The Game of the Year Awards, held in Los Angeles, are the Oscars of the gaming industry. That gaming awards ceremony gives the best games due recognition every December. December 11 was the date for the latest Game of the Year Awards 2025, which included 29 jury-voted award categories. The jury cast its verdict and unanimously judged Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 the best game of 2025 across various categories.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Scoops the Gaming Awards
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a dark fantasy RPG from the French developer Sandbox Interactive. That is an RPG in which players control a team on a desperate mission to kill the Paintress, who erases everyone over a specific age every year. It is a game that features deep RPG character progression, active turn-based combat, and strong story focus with a charged narrative.
With 13 nominations (a record number), many expected Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to win some awards in Los Angeles. The question was how many, and the judges voted in favor of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 nine times in what turned out to be a Game of the Year Awards 2025 rout. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 scooped the most significant Game of the Year award, ahead of Death Stranding 2, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Hollow Knight: Silksong. It also won eight other awards for these nominations:
- Best game design
- Best narrative
- Best art direction
- Best score and music (Lorien Testard)
- Best (acting) performance (Jennifer English)
- Best independent game
- Best debut indie game
- Best RPG
That Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 scooped so many awards is amazing for a game from an indie developer. Beating off Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Bananza, a smash hit on the Switch 2, for the best game award was a big feat alone. Donkey Kong Bananza won the Best Family Game award as a consolation prize.
Many players who have played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will probably agree that it deserves its Game of the Year award. It is, after all, a game with a Metacritic user score of 9.6, an average based on more than 20,000 player ratings. The average Metacritic media review score for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is also 92, making it one of the most highly rated games of the year. Players have loved the game’s stunning visuals and rewarding turn-based combat.
The Game of the Year Awards 2025 nominations Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lost out in were for Best audio design and Players’ voice. Battlefield 6 won the Best audio award. The surprise winner of the community-voted Players’ voice award was Wuthering Waves. Charlie Cox and Ben Starr from Clair Obscur were two other nominees for the Best performance award that went to Jennifer English.
Game Announcements at the Game of the Year Awards 2025
The Game of the Year Awards show is also a regular event for game announcements (or reveals). Developers announced about 25 new game titles during the show. These were some of the more notable upcoming games announced at the Game of the Year Awards 2025:
- Total War: Warhammer 40,000
- Star Wars: Fate of the Republic,
- Mega Man: Duel Override
- Tomb Raider: Catalyst
- Control Resonant
- Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
- Star Wars: Galactic Racer
- Divinity
- Ace Combat 8
- 4Loop
Of those announced, Total War: Warhammer 40,000, Control Resonant, and the Tomb Raider games are perhaps the most hotly anticipated. Warhammer 40,000 is the next instalment of the sci-fi Total War strategy game series, with turn-based galactic empire management. Control Resonant is the sequel to the hit Control third-person shoot ’em up. Catalyst and Legacy of Atlantis are the latest additions to the long-running Tomb Raider series, which is one of the biggest action-adventure franchises.
So, the Game of the Year Awards 2025 provided a glimpse of some of the most exciting upcoming titles and confirmed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to be the best game release of 2025. The nine awards it won were a record-breaking sweep at the Game of the Year Awards. Thus, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is now very much the Windows PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S game to have for RPG fanatics at least.
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