Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a fairly long game with much to do. The game still ensures that it remembers the main goal, which is to beat the Paintress. The Monolith is where this final showdown happens, but the dungeon can get a little confusing for some.
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What’s in The Monolith in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
The Monolith is essentially the final dungeon in the main Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 story. This area is extremely lore-heavy and has twisted versions of previous zones. The highlights have to be the three Paint Cages that you can open for rewards. You may need to buy the game from a platform such as LootBar to understand the significance of these cages, but we’ll highlight the methods to open them all here.
After entering The Monolith by breaking the barrier, you have to keep moving forward on the straightforward path. Below is the order in which you’ll pass every area:
Inside the Monolith
Tainted Meadows
Tainted Waters
Tainted Sanctuary
Tainted Cliffs
Tainted Battlefield
Tainted Hearts
Tainted Lumiere
After this, you’ll face Renoir in a boss fight, and then Paintress directly after. The dungeon itself isn’t too tough, but it’s filled with optional bosses and enemies that you can fight. Of course, those who decide to clean up additional enemies will get rewarded for their troubles.
Routes for all three Paint Cages in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
All three cages are spread across different areas of The Monolith and are tied to the main path through the area. This makes it tough for you to miss them.
The first cage is in Tainted Meadows
The second is in Tainted Sanctuary
The third is in Tainted Hearts.
The second cage is the only one that needs Paint Break to access one of its locks, so the player must have completed the Lost Gestral side quest before attempting it.
Paint Cage 1: Tainted Meadows
The first Paint Cage is in the Tainted Meadows area, which is the first place that players see after entering the Monolith and activating the first rest flag. From the flag, the player must turn around and take the separate path that branches away from the route they came from. That path leads downwards through two ropes with the Paint Cage at the bottom.
Players must find all three locks in the area to open it. The first lock is located up high to the left, near a bronze structure close to the rope. The second lock is north, at the dead end of the path, and it’s found on the side of a wall when facing west. The third lock is on the south, beyond the Paint Cage, near another rope. The player must turn around there and look toward the top of a large boulder to spot the final lock.
After breaking the three locks, the player must return to the Paint Cage to claim a Revive Tint Shard. After that, the route continues by climbing the rope and grappling into the next area.
Paint Cage 2: Tainted Sanctuary
The second Paint Cage is in Tainted Sanctuary. The player must follow the main path from the Tainted Sanctuary rest point until they reach a large, open area with a giant statue at its center. The route to the Paint Cage is located behind the central structure, accessible through a hole in the rock, and then leads to the edge of a small cliff.
The first lock is the easiest to miss. The player needs to look back along the path they just took and search behind the black and blue tree root. By breaking the root using the Paint Break ability, which is obtainable through the Lost Gestral side quest, players can find the second lock to the left of the Paint Cage when looking out over the area. The third lock is attached to the giant statue in the middle of the clearing.
After the player breaks all three locks and returns to the cage, the reward is Random Defense, a Pictos that can cause incoming damage to change heavily. The player must return to the fork and go south after opening it to move deeper into the Monolith.
Paint Cage 3: Tainted Hearts
The third Paint Cage is in the Tainted Hearts area, after the player passes the optional Gargant encounter and grapples across the chasm. The cage is found right after landing in the next section. To unlock it, the player must find the three nearby locks in the snowy area.
The first lock is visible after landing, on the corner of a snow-covered wall to the right. Players can find the second lock by moving towards the cage and looking at the side of the train. The third lock is behind the player, on the ledge they dropped from to reach the cage.
The reward the player gets after breaking all three locks and opening the cage is Empowering Parry, a Pictos that rewards good parries and works well with Verso’s Perfection mechanic. After getting it, the player must grapple back across the chasm and continue west up the handholds to continue going through The Monolith.
Conclusion
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has all sorts of dungeons that players can explore. However, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Monolith is the toughest, at least in the base game. If you want to give 2025’s Game of the Year a shot, then it may be a good idea to buy a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Steam key.
