When was the Fracture in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s story is one of its best features, along with its tight and reactive turn-based gameplay. The mystery of the Paintress and expeditioners before your team is what drives it all forward.

When Expedition 33 sets out to sea, they do so with the prior knowledge of those who came before them, which includes several examples of the Paintress’s raw power and ability to wipe out humans en masse while also painting her army of creatures known as Nevrons.

A general theme of Expedition 33 is to learn from the past to help build and fight for the future, so it’s important to know about another one of these infamous events known as the Fracture, including when it took place and what it entailed.

What is the Fracture in Expedition 33?

In the lore of Expedition 33, the event known as the Fracture is when the Paintress and her Monolith first appeared. She painted the number 100 on the Monolith, and the events of the game truly began to unfold. Much of the Fracture is draped in mystery as it was so long ago, but the effects of the event are still felt in the game’s world to this day.

With the Fracture, the city of Lumière was sent into the sea, separated from the rest of the world to become an isolated island with the Paintress and her Monolith across the ocean in clear view, ominously waiting to paint once again.

Each year following, the people within Lumière who were the same age as the number painted on the Monolith would die. And each year as the Paintress awoke and painted, the number went down by one, effectively letting everyone in the world know when they would die in an annual event known as the Gommage.

When was the Fracture in Expedition 33?

The Fracture was 67 years ago in Expedition 33. Each year, a new Expedition named by the number on the Monolith in that given year went out on a quest to attempt to learn more about the Paintress in an effort to one day defeat her.

And each year, the Expeditions would disappear without a trace, lost in time. Starting at Expedition Zer0 (yes, it should’ve been 100 but it wasn’t), then Expedition 99, and so on, until the events of the game, when Expedition 33 heads out to try and learn more about the Paintress.

This information is good to know for world-building in Clair Obscur, but also because of a quiz given by a Lumière resident named Antoine. Answering all of his questions properly can earn a small reward, so just know that the Fracture was 67 years ago for this part of the game.

Later on, you will learn more and more about all of the Expeditions that came before 33, the sacrifices they made to help “those who come after,” and even more about the Paintress and her Nevron monsters.