defeating it is no small feat, but it's the only way to get legendary weapons with unique properties. Beating these isn't just for bragging rights; it's about grabbing the rare items and currency you need to fully prepare for the road ahead.

Missable Content & Point of No Return Warning

Let's talk about the stuff you can absolutely, positively not go back for, because this game is serious about it. Clair Obscur has numerous missable items, skills, and interactions across the Prologue and Acts, and there's no safety net for missing them. Many of them are located right at the start, in the Prologue area called Lumiere, and you need to grab them before you ever leave town. We're talking about multiple missable Journals, Music Records, outfits, and even a Nevron quest starter item, not just a single journal and record. Failing to get certain records also means you can't earn specific trophies, so that's a hard lock if you're a completionist. There are also multiple missable items and encounters in Act 2, not just one relationship interaction.

The bad news is that if you miss any of these, they are gone for that playthrough forever, forcing you to do a full replay to get them. The only way to guarantee you get them is to be exhaustively thorough when exploring Lumiere and be sure to engage with all your campmates in Act 2. Luckily, the game uses a single persistent autosave file that is continuously overwritten, so if you realize you made a mistake immediately after, you might be able to reload if you haven't progressed too far, but it's infinitely better to get it right the first time by following a dedicated collectible guide.

Save File Management & Backup Strategy

Look, the game doesn't have a manual save button, which can be pretty stressful. Instead, it relies exclusively on an autosave system. It saves your progress after major events like battles, solving puzzles, and when you use the Expedition Flag Rest option. This system actually uses 21 rotating slots, which is meant to allow you to reload a previous autosave if you realize you missed something critical.

If you want to force a save before a massive decision—like starting a New Game+—the method is simple: find an Expedition Flag and select the 'Rest' option. This will trigger a new autosave and let you lock in your progress.

Now, for some serious off-book prep to make a real backup. If you want to preserve your current save state before NG+, you'll need to go into your files.

On a PC, your saves are located at C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Sandfall\Saved. For the Steam version, check your Steam userdata directory or look in your Documents\My Games\Clair Obscur Expedition 33 folder. To create a backup, simply copy the entire save folder—label it clearly with the date—to a different location on your computer or an external drive.

Crucial Warning: You should temporarily disable Steam Cloud sync before doing this. If you don't, Steam might "helpfully" overwrite your clean backup with the new NG+ save file, defeating the whole purpose. If you ever need to restore it, just close the game, move your backed-up files back into the original folder, and you're good to go.

Final Checklist Verification

Okay, you're standing at the precipice of NG+. Before you touch that flag and reset the world, let's run through one last checklist together. This is to make sure you've truly wrapped up your current run and aren't leaving anything valuable behind.

• Tie up every character's personal story quest. Their quests reward you with unique skills and powerful gear you'll want from the start.
• Head to the training grounds and make sure every single skill for every character is unlocked and fully upgraded.
• Go over your gear and resources. Farm up ample consumables, crafting materials, and currency (Penyas) so you can hit the ground running with upgrades in NG+.
• Seek out and conquer any optional super bosses or secret dungeons. They drop the best rewards in the game.
• Clean out your quest log. Completing every available side quest not only feels good but also rewards useful items and currency.
• Fill out your codex. Hunt down any missing lore entries, bestiary logs, or recipe fragments you might have skipped.
• Experiment at the endgame to find your ideal team composition, skill rotations, and equipment synergies. Settle on your build before you commit.

NG+ Exclusive Rewards & What to Expect

Increased Difficulty & Enemy Scaling

So, you just beat the game and are thinking about diving back in. Well, you should know that New Game+ in Clair Obscur is no joke. The difficulty ramps up significantly, with enemy toughness increasing for each NG+ cycle you start, a system that scales all the way to a known maximum of level 9. However, the difficulty scaling stops increasing after NG+7, with NG+8 and NG+9 having identical stats to NG+7. Unfortunately, this harsher difficulty stacks on top of whatever you select in the menu, which means enemies will hit much harder even if you switch to Story mode for your next run. Interestingly enough, there's a weird tipping point: at very high NG+ levels, some players find the game becomes unexpectedly easy as your character's power eventually overtakes the enemy scaling.

Exclusive Weapons, Armor & Rewards

Let's get to the cool stuff: the exclusive loot that makes NG+ worth it. The most talked-about reward is the Baguette weapon. If you held onto a Festival Token from the Prologue, you can actually purchase this unique weapon at the Lumiere Bakery right at the start of your new journey. And that's not just a gimmick; it deals Void damage and has a bizarre self-sacrifice effect at Level 4 where the equipped character automatically dies at the start of each battle, though you can upgrade it all the way to Level 10. The Baguette is just one example, as NG+ is packed with exclusive rewards, including secret weapons designed to reward your continued exploration of the world.

Starting Your NG+ Journey

Alright, ready to take the plunge? First things first, you have to see the credits roll by completing the main story. After that, you need to load your completed save file. Once you're back in the world, you'll find an Expedition Flag nearby. Interacting with this flag is what officially kicks off your New Game+, dropping you back into Act 1 with all your carried-over progress. Speaking of progress, you'll be happy to hear that you get to keep basically everything that makes your character powerful, like your weapons, skills, levels, and all of your crafting resources. The bad news, however, is that the world itself resets. All quest progress, including the main story and side quests, will be completely wiped, forcing you to uncover everything anew.

A successful NG+ run in Clair Obscur hinges on understanding what transfers, what resets, and what is permanently missable. By strategically farming resources, optimizing builds, and completing all endgame content before starting over, you can transform a challenging replay into a powerful and rewarding victory lap. Now, load your save, find that flag, and begin your expedition anew.