One of the major things that attracted so much attention to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is its characters. A wonderfully written cast is made even stronger by stellar performances, and there’s real depth in these characters' stories and how you get to know them — especially the further you get into the game. One of the biggest standouts has been the gruff but whimsical Gestral named Monoco, who quite literally collects the feet of enemies to get special moves. And a new Easter Egg discovered by fans gives Monoco a beautifully tragic extra wrinkle.
Warning: There will be major spoilers ahead for Expedition 33.
Monoco is introduced about halfway through Expedition 33, as the final party member. Verso says Monoco is his oldest friend, and the two have travelled the world together across the nearly one hundred years of Verso’s seemingly immortal life.
Of course, at the end of Act 2, we learn the truth about the world of Expedition 33, how it’s essentially an artificial world created by the “painters” of the real world. This includes Verso and his family — the Verso that players control is a copy of the actual Verso, a “painted” version. Of course, things get a little muddy in terms of the game’s philosophical elements. Despite Verso being a copy, it becomes clear that he’s his own person, with a unique soul and sense of self. There are also painted versions of the rest of the Dessandre family — namely Renoir and Alicia (Maelle’s real self). But as it turns out, Monoco might be a painted version of something too, Verso’s dog.
There’s a secret room that fans have found in The Manor, and we’ve confirmed its existence ourselves. The room behind the painting is filled with pictures of a singular dog, with a bell on its collar that looks suspiciously similar to the one on Monoco’s weapon. But this works for both an Easter Egg to the dev team, and within the lore itself.
If you go to the website for Expedition 33’s developer, Sandfall Interactive, and click on the Team page, you’ll see the studio’s “Happiness Manager” is a dog named Monoco. It’s the same dog featured in the secret room, and clearly the character Monoco was named after them.
But contextually within the story, it also makes perfect sense that Monoco is a representation of Verso’s beloved dog. First of all, the shaggy grey mane of Monoco is striking similar to the dog we see in the paintings. Then there’s how much the game insists Monoco is Verso’s best friend, his loyal companion that follows him into all the trouble he gets up to.
Even the fact that Monoco collects legs could be meaningful, in the way dogs are obsessed with sticks, bones, or anything they can carry. Considering Verso created this world, it makes sense that he’d want to inject it with all the comfort of his loved ones — and if he painted his family there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t do the same for his furry companion.
In that way, this secret room acts like a kind of shrine, both within the game’s worlds and to how much the development team itself must love the real-life Monoco.
There’s already a lot to love about Expedition 33, but this little hidden-away Easter Egg helps enrich the game and its world even more. It’s also a heartwarming reminder of how the animals in our lives can influence us just as much as people can.
