Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 NG+ – Carryovers & New Content
New Game Plus in Expedition 33 – Read This Before You Restart
After spending my first 30+ hours in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I jumped into New Game Plus way too fast. I hadn’t maxed my weapons, I’d ignored a bunch of side content, and the early NG+ continent bosses flattened my “overpowered” party in two turns.
The breakthrough came when I treated NG+ like its own endgame mode instead of just a replay. Once I understood exactly what carries over, what resets, and where the new content lives, NG+ turned into the best part of the game: faster leveling, nastier bosses, and the Endless Tower as a proper build check.
This guide walks you through:
How to unlock and start New Game Plus safely
Everything that carries over (levels, weapons, Pictos, cosmetics, etc.)
Everything that resets (quests, collectibles, relationships)
All the new NG+ content – especially the Endless Tower and Baguette weapon
Difficulty changes, prep routes, and a quick Endless Tower build strategy
Estimated time investment:
Main story to credits: ~25-35 hours
Pre-NG+ prep: ~2–4 hours
Full NG+ clear with side content: ~15–20 hours
Endless Tower: ~3–5 hours (or ~90 minutes with an optimized build)
Fast Pre-NG+ Checklist (One-Page View)
If you just want a quick “am I ready?” check before committing to NG+, use this:
Story: Final boss in Lumiere (Act 3) defeated and credits seen
Level: Main party around Level 50+ (or as high as you reasonably reach)
Weapons: Your main weapons upgraded as far as possible (ideally +10 or higher)
Resources: A healthy stock of Chroma Catalysts and strong Pictos equipped
Collectibles: Any Music Records, Journals, Lost Gestrals you care about collected (they reset)
Festival Token: At least one Festival Token kept for NG+ to unlock the Baguette weapon
Save safety: A manual save before triggering NG+ so you can go back to your completed file
Difficulty: Medium – NG+ hits hard early if you go in underprepared.
How to Unlock and Start New Game Plus
You don’t need to flip any hidden settings. NG+ is unlocked automatically once you clear the main story.
Unlock requirement
Step 1 → Beat the final boss in Lumiere (Act 3) → The game plays the ending and credits.
Step 2 → Let the credits finish → A post-credits save is created, and New Game Plus becomes available from Expedition Flags.
How to actually start NG+ (takes about 2 minutes):
Step 1 → Load your post-credits save → You respawn in Lumiere, close to the final arena.
Step 2 → Go to any Expedition Flag → The closest is usually in Lumiere’s central plaza; flags glow yellow.
Step 3 → Interact and open the menu → Choose the option that lists available actions at the Flag.
Step 4 → Select New Game+ → A confirmation screen appears explaining what carries over and what resets.
Step 5 → Confirm → The game boots you back to the prologue, but with your NG+ progression and systems unlocked much earlier.
Pro tip: Keep at least one manual save before starting NG+. That way you can still jump back into your completed file for missed quests or to farm specific bosses without the NG+ scaling.
What Carries Over into New Game Plus
This is where NG+ shines. It keeps almost all the power you earned so your second run starts strong, while cranking enemy stats to keep up.
Character levels & stats All character levels and their associated stats carry over. Early NG+ levels fly by thanks to the XP boost, but you’re already far stronger than a fresh file.
Skills & Gradient Skills Every skill you unlocked – including Gradient Skills – is available from the start. This lets you run full, late-game rotations in what used to be early encounters.
All party members Companions you normally recruit during the story (like Gustave, Maelle, Lune) are available right away in NG+. You don’t have to rebuild your party lineup.
Pictos & Luminas Your entire collection of Pictos (passive bonuses) and Luminas (actives) carries over, letting you keep your favorite build synergies intact from minute one.
Weapons and upgrades Every weapon you own – including their upgrade levels – is preserved. If you ended your first run with a +10 or +15 main weapon, you’ll still have it in NG+.
NG+-exclusive Baguette weapon If you bring a Festival Token from Act 1 into NG+, you can spend it at the Boulangerie to unlock the Baguette, a Level 33 weapon equippable by any character. It’s a quirky but surprisingly strong option, with stun-focused effects that work well on tankier builds.
Cosmetics (Tints, outfits, hairstyles) All visual customizations you unlocked stay with you: weapon tints, outfits, hairstyles. Your fashion build survives the reset.
Optimization tip: Enter NG+ with your core team at least around Level 50 and your main weapons fully upgraded. This lets you breeze through early chapters and focus your time on NG+-only content like the Endless Tower and enhanced bosses.
What Resets in New Game Plus
This is where many people (myself included) get burned. NG+ does not preserve your world state – it resets a lot of progression-heavy elements so that exploration and side content still matter.
Side quests All optional quests, including character- and region-specific chains (like Nevron-style tasks and Gestral minigames), are reset. You’ll have to redo them if you care about their narrative or rewards.
Quest-specific items Temporary or quest-only items are cleared from your inventory. You’ll reacquire what you need naturally as you follow the story again.
Music Records Jukebox tracks and similar collectibles need to be found again. NG+ can add rarer variants, so it’s actually a good excuse to re-hunt them if you’re a completionist.
Expedition Journals / lore entries Journal entries and similar lore collectibles reset, allowing you to re-complete them on NG+ for 100% runs.
Lost Gestrals & other map collectibles These respawn, often with tougher encounters guarding them but better Chroma rewards. It’s a reliable NG+ farming loop.
Relationship levels & bonds Party bonds, romance flags, and similar relationship progress are reset. You’ll replay their dialogue and decisions, which is great if you want to see alternate outcomes.
Paint Break and some exploration tools Key exploration abilities like Paint Break need to be re-obtained through story progress. Some NG+-exclusive shortcuts and hidden paths take advantage of you knowing how these work.
Time estimate for redoing this content: Roughly 5–8 hours if you’re actively chasing side quests and collectibles again; much less if you’re mostly focused on NG+’s new content.
New NG+ Content and Rewards
New Game Plus in Expedition 33 isn’t just “hard mode with higher numbers.” It adds meaningful endgame-style content, especially if you like testing builds.
Endless Tower (core NG+ activity) Step → Clear the early NG+ story beats → Endless Tower becomes available from the Lumiere hub. Result → You unlock a 33-trial gauntlet (11 stages with 3 trials each) featuring remixed encounters and amped-up boss variants, including a brutal final stage built around the last story boss.
Rewards include:
NG+-exclusive loot and boss upgrades
Bosses on each continent come back with more health, new moves, and improved drops. Expect:
Higher-tier upgrade materials (for pushing weapons to their cap)
New NG+-only Pictos (such as stronger regeneration or defensive options)
Cosmetic rewards like special tints from hidden or secret bosses
Secret NG+ boss variants Some bosses return with altered patterns or “riddle” variants hidden off the main route. These fights are designed for NG+ builds and often reward unique cosmetics or rare Pictos.
Gestral games rematches NG+ lets you replay Gestral minigames (Volleyball, Race, Seesaw, Beach, etc.) with tougher scoring requirements and leaderboard-style rankings. High scores can unlock extra cosmetics.
Advanced tip: Endless Tower is where Gradient-focused builds truly shine. Chaining elemental Gradients (for example, combining Lune’s ice tools with strong fire follow-ups) can shred entire floors and turn a 4–5 hour Tower slog into a sub-2-hour clear.
How Difficulty Changes in NG+
NG+ turns Expedition 33 into a much more demanding RPG, even with your powered-up party.
Enemy HP and damage Expect enemies to have roughly +50% HP and damage early on, ramping up to around +100% in late-game and Tower content. Even trash mobs can punish sloppy play.
Boss mechanics Many bosses gain additional moves, more aggressive patterns, or extra phases. Some late bosses add shield regen or elite adds that force you to manage the field instead of tunneling damage.
XP and Chroma gains On the flip side, XP and drops are heavily boosted – think in the region of triple XP and significantly better loot. This makes NG+ the most efficient way to push your party towards very high levels and max PTOS powers.
Exploration changes Collectibles respawn, and some routes get additional NG+-only secrets or enemies. You’re rewarded for rechecking areas rather than just speedrunning the main story.
Repetition warning: If you charge into NG+ with no real build plan, the higher HP pools can make fights feel grindy. Build around clear synergies (stun chains, elemental Gradients, regen + tanking, etc.) and the mode feels like a satisfying puzzle instead of a slog.
Platform note: On PS5, NG+ boss phases hit harder both in-game and through the haptics. On PC, pushing higher frame rates makes the timing-based elements in tougher fights (and the Tower) feel smoother, if your hardware can handle it.
How I Prep for NG+ in 2–4 Hours
Here’s the preparation loop I wish I’d followed before my first NG+ start. It saves a ton of pain in the early chapters.
Step 1 → Upgrade core weapons to near-max → Focus Chroma Catalysts on 2–3 key weapons you actually use. Getting these to +10 or higher has far more impact than spreading upgrades thinly across your whole arsenal.
Step 2 → Farm continent bosses once more → Loop through continent bosses for extra Pictos and materials. Result: Your NG+ run starts with strong passives and enough materials to experiment.
Step 3 → Clean up side quests you care about → Finish any quest lines you genuinely want to see concluded in your original run. Result: You don’t feel forced to redo them just for story closure in NG+.
Step 4 → Grab key collectibles that reset → Prioritize Music Records, important Journals, and any remaining Lost Gestrals if you’re invested in lore and 100% tracking. Result: You keep a “complete” vanilla file for reference.
Step 5 → Reserve a Festival Token → Make sure you have at least one Festival Token unspent before starting NG+. Result: You can unlock the Baguette weapon early in your NG+ run.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium. Plan for about 2–4 hours of focused prep depending on how many continent bosses and quests you still have available.
Endless Tower – Practical Strategy & Sample Build
Endless Tower is the real test of whether your NG+ party works. Here’s a straightforward approach that’s carried me through in around 90 minutes.
Recommended team archetype:
Main DPS: A hard-hitting attacker like Gustave with a fully-upgraded heavy weapon.
Tank / off-DPS: A sturdier character (Maelle works well) who can wield the Baguette or another control-focused weapon for stuns or debuffs.
Support / control: A caster-style character (such as Lune) to provide elemental Gradients, buffs, and occasional healing or mitigation.
Core gameplan:
Step → Stack complementary Pictos and Luminas → Focus on crit, regen, or element-specific boosts that match your main Gradient combo. Result → Your rotations hit harder and your sustain keeps you safe over long Tower stretches.
Step → Build a Gradient chain around 1–2 elements → For example, ice to control and fire to punish. Avoid splitting your damage across too many elements. Result → You delete priority targets quickly instead of slowly chipping everything.
Step → Treat every 3rd trial as a “mini-boss” preparation phase → Go in with full resources and play defensively at first to learn new attack patterns. Result → Fewer wipes, more consistent progress through the 11 stages.
Success indicators: If you’re consistently clearing Tower stages without burning through all your healing and revives, your build is in a good spot. If you’re scraping through or timing out on later floors, recheck your Pictos and consider leaning harder into one dominant damage type or sustain strategy.
Is New Game Plus Worth It for You?
NG+ is absolutely worth it for some playstyles and a hard skip for others. Here’s a quick decision snapshot based on how you play.
NG+ is a great fit if you:
Want to chase trophies/achievements – boosted XP makes max-level and PTOS upgrades far less grindy.
Enjoy buildcrafting and theorycrafting – Endless Tower and enhanced bosses are perfect testing grounds.
Care about full completion – NG+-exclusive rewards (like the Baguette and Tower loot) are part of the “true” endgame.
Like replaying games with high-powered loadouts and harder enemies rather than just seeing the story once.
NG+ might not be for you if you:
Primarily play for the story and feel satisfied with a single, complete run.
Haven’t finished much side content and would rather keep your original world state intact.
Dislike repetition – even with new content and scaling, you’ll be revisiting many of the same areas and encounters.
From experience, the players who get the most out of NG+ are completionists and min-maxers: those who look at their endgame builds and think, “What if I pushed this even further?” If that’s you, NG+ is where Expedition 33 really opens up.
TL;DR – Key Takeaways Before You Hit New Game Plus
Unlock: Beat the Act 3 final boss in Lumiere and watch the credits. Start NG+ at any Expedition Flag via New Game+.
Carries over: Levels, stats, Skills, Gradient Skills, party members, Pictos, Luminas, weapons and upgrades, cosmetics, and NG+-only weapons like the Baguette (if you bring a Festival Token).
Resets: Side quests, quest items, Music Records, Journals, Lost Gestrals, relationship levels, and certain exploration abilities.
New content: Endless Tower (33 trials), enhanced continent bosses, secret NG+ boss variants, and tougher Gestral minigames with new rewards.
Difficulty: Enemies hit much harder (+50–100% HP/DMG), but you gain faster XP and better drops to match.
Prep: Spend 2–4 hours maxing core weapons, farming a few continent bosses, finishing key quests, and saving a Festival Token before you commit.
Best for: Trophy hunters, completionists, and build-focused players who want a tougher, faster, more rewarding second run.
If you treat NG+ as Expedition 33’s true endgame rather than a simple replay, it becomes one of the most satisfying ways to push your favorite builds – and the Endless Tower is where you’ll really feel your prep pay off.
