Just west of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Old Lumiere, there’s this gloomy little place known as the Esoteric Ruins. It’s a dark, dingy place where you’ll encounter a troubled spirit, it recognizes it’s missing something, but can’t quite place its finger on what.
If you go ahead and do this optional Side Quest, you’ll have to get through a frustrating maze in order to discover the item the spirit’s been pining for. It is crucial to understand how to reach the Esoteric Mines maze and dissecting how to finish the quest.
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Reaching the Esoteric Ruins
To access the Esoteric Ruins Maze, you’ll first need to progress through the main story events in Monoco’s Station. Once that’s done, you’ll unlock the overworld zone that connects Monoco’s Station to Old Lumiere.
From there, begin traveling north towards Old Lumiere. When you arrive at the ramp which goes up to the Old Lumiere portal, jump over it—instead, turn a little bit to the left. Travel northwest by the swords that are glowing, then go up the ramp indicated in the picture above to access the Esoteric Ruins, an unlisted optional area.
When you’re inside, head north and fall off the cliff to meet a weird, floating spirit who initiates this side quest. It’ll ask you a peculiar question: “What is a spirit?” You’ll have three response choices:
- “the wandering soul of a dead person”
- “a made-up ghastly creature to scare kids”
- “s-something you find very scary.”
Don’t worry—your decision here doesn’t appear to impact the quest, so just choose the one that suits your style. After the first conversation, speak with the spirit once more, and it will send you off to get a mysterious object somewhere past the cliff.
To proceed, ascend the handholds on the northwest wall, and then use the rope to access the top. Descend the hillside and continue northwest—you will soon find yourself at the entrance to the Esoteric Ruins Maze.
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Solving the Esoteric Ruins Side Quest
Before entering the Esoteric Ruins Maze in Expedition 33, remember there’s more than one solution to it. The main mechanic here is shooting braziers with Free Aim—each shot changes the layout by opening or closing some paths. Observe the glowing trails after every shot to determine which doors are affected.
To reach the object the spirit’s been pining for, you’ll need to navigate through a maze consisting of rooms containing these luminous braziers. Here’s a route that takes you through:
- Begin by blasting the light-colored orb floating above the brazier toward the maze’s entry. This creates paths leading left and right.
- Head into the room on your left, then turn around and shoot the entrance brazier again. Now, both the left and right doorways should be sealed off.
- In the room you’re in, shoot the brazier there to open a path to the west.
- Proceed west into the adjacent room, turn right, and carry on across to the far right-hand side of the maze. Having arrived, turn and fire the central brazier yet again.
- Lastly, proceed through the open door, turn left, then right to escape the maze!
Outside the maze, search around for a few purple-colored objects. The one that matters most—Wood Boards—is on a tilted rooftop in the middle of the zone. That’s what the spirit has been craving.
Now, with the item in your possession, ascend the sloping rooftop and head south to grapple down from the building. From there, proceed southeast, scale a ledge, and grapple east over the chasm to the hillside with the Paint Cage.
After you’ve finished investigating, go back to the spirit and give the Wood Boards to finish the Side Quest. As a reward, the spirit will become a Portier named Nevron—and you’ll be rewarded with the Protecting Heal Pictos for your trouble!
