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He clearly knows that defeating the paintress means that Renoir can erase everyone.
What he did not realize is that even then he is immortal since Aline bound his existense to the fragment of the real Versos soul that keeps the Canvas going.
So after the events of act 2 he is clearly a bit lost and just goes along with Maelle but you can see it in his face in many of the scenes that he is not ok with Maelles plan to restore the canvas and stay there.
And then at the very end when Renoir opens a portal to the heart of the canvas to show them Aline suffering he takes that chance to remove child Verso from the canvas which would mean he can finally die.
I still think his "concern" about Maelle and her staying in the canvas is "fake" and a lie, he cares only about finally being able to end his immortal existence and Maelle would never allow it if she gets her way.
So we land at the final duel. You see that when he loses he does not beg Maelle to leave the canvas because it would kill her in the long run, he only begs to be killed and "unpainted".
That was always his only goal.
Helping Maelle defeat Real Renoir aligns with this strategy because Renoir’s actions (e.g., the Gommage) are erratic and destructive, threatening the Expedition’s progress. Verso needs the Expedition to reach and defeat Aline first, as her expulsion from the Canvas weakens its hold and sets the stage for its potential destruction. If Renoir were to succeed in erasing the Canvas prematurely, it might not guarantee Aline’s safe return to the real world or the resolution Verso seeks for his soul.
In short, Verso uses the Expedition, including Maelle, as a tool to systematically dismantle the Canvas’s structure. Opposing Renoir ensures the Expedition reaches the Monolith and confronts Aline, which is a prerequisite for Verso’s endgame.
While Verso and Real Renoir share the goal of destroying the Canvas, their motivations and methods differ. Renoir’s approach is ruthless—he’s willing to Gommage entire populations (e.g., Lumiere’s inhabitants) to force Aline out, showing little regard for the Canvas’s sentient inhabitants. Verso, while manipulative, expresses regret for the lives lost and seems to seek a more controlled end to the Canvas, one that ensures his family’s healing.
Verso may oppose Renoir because he believes Renoir’s indiscriminate destruction could trap Aline or Alicia in the Canvas permanently or cause unnecessary harm. By siding with Maelle, Verso maintains control over the Expedition’s path, steering it toward a confrontation with Aline that aligns with his vision of resolution.
Perhaps this is a oversight by the devs/writers or perhaps Verso hoped he can resolve things with Alicia without antagonizing her. This clearly did not work out.
This still doesn't answer why Verso sided with Maelle to defeat Real Renoir on the final battle in Lumiere. Verso want's the same thing with Real Renoir.
While this is true, one way to explain it could be that Verso felt closer to his sibling in that moment and wanted to achieve his goal in a different manner than what Alicia did with her painted counterpart. Namely removing her without giving Verso the chance to say goodbye.
Since we can only speculate, maybe another theory would be that he was unsure about what to really do at that point and it was not until Renoir showed Alines suffering that he made up his mind that the canvas needed to be destroyed.
Maybe he did indeed not know if he should go through with it but as you mentioned, he did it in the end for Aline and Alicia.
And also for himself.
Another point could be that death/being erased into nothingness scared him, despite his desire to end his existence. Only towards the very end did he find the courage to go through with it. As he was visibly hesitating.
Yes, Verso wants to die and for it all to end — he stated that from the beginning.
His “happy ending” is the end of Act 2; he deliberately betrayed everyone or told half-truths to achieve this goal. Up to that point, he even works hand in hand with the real Renoir.
To me, it's unclear why he fights Renoir — maybe he actually had a change of heart!?
However, at the end of Act 3, he sees the truth in Maelle's eyes and knows instantly that Renoir was right: she would never let go and become her mother.
Also note that the small boy who paints is apparently a soul fragment of Verso. I think he wanted peace for him, too.
This game is apparently about the acceptance of loss and reality.
In a way, it’s like Returnal.
Oh and I wanted to point out that while Verso seems to be the bad guy, Maelle isn't much better, she does and want's the exact same thing her mother did and Renoir
warned her about. Misleading everyone and I think herself, too.
Verrso in his earlier years of the conflict between Aline and Renoir was as hopeful as Maelle about the conflct; hoping that once Aline gets kicked out of the Canvas, both her and Renoir would calm down after a bit and bring everyone back (Verso's own Expedition log). However... after decades and decades of trying, suffering, betraying and losing everyone to find a way for both families to co-exist, his spirit kept getting crushed and simply lost all hope of that dream.
If Aline gets kicked out, they die. If Renoir gets kicked out, they die once she dies. So the only choice he can make is to kick Aline out so that at least one person survives this conflict... but after decades of failing to get to her, he gave up on the conflict realizing he can't even reach her, stuck in a never-ending limbo where he can't do anything but watch the world count down, blaming himself for everyone's suffering.
So he abandons the conflict, until years later when he spots Maelle and realizes their daughter entered the Canvas. THIS was his chance, his ONLY chance to get to Aline and kick her out in order to save at least one person. So he stalked Maelle from the beginning, manipulated her relentlessly and used her to save the one person he could, at the inevitable expense of everyone else.
With Aline out of the picture, Renoir does exactly what Verso knew would happen - wipes everyone out. Hoping now that Aline is out they will all calm down, he will be granted peace and the Canvas will be restored. But once he realizes Renoir intends to wipe out the Canvas entirely, that's when he starts regretting his actions after betraying everyone and realizing all of their sacrifices were for naught. He gets overwhelmed with guilt because he hoped they would all be brought back once Aline was out (just like Maelle did), so he escapes with her hoping to rectify his mistake by bringing everyone back and earning their trust again.
Unfortunately however his resolve falls short in the finale upon getting stuck in the same impossible scenario as before. Renoir and Aline still fighting each other, Maelle wanting to live her life within the Canvas, and him not being granted the freedom of death.
At that point the very hopelessness that he endured for half a century overwhelms him and he's had enough, he throws down an ultimatum. He wants Maelle out at any cost even if it means murdering Lune and Sciel, so he can finally be free of the life he never wanted that kept crushing his spirit for so long.
Ultimately the gift of immortality that Aline bestowed upon him ended up being the very curse that broke him after decades of suffering. Forced him to do the only thing one can do, at the expense of everyone else. Just like Maelle he is a victim in all this that never wanted this life of suffering, just like she didn't want her life of suffering.
It is a bit weird to drop something as reality shattering as "there is absolute proof that you are not real" and to just be alright well time to save my false existence. It is so weird to have to play through Act 3 knowing I'd be with Renoir and Verso in ending the canvas.
Verso goes against Fake Renoir for obvious reasons and I just started Act 3 so I can only hope he goes against Real Renoir as a way to be able to expel Alicia and end the canvas.
ok that's makes the most sense. But where is it mentioned that Verso believed that the canvas would be restored once Alina would be beaten?
Also are we sure (because you mentioned it) that if Renoir died, the people of lumiere would die after Alina dies? I dont think it's a requirement to have a painter actively keeping people alive.
Yepp the deeper you go the more you can see Renoir as the "hero" if there is such a thing.
It's still sad that alle the people have to suffer along the way though.
Note that the "boy" also plays a role.
From what I understand it is Verso, I guess he is the soul fragment they always talk about. And he is activly painting - even if he apparently suffers from it.
That's correct. Mostly because it's not Maelle anymore, she is Alicia who is now has all contextual knowledge that Maelle lacked, she knows this she is the painter and this is a Canvas. As much as she wanted to make you believe that she is same Maelle, she is obviously not which is seen in her actions, her choice of words, her tone
Verso's own Expedition log, which is directly tied to Julie's expedition log. Both of these logs explore Verso's motives and how he deals with the impossible choice forcing him to lie and betray the expeditions to get Aline out.
No, not what I meant.
Renoir would've destroyed the Canvas no matter what, especially if Aline died. That's the entire reason why they're stuck in there fighting each other for 67 years and would've been stuck for the whole century, because she wants to protect it and he wants to destroy it no matter what. So regardless of what Verso did, Lumierans were done for in ACT II because Renoir himself was hellbent on destroying it.
Although he is a caring father with best intentions, unfortunately his own crippling fear of losing another family member makes him a dismissive control-freak forcing his will upon everyone else.
So he is throwing down an ultimatum through force, to destroy the Canvas for her own good. And he would do so no matter what. His own stubbornness is what kept making the situation far worse than it would've been and that is what he ultimately realizes at the very end after talking with Lune and Sciel.
He finally realizes that his own crippling fear was blinding him and in doing so destroying his family, even alienated his daughter. So he stops doing it and lets Maelle live her life the way she wants (and in doing so he himself breaks the cycle).