Okay, I recently finished my New Game Plus run of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Gotta say once again, I love how the story of this game is written, and specifically how the first and second go-through are completely different experiences, despite not a word being different. Particularly the conversation between Verso and Renoir inside the monolith before you fight him. Every single line of which carries two completely different meanings depending on whether or not you've finished the game before. Last time I talk in vagueries, so I encourage you one more time to go play this game unspoiled if you have any interest in ever doing so.
Okay, so. The point of this post, I wanna talk about the ending.
Quick rundown for context, just in case you are reading this without playing the game; the world you're in isn't real.
I don't mean that in terms of the fact that videogames are fictional, which we've all, always known. I mean the world in which the characters live, is a painting. A magical canvas created by equally magical painters. Verso, the second player-character from the death of the first one, Gustave, is immortal because he was made so by the Paintress, who is using the canvas as an unhealthy coping mechanism in the wake of the loss of her son, the real Verso, who died in a fire. She painted her entire family into the canvas and made the painted versions immortal. Maelle, (party member throughout, and player-character 3) is actually Alica Desendre, who fell into the canvas and was accidentlly "painted over" and so has two sets of memories, as a resident of the canvas, in which she has lived and grown up for the last 16 years, and as one of the Desendre family. The latter memories resurface when she gets wiped out with the rest of the population with the defeat of the Paintress, who was actually trying to preserve everyone, it was the Curator, the persona of the real-world version of Renoir, who was bringing the gommage and trying to kill everyone to get Aline (The Paintress) to come out of the canvas
To surmise, the Desendre family lost Verso in a fire, in which Alicia was disfigured and rendered unable to speak, and the canvas, belonging to the late Verso, contains a piece of his soul, and as such, is the last thing that remains of him, and his mother Aline has been hiding from her grief in it, while Renoir, his father, has been trying desperately to pull her out of it and destroy the canvas because of what it's doing to her, and the effects of being inside a canvas for too long which appear to be sickness, and eventual death.
The problem here is, by any real metric. the residents of the canvas are presented as being every bit as real as those outside of it. Indeed, the first two acts of the game pass before we even know we're in a painting and everyone is shown to have lives, personalities, hopes and dreams. Even after the big reveal, their personhood is at no point called into question by the story, in fact, if it is at any point the subject of conversation, unless I missed every NPC who says otherwise, it's pretty much unanimous that the people in the canvas are thinking, feeling beings. The only time this is contradicted in any certain terms is the painted Alicia, herself a construct of the canvas referring to those ignorant of the reality of their world as "those who know not, that they are not." Even she displays emotion, agency and desires. She even opts to be erased should you complete Maelle's relationship sidequest and find her. Aside from her, the closest the game ever comes to couching that they might not be real is in the raising of the question, by the shadowy boy. (Who is revealed at the end to be the last vestige of Verso's soul) who says he thinks they are.
So, basically, the painting powers that the Desendre family possess, are, essentially Godlike within the canvas, not to mention existentially terrifying to think about. Thankfully the game doesn't really dwell on the implications much.
So. The ending I wanna talk about.
After successfully beating back Renoir, Maelle promises to come home (leave the canvas) after "just a little longer." He promises to "Keep the light on" for her, and leaves. This immediately follows Renoir opening a visual portal outside the canvas to show Aline sick and coughing with paint running from her eyes.
Verso steps through this portal and finds himself in what I can only describe as the core of the canvas. The game just registers it as part of Lumiere, but it's clearly not. He finds a small boy, the one you've seen a shadow of at various points throughout the game, and says "you're tired, aren't you?" The boy nods.
The boy in question is the last vestige of the real Verso's soul, and his painting in this place is what allows the canvas to keep existing and functioning as it does (at least that's the implication from the ending)
Maelle follows him through, apparently, the immortality he was given by Aline is what allows him to even exist there, he seems to be shedding petals as if about to gommage, but unable to do so.
What I love here, is everything is visually set up beforehand, Verso's shock at the vision of an ailing Aline, as well as his face when Maelle tells Renoir he can trust her. She lied, and they both know it, she doesn't intend to leave the canvas, even knowing that it will kill her.
Verso begs her to reconsider, telling her that she can always come back, but she doesn't trust that Renoir won't erase the canvas as soon as she leaves. He tells her "This isn't worth your life." To which she replies "What life? My life of loneliness in a shell of a body!?" "In here I have a chance to live, Verso, to live! Out there, I merely exist."
Verso realises words won't reach her, and draws his sword. The game presents you with the choice. You can choose to fight as Maelle, and save the canvas, or fight as Verso, and erase it, along with everyone in it.
I am of the opinion that the game seems to expect you to choose to fight as Maelle. For starters, saving this world has been the goal since minute one, whereas the only experience we have of the outside world is the manor interior wherein we only see Alicia treated with disdain. Add to that the fact that "fight as Maelle" is the default option that the cursor begins on, and I do think the game subtly steers you towards choosing Maelle, that said, even though I don't think either ending is supposed to be strictly "canon" Maelle's ending is definitely the darker one. She rebuilds Lumiere, and revives it's inhabitants, including Gustave, but, and I want to give the animators credit here, there is a definite sadness hidden in her smile. Either that or the tone of the scene with the music is making me see that, but either way the scene is very well-constructed.
That, of course and the two titles, "A life to paint" for Maelle, and "A Life to Love" for the Verso ending, during which the Desendre family lays Verso to rest and Alicia sees the people of the canvas (including Maelle) wave her goodbye before disappearing, is much more hopeful.
But that's not the only reason I think that ending is, for lack of a better term "the correct one."
I've seen it argued a lot, that those in the canvas "aren't real" and therefore it should be a no-brainer to choose Verso and erase the canvas. But I find that argument wanting, for many reasons.
Firstly, as I said above, the personhood of the people of the canvas is never once called into question by the game. As far as the narrative is concerned, they are every bit as real as anyone outside it.
But even accepting and assuming from now on that they are thinking, feeling, sentient being, there is basically no way I think the Maelle ending...well, ends well.
Firstly, Maelle has made it inescapably clear that she intends to die in the canvas, after which, Renoir would definitely erase it anyway. Maelle would effectively trade Alica's life for a stay of execution.
Even setting that aside, Maelle can never have the Lumiere she knows again. She knows, and can never forget, that she is a paintress. I think that level of power over the world you inhabit will inevitably engender detatchment from it. Can one wield nigh-godlike power without at any point becoming less human for it? I don't think she'd ever find the home she was looking for in the canvas at that point.
Tragic though the loss of the canvas and it's people is, we also have to consider the remnant of Verso.
The ending made me think of The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. A short piece of philosophical fiction by Ursula K. LeQuin of Earthsea fame. Essentially, imagine whatever your ideal utopian city is. Now imagine that it's function depends on keeping a small child in abject misery and suffering forever. Could you still stay? For me, that the last vestige of Verso's soul says he wants to stop, should really be enough. He deserves to rest in peace. I love the characters and I hate that this decision comes at the cost of their lives. (the very reason I originally picked Maelle) But, and I hate to say it, they're doomed anyway, as I said before, the only person whose fate changes with this decision is Alicia. At least in one ending, she gets to live, and again, "A Life To Love" at least ends on a hopeful note.
I've heard it said that the ending decision is in-keeping with the trappings of classic French melodrama, which has me interested in that genre now.
I don't think Clair Obscur will ever get a direct sequel even though Sandfall have announced they'll be making another game. But in a way I think that's a good thing, we don't have enough standalone pieces in popular media of any kind these days. Sometimes one and done is good.
Incidentally, after New Game +. and beating Simon again, my play-time on the PS5 dashboard is registering 200 hours, the actual playtime on the save file is closer to 150, no idea how that works, I didn't leave it running that much.
Okay, I think I'm finally done, what a game this has been. Thanks for reading my idle waffling on, I'll probably do a ranking next, but don't hold me to it, see ya!
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