Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive has rolled out Patch 1.2.3 for its critically acclaimed role-playing game, now available across all platforms.
This update includes a comprehensive list of fixes and essential balance adjustments, notably targeting one of the game’s most dominant builds (full patch notes below).
Sandfall had previously indicated that early updates would focus on bug fixes rather than balance changes—unless something was clearly overpowered.
“Well, Stendhal did,” the developer admitted.
The build in question centered around Maelle, the young fencer, and the Medalum sword, which unlocks the Virtuose Stance ability, granting a 200% bonus damage boost. Players combined this with ability stacking and the Stendhal skill—a high-damage single-target Void attack—to achieve absurdly high damage output, often enough to defeat the final boss in a single hit.
“Stendhal was underwhelming throughout development, so during our final pre-release balance pass, we gave it a significant damage boost—and clearly went too far,” said Sandfall. “It ended up overshadowing nearly every other option.”
“We still want players to be able to break the game—absolutely, you still can—but Stendhal made it just a little too easy.”
The nerf is part of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's first full set of hotfixes. While Stendhal remains a potent single-hit skill with strong synergy potential, it’s now more balanced relative to the rest of the game.
In addition, the patch resolves a bug where Medalum’s third Lumina effect was doubling all damage while in Virtuose Stance, instead of only Burn damage.
Here are the key highlights from today’s patch notes:
- Fixed Medalum third Lumina doubling all damage in Virtuose Stance; now correctly doubles Burn damage only.
- Stendhal: Damage reduced by 40%.
Clair Obscur has become a breakout success for Sandfall, surpassing 2 million copies sold shortly after launch. Notably, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched as a Game Pass title alongside Bethesda’s Oblivion Remastered, making this sales milestone even more impressive.
When Bethesda surprise-released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on the same day as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, many assumed only one RPG could dominate player attention. Fortunately, both games found their audiences and thrived.
The overwhelming success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 even caught the attention of French President Emmanuel Macron, who publicly praised the development team. For those planning to dive into the game, be sure to check out our tips for what to know before playing.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Update 1.2.3 Patch Notes
Steam Deck
- Fixed backgrounds of various menus not displaying properly on Steam Deck.
Various Ultrawide Fixes
- Gameplay no longer zooms in after cutscenes in ultrawide resolutions.
- Options menu image no longer stretches in ultrawide.
- Combat UI now adapts correctly to ultrawide displays.
- Game no longer minimizes when changing settings in ultrawide mode.
- Cutscenes no longer letterbox in 32:9 aspect ratio.
- Title screen now displays fullscreen in ultrawide resolution.
Mouse and Keyboard
- UI button prompts in the Expedition Menu are now visible and fully functional with keyboard input.
- Mouse buttons remain responsive after initial use.
- Using 'WSAD' or arrow keys while the mouse cursor is visible will no longer hide the cursor unintentionally.
- Left mouse click no longer blocks keyboard navigation in menus.
- Mouse input no longer gets lost after the first jump counterattack if pressed once.
World Map Navigation Fixes
- Fixed areas where players could get stuck:
- Between lanterns near Stone Wave Cliff portal.
- On shipwreck debris near Forgotten Battlefield.
- Near Bourgeon encounter next to Stone Wave Cliffs.
- Between small rocks near Spring Meadows and Abbest Cave.
- Between vases and corals on rooftops.
- Among scattered rocks in general world areas.
- In ruins behind Flying Manor level entrance.
- Near the bridge between Flying Waters and Spring Meadows.
- On rocks near Flying Waters location.
- Next to hardened terrain close to Flying Waters exit.
Esquie AI Pathing Fixes
- Esquie no longer gets stuck:
- When jumping off paint bridges, avoiding fall-through glitches.
- Near bottom sections of levitating structures near Visages.
- Around the Flying Waters level entrance.
- Near a large hammer close to Blades’ Graveyard level.
Weapon and Skill Adjustments
- Fixed Lithelim attribute scaling at higher levels. Reduced initial Vitality scaling from A to C (still reaches S at max level). Added Luck scaling starting at D.
- Fixed Blizzon attribute scaling at higher levels. Reduced initial Luck scaling from B to C (still reaches S at max level). Added Defense scaling starting at D.
- Fixed Medalum third Lumina doubling only Burn damage in Virtuose Stance, not all damage types.
- Stendhal: Overall damage reduced by 40%.
Other Fixes
- Boss encounter in Stone Wave Cliffs can now be completed in New Game+.
- Journal UI no longer blocks progression after opening the first journal in Spring Meadows.
- Fixed inability to shoot in free aim while exploring due to worn controller triggers.
- Lune and Monoco no longer spawn at the same location during the conclusion of their Level 6 relationship quests if completed without visiting camp.
- If selecting “remember the objective” at camp, then quickly choosing “go to sleep” followed by “leave”, the screen no longer turns black.
- The “Discovering the truth” cutscene in Old Lumière cannot be triggered twice consecutively, preventing an unintended permanent party split with only Verso and Maelle remaining.
- Updated rolling credits sequence.
