Gaming feels predictable sometimes. You walk into a room, you see a glowing chest, you open it. But then Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 dropped its first deep-dive trailers and suddenly everyone is staring at walls. Specifically, they're staring at the expedition 33 pictos list, trying to figure out why a turn-based RPG from Sandfall Interactive is obsessed with cryptic iconography.
It’s weird.
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The game is set in a world where a Paintress wakes up once a year to paint a number on a monolith. Everyone that age? They just vanish. Poof. Gone. To fight back, an expedition travels through a surreal, Belle Époque-inspired landscape to find her. Along the way, players keep bumping into these "Pictos"—stark, glowing symbols etched into the environment. They aren't just background art. They are a mechanical riddle that has the community acting like amateur archaeologists.
What is the Expedition 33 Pictos List exactly?
Honestly, if you've played The Witness or maybe the more obscure parts of Elden Ring, you know the vibe. In Expedition 33, Pictos are collectible, interactable symbols scattered throughout the world of Lumière and beyond.
They are basically the game's version of a high-stakes scavenger hunt. But unlike a "find 100 feathers" quest in an old Assassin’s Creed, these have actual lore weight. Some are hidden behind perspective puzzles. Others require you to look through a specific lens or stand in a certain spot where the environment aligns to form the shape.
The list itself is a tracker. It’s how you gauge your progress in uncovering the "Truths" of the Paintress. When you find one, it usually triggers a brief flicker of a memory or a bit of world-building text. Players are currently obsessed with the "Sorrow" picto and the "Cycle" picto because they seem to point toward the game's multiple endings.
Why everyone is losing their minds over them
It’s the mystery. People love a mystery.
Sandfall Interactive has been very coy about how these symbols affect gameplay stats. We know that completing certain sets on the expedition 33 pictos list unlocks unique "Paintings"—which are essentially this game’s version of powerful passive gear or skill modifiers. You don’t just find a +5 sword. You find symbols, understand a story, and earn a "Fragment of the 72nd Year" that makes your parries explode with light.
It's a clever way to force players to look at the scenery. The world is beautiful. It’s all 19th-century French aesthetics mixed with nightmare fuel. If you just ran through it, you’d miss the fact that the architecture itself is telling you how the world ended.
Tracking the Pictos: Location and Logic
You can't just stumble into every symbol. Some of them are mean.
Take the "Sunken Cathedral" area. There’s a picto there—often cited at the top of many players' "most hated" lists—that only appears if you wait for the tide of "Paint" to recede. If you’re rushing the main quest, you’ll never see it. This is why the expedition 33 pictos list is becoming a massive collaborative effort online.
- Environmental Pictos: These are built into the world. Think of a cracked bridge that, from a certain angle, looks like a Roman numeral.
- Hidden Pictos: These require the "Lumiere Lantern" to reveal. You’ll hear a faint humming sound when you're near one.
- Combat Pictos: Some only appear after specific elite encounters. They represent the "last thoughts" of those who fell in previous expeditions.
The logic follows a rhythmic pattern. Usually, there are three pictos per major sub-zone. If you’ve found two, you’re missing one. Simple, right? Except the third one is usually behind an invisible wall or a platforming puzzle that requires you to use the grapple hook in a way that feels like it’s breaking the game.
The Mechanical Reward: Beyond Lore
Let's talk numbers. Because while lore is cool, we want to know if these things make us hit harder.
When you fill out a section of your expedition 33 pictos list, you get access to "Stains." In the game’s jargon, Stains are essentially your perk tree. One specific set of pictos—the "Obsidian Series"—unlocks a Stain that increases your reactive window for the "Dodge" mechanic. Since Expedition 33 is a "Reactive Turn-Based" game, having a bigger dodge window is the difference between life and a very frustrating reload screen.
There’s also a rumored "Secret Picto" that only appears if you haven't used a single healing item in the Wasteland area. Is it real? The Discord is still arguing about it. But that’s the beauty of a game that respects the player's curiosity. It breeds these kinds of urban legends.
The Paintress Connection
The most important pictos are the ones that correlate to the numbers the Paintress has already painted. 16, 22, 33... these aren't just digits. In the expedition 33 pictos list, these "Number Pictos" act as keys.
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If you find the Picto for the Year 16, you unlock a vision of what happened when that generation vanished. It’s grim stuff. You see the children of that year being turned into the very monsters you’re fighting. It’s high-tier environmental storytelling that rivals BioShock.
Strategy for Completing Your List
Don’t try to do this all at once. You’ll burn out.
The best way to handle the expedition 33 pictos list is to treat it like a background task.
- Listen to the audio cues. The game uses 3D audio very effectively. If you hear a shimmering, glass-like sound, stop moving. Rotate the camera. It’s there.
- Check the "Echoes." Sometimes an NPC will mention a "strange mark" near a landmark. They aren't just flavoring the dialogue. They are giving you a map marker without actually putting a marker on your HUD.
- Backtrack after getting the Grapple. A lot of the early areas have pictos that are physically impossible to reach until you’ve cleared the third boss.
There is a specific picto in the "Statue Gallery" that requires you to align three different hanging frames. It’s a perspective puzzle that took the community about four days to solve collectively. If you’re stuck, look up. Most players spend too much time looking at the ground for loot. In this game, the real treasure is usually etched into the ceiling.
Common Pitfalls and Missable Icons
Can you miss them? Yes and no.
Most of the expedition 33 pictos list can be backtracked. However, there is a point of no return near the final act—the "Breach of the 33rd Year." If you enter that portal without finishing your collections, you are locked out of the "True Awakening" ending.
The game doesn't give you a big "ARE YOU SURE?" warning in red text. It’s subtle. Maelle (one of the protagonists) will say something like, "We won't be coming back this way." That is your cue to turn around and finish your hunt.
Specifically, watch out for the "Ghost Pictos." These only appear during certain weather cycles in the overworld. If it's raining "Ink," certain symbols on the stone walls will wash away, revealing a different symbol underneath. It’s a layer of complexity that keeps the search from feeling like a chore.
The Role of Gustave
Gustave, the expedition leader, actually has a journal that updates as you find these. If you're struggling to understand a specific picto you've found, read his notes. He often provides a "scientific" or "historical" context that hints at where the next one in the sequence might be. He might mention that "The Twin symbols were always placed within sight of each other." That’s a massive hint. If you found one, the other is in your line of sight.
Actionable Steps for Completionists
If you want to 100% this thing, you need a plan.
First, focus on the "Aura" upgrade for your lantern. It increases the radius of the humming sound, making it much easier to sniff out symbols in the darker, more cluttered environments like the "Under-City."
Second, don't ignore the side quests. Several pictos are "held" by NPCs. You won't find them etched on a wall; you'll get them as a reward for a conversation or a small task.
Third, use the photo mode. Seriously. Sometimes the field of view in the normal gameplay camera makes it hard to see the alignment of a perspective puzzle. In photo mode, you can fly the camera around and see the picto clearly, then move your character to the right spot.
The expedition 33 pictos list is more than a checklist. It's the skeleton of the game’s narrative. Every symbol you find peels back a layer of why the Paintress is doing what she’s doing. It transforms the game from a standard "save the world" story into a deep, philosophical dive into what it means to be remembered.
Get your lantern ready. Watch the walls. And for heaven's sake, don't forget to look up when you get to the "Teatro" district. The biggest secret in the game is hiding in plain sight on a billboard.