With Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's massive success since launch, players are already eager for more content, especially a full DLC. While the creative director and CEO, Guillaume Broche, has made it clear that the team at Sandfall Interactive have had plans for DLC since before the game even released, their priorities have shifted a bit due to its success.

Clair Obscur has proven to be the most surprising game of the year so far, offering hours of high-quality entertainment with its enthralling stories, characters, combat, and world. Because of this, developers have made it a priority to fine-tune the base game as much as possible before releasing additional content. For a small team like Sandfall, resources are somewhat limited and, as such, priorities have to shift based on the most pressing needs for the game, which is understandable. Still, fans are champing at the bit for any details on an official announcement about Clair Obscur's future plans for a DLC.

Clair Obscur DLC Has Been A Plan "From The Beginning"

Clair Obscur DLC Is Almost Certainly Going To Happen... Eventually

Creative director and the main visionary behind Clair Obscur, Guillaume Broche, said in an interview with Denfaminicogamer that the team "had plans to release DLC from the beginning. However, we have received a much greater response than we expected, so we need to reconsider what to do next." This statement is pretty revealing in the sense that it more or less confirms that a DLC will happen at some point, even if it's unclear exactly when this will happen.

"It's a promising sign that the team understands its priorities and primarily wants to deliver the best product they can before moving on to the next one."

My read on this is that they expected to be able to focus on developing DLC immediately after the initial launch. However, due to the sheer number of players and the game's incredible reception, they realized how important it is to ensure the core product is in a pristine state before launching additional content and giving themselves even more work than they already have. It's a promising sign that the team understands its priorities and primarily wants to deliver the best product they can before moving on to the next one.

It's worth noting that Broche later dismissed rumors of new DLC content coming anytime soon, which stemmed from a social media post that was taken out of context, as reported by The Washington Post. The focus right now certainly seems to be on making sure the base game is in a near-perfect state before the team can shift gears to additional content.

Cut Content From Clair Obscur Is Further Proof A DLC Is Almost Guaranteed

Fans Have Found Cut Content & Even Discovered Unused Areas In The Base Game

Arguably a better reason to expect DLC from Clair Obscur is the amount of cut content from the base game, which fans have datamined and picked apart to discover some rather interesting tidbits. In particular, there appear to be quest items such as the mysterious Excalibur weapon in the Gestral Bazaar (aka the Wooden Stick) that were once part of an actual quest, or even unique enemies that didn't end up making it into the base game.

There are also a few areas in the game that seem to have been cut, such as the entirely unused area in Dark Shores that can be accessed by a jump glitch. Redditor more secrets to come in Clair Obscur than what we have in front of us right now.

Clair Obscur Has A Perfect Narrative Opportunity For DLC

Clair Obscur's Meta-Narrative Is Prime For Expansion

Aside from all of the above, it's hard to imagine there won't be some form of expansion on the meta-narrative at work in Clair Obscur, i.e., the war between the Painters and the Writers that is happening outside the Canvas. Whether that comes in the form of a sequel or if they choose to expand on this aspect of the story through a DLC, it's the perfect opportunity for Clair Obscur to build upon their beloved universe and give fans further context for what's going on in the larger story.

The war between the Writers and Painters is left relatively ambiguous by the ending of Clair Obscur, yet it is easily the most significant detail in the game. It's purely speculative on my part, but I can't imagine a DLC or sequel to Clair Obscur that doesn't expand on this war at some level. Regardless, it's one of the most interesting aspects of the narrative for most fans, myself included, and it's ripe for development. Providing a wider context for this war will expand the universe of Clair Obscur in a really meaningful and exciting way.

No Clair Obscur DLC Would Be A Massive Missed Opportunity

DLC Can Deliver On Some In-Game Promises

There are also specific in-game locations that seem to be set up for future DLC, in particular the Endless Tower. This area has glowing red gates that, in their current form, do absolutely nothing, yet it's heavily implied you are going to be able to interact with them at some point. Completing the Endless Tower doesn't unlock these gates, and the notion of the tower being "Endless" implies that a DLC will allow us to actually continue up the tower. If this isn't cut content or meant to be used for DLC, it's kind of a misleading and underwhelming location.

You can use the Endless Tower to unlock almost all of Monoco's skills, just make sure he's in your active party during each fight.

Overall, I find it highly unlikely that a Clair Obscur DLC won't end up getting released at some point. There are so many opportunities for expansion and elaboration in this incredible world, and to think that we won't get anything at all seems absurd. Because of this game's meteoric success, any additional content that Sandfall puts out will immediately be eaten up by players. The good news is that the developers seem to care about the quality of their product above all, and they aren't in a rush to move on to DLC until the base game is nearly flawless.

Whether we see a DLC in the near future remains to be officially confirmed, but it looks likely we'll see an official announcement at some point in the game's future. Perhaps it's because players fall in love with this game so quickly and completing the game itself takes such a short time (relatively speaking) that DLC is all they can think about, but it's important to that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has only been out for a little over a month, and a DLC might require a bit of patience.

Source: Denfaminicogamer, Washington Post , Clair Obscur Unofficial Discord, Ogmasensei/Reddit