Graphics Settings: Balancing Visuals and Performance for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a visually striking RPG, combining painterly aesthetics with tactical, turn-based combat in a surreal French-inspired fantasy world. One of the game’s most impressive achievements is its broad compatibility across a range of hardware, thanks to well-optimized graphics settings. Whether you’re gaming on a high-end rig or a modest setup, you can tune the settings for a satisfying mix of beauty and responsiveness.

Optimized for a Range of Systems 

Out of the box, Expedition 33 offers an accessible experience even on mid-range systems. With presets like “Medium” and scalable resolution sliders, the game accommodates players looking for performance over fidelity, or vice versa. During our tests, the game held up well even at sub-1080p resolutions with upscaling enabled via DLSS.

This is a deliberate design choice. As a turn-based title, the game doesn’t demand razor-sharp reflexes or constant 60+ FPS gameplay. Players focused on tactical decision-making and cinematic visuals can comfortably lock their experience at 30 FPS without compromising enjoyment.

General Settings Breakdown 

From the in-game menus, here are some key highlights to pay attention to:

• Quick Preset: Start with Medium. It delivers consistent performance while preserving visual flair.

• Scaling Type: DLSS is recommended if you have an NVIDIA RTX GPU. It boosts framerate without sacrificing too much visual quality.

• Resolution Scale: Defaults to 66.7%. Consider increasing it for better clarity if your GPU can handle it.

• Max FPS: Set to Unlimited, but you may want to cap it to 60 or 30 depending on your system and preference.

• Display Mode: Borderless Windowed is perfect for multi-tasking or streaming.

• VSync: Enable this if you’re experiencing screen tearing.

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Graphics Settings Recommendations

From the “Graphics” tab, the default setting is Medium for most categories. Here are our recommendations:

• Motion Blur, Film Grain, Chromatic Aberration, Vignette: Turn these off if you prefer a cleaner image.

• Anti-Aliasing: Medium works well, but set to High on powerful systems.

• Shadows & Global Illumination: These heavily impact performance. Stick to Medium unless you have a strong GPU.

• Texture Quality: Medium is surprisingly sharp, but go High if you have plenty of VRAM.

• Foliage & Visual Effects: Lower these to reduce load in complex scenes.

Benchmark-Based Graphics Preset Configuration

When you first launch Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the game runs an automatic benchmark to evaluate your PC’s hardware and sets default graphics settings based on its findings. This built-in optimization ensures most players get a smooth visual experience out of the box — without needing to tweak settings manually.

For example, our test rig consists of:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 (6-Core, 12 Threads)

• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB VRAM)

• RAM: 32GB DDR5

• OS: Windows 11 Pro, DirectX 12

With this setup, the benchmark tool automatically applied the following defaults:

• Quick Preset: Medium

• Scaling Type: DLSS

• Scaling Mode: Quality

• Resolution Scale: 66.7% (Native resolution is 1440p)

• Max FPS: Unlimited

• Post-processing & Visual Effects: Medium

• V-Sync: Enabled

Real-World Benchmark: RTX 3060 at QHD (1440p) — What to Expect

When launching Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the game auto-runs a benchmark to determine optimal performance settings for your system. This built-in test adjusts rendering and scaling options based on your hardware capabilities — which is especially helpful for players running popular mid-tier GPUs like the RTX 3060.

In our test rig, equipped with:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 (6C/12T)

• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

• RAM: 32GB

• Monitor Resolution: 2560×1440 (QHD)

• OS: Windows 11, DirectX 12

The game recommended the following default settings:

• Quick Preset: Medium

• Scaling Type: DLSS

• Scaling Mode: Quality

• Resolution Scale: ~66.7%

• Display Mode: Borderless Windowed

• VSync: Enabled

• Post-processing & Visual Effects: Medium

With DLSS Quality mode at 1440p, the game ran between 55–60 FPS in the opening area — providing mostly fluid gameplay, though it didn’t fully lock to 60 FPS. This is consistent with the RTX 3060’s performance bracket, which is often considered entry-level for gaming PC (When it was released – it is now replaced by the less favorable 5060)

When DLSS was disabled and replaced with DLAA (Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing) for native rendering without upscaling, the framerate dropped to around 45 FPS — a significant tradeoff for sharper image quality. DLAA looks better, but on a 3060, it may not be worth the smoothness loss unless you’re fine with a ~ 40 FPS – I still personally recommend this setting on a VRR Display, as this provides a much better visual clarity – and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is still enjoyable with this setting

Can you tell which screenshot is DLAA and which is DLSS Quality? 

 

Recommendation

For most players using an RTX 3060 (still one of the most used GPUs according to the Steam Hardware Survey), we recommend sticking with the default benchmark settings — especially the DLSS Quality mode — to maintain a playable frame rate with decent visuals. With the latest update to DLSS, it still one of the best upscaler out there. 

For those looking to enhance visual fidelity:

• Consider increasing Texture and Shadows to High — they have limited FPS impact on VRAM-rich cards like the 3060 12GB.

• Keep Post Processing and Global Illumination on Medium to balance clarity and performance.

• Use DLAA only if you’re okay with sub-50 FPS gameplay in exchange for sharper image quality.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is well-optimized for scalability — and DLSS remains the most powerful tool in the settings to get the best of both worlds on mid-range GPUs.

Unlike real-time action games, Clair Obscur allows you to make visual sacrifices in favor of stable performance without hurting your gameplay. Its turn-based design gives players breathing room between actions, making lower framerates like 30 FPS a viable and still visually rich option.

If you aim for 60 FPS on a mid-range GPU (GTX 3060, RTX 2060 level), the default benchmark-based settings are good enough, for 3060 users, a more agressive DLSS setting would also help greatly (Balanced/ Performance)

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Conclusion: A Well-Optimized Journey

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 respects the player’s hardware. Whether you’re chasing ultra-sharp visuals on a 4K screen or keeping things smooth on an older rig, its extensive graphics options ensure a tailored experience. For the best of both worlds, Medium settings with DLSS enabled is a great starting point.

Stay tuned for more performance benchmarks and platform-specific guides.

Where to Get Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Available Now Across Platforms

If you’re ready to dive into the surreal and tactical world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, good news—the game is now available on all major platforms:

•  PlayStation 5 – Available digitally on the PlayStation Store and at major retailers.
• Xbox Series X|S – Playable at launch via Microsoft Store, and included with Xbox Game Pass.
• PC (Windows) – Available via Steam, Epic Games Store, and included in PC Game Pass.

As part of its Day-One launch on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, subscribers can play the full version immediately at no extra cost—making this a perfect time to try one of the year’s most critically acclaimed RPGs.