Spoiler Warning: this list will delve into major spoilers for the main story and the bosses, both optional bosses and required ones.
Summary
Expedition 33has been out for quite some time now, and the entire world has beengushing over how amazing and well-crafted the game is in every single way, from the gameplay and the story to the universe itself. It is hard to pick out a favorite aspect as there is so much to enjoy, but one of the standout features of the game is the insane boss quality, both in their design and combat.
Despite being a turn-based game, the combat is far from slow-paced, and even veteran action gamers will be pushed to their limits when put against some of the later bosses that throw everything in the playbook at the player (and then some). While the main story does offer some insane bosses to battle, the side content is just as good if not better, and there are a few challenging foes that are probably best left until everything is said and done, for their narrative connection and in terms of difficulty.
7Serpenphare
Taking To The Skies
Serpenphare is a pretty significant challenge, even when the player has defeated all the main bosses in the story. The boss can only be accessed after players unlock the ability to fly with Esquie, so even if they wanted to take on the challenge at the start, it is literally impossible. The flying monster can be spotted from quite a way away, as an ominous foreshadowing for what’s to come.
The reason the boss is so challenging is because of its unique ability to sap the party’s AP and prevent them from using skills regularly. It also has some insane speed, which means it can take several extra turns before the player can even act. If the player goes in too under-leveled, they are going to be in a world of pain as the boss requires a significant amount of levels and damage just to put a dent in its massive health bar.
6Clair Obscur
Beautiful And Frightening At The Same Time
Bringing the title of the game itself into the fight, Clair Obscur is an amalgamation of multiple differentenemiesthat can be encountered across the game, culminating in an epic battle thattakes place at The Monolithand requires an insane amount of persistence to fully take down. Having multiple enemies to fight is never ideal, but it is made even harder by the resistances the enemies carry to Dark and Light.
Like many enemies inExpedition 33, Clair Obscur loves to wind up its attacks and bait the player into an early dodge. It also has a pretty insane health pool, which can often be a player killer as they may not have the sustain to fully finish off the fight. There is no shame in coming back and taking on the challenge later, and players will have a much easier time fighting Clair Obscur with a few extra levels after the main story.
5Clea
A Familiar Face With A Flair For Fighting
One of the few characters that joins the painting from the outside world, Clea is the sister of Alicia and acts as a kind of counterpart to Simon. While Simon comes out swinging and dishes out insane damage numbers, Clea is far more interested in sustaining through the pain and healing up significant chunks of her health pool all at once.
Through beasts and monsters, she throws an onslaught of attacks at the player over and over, and with every mistake comes the chance at a near full heal. It is a very hard fight that requires a lot of skill to take down, but also a huge amount of damage in order to burst her down and mitigate some of the absurd healing output that she has in her arsenal.
4Golgra
Taking On The Chief At Last
Golgra, chief of the Gestrals, is a boss that can first be encounteredpretty early into the game. While there are a few different options in terms of how the fight is approached, using Monoco as the main party member, the hardest challenge comes from speaking to her in the village and challenging her to a 1v1 duel that, if the player isn’t ready, will demonstrate her ludicrous power.
So fast and so much damage all at once, Golgra is a decent challenge even after all is said and done in the rest of the world. Having to dodge over and over, turn after turn, can quickly get exhausting and leave the player with a shattered health pool and a broken spirit when they finally get to attack. Taking her on alone is a big ask, and with no other option than to fight it out, players are in for a real menace of a fight.
3Lampmaster (Painted Workshop)
Same Enemy, Very Different Fight
The Lampmaster isa familiar foe that players encounter much earlier in the gameand shouldn’t have a great deal of trouble taking out. But, the second version is anything but a breeze and presents a sizable task that the player has to take on. Extra projectiles, a dizzy status effect, and a bunch of extra damage that seemingly comes out of nowhere.
It also brings some pretty long attack chains that require a good amount of timing to make it through unscathed, and this, combined with awful effects like Blight being a constant threat, transforms this simplistic enemy from before into a nightmare that can push the player far further than expected and require a lot more preparation than initially anticipated.
2Simon
The Biggest Challenge There Is
Simon is for sure the hardest boss in all ofClair Obscurand certainly one of the hardest bosses in recent memory. He is located in the depths of Renoir’s Drafts in what is an incredibly unnerving and scary environment that houses an equally menacing and ruthless enemy at the end that is well above anything the player will have encountered before.
Needing a good set of gear is an understatement. The maximum level is the bare minimum to even attempt him; perfect Pictos and skill combinations are just requirements to even have a shot, and even when entering the arena with a fully geared character, the one-shot potential still remains. The level of challenge he poses rivals Soulslike bosses, and there is no way in hell that the fight is possible without the entire game behind the player.
1Painted Love
Fighting Side By Side
Painted Love is in a slightly different category to many of theother end-game bosses; rather than posing a near-impossible level of difficulty, the encounter serves as a poetic finish to a long and arduous run through the Endless Tower. Taking the Paintress and Renoir as the Curator and fighting them side-by-side is the perfect way to finish off the game in a way that won’t have the player throwing controllers across the room.
Now, the fight itself isn’t exactly a cakewalk and still demands a decent level and skill, especially considering the steps needed to even get to it. But the fight itself is more symbolic as an end to an era — and the climax to one of gaming’s greatest narrative RPGs of all time.
