Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[Aragorn]

I have fierce, fierce opinions on the right thing in that ending.

Talk to me.

Spoiler:

I went with Verso. Especially after "the boy" said he wanted to stop painting, my heart bled for him. It had to happen and that cycle had to end. I was quite surprised to see a lot felt the same way.

For once, I agree.

Spoiler:

The game wraps you in an incredible meta fiction through that ending dilemma. We as players have grown incredibly attached to this fiction, this canvas, the people it inhabits - in a manner incredibly similar to the Dessendre family; and we are forced to confront our selfish desire vs the greater, but harsh good. Verso is ultimately right that the Dessendres incapability of dealing with their grief cannot be changed as long as the canvas remains, and the grieving 16 year old is not someone i'd trust with responsible use of the canvas. Layer it with painted Verso's pain, and real Verso's pain and the cyclic torture being forced upon him due to him being forced to paint to keep the world alive (even though painting was never his passion), there is no good choice but Verso's. Now imagine my surprise when I saw that the majority of the discourse is people thinking Maelle is the right choice. Fucking insanity. My boy Verso is ride and die.

I'm writing an article to iron out my feelings on this game since while there is the obvious first and second layers to the story, I kept thinking about it through the lens of art theory & author intent and there is a very interesting discussion to be had on how it comments on textual intentionalism vs reader interpretation.