Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took The Game Awards 2025 by storm, winning all but two of the categories in which it was nominated, including the top prize: Game of the Year.
Sandfall Interactive’s beloved RPG won Game of the Year ahead of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.
Accepting the Game of the Year award amidst enthusiastic applause, director Guillaume Broche thanked the “incredible team” at Sandfall Interactive, most of whom were present and in costume. Broche thanked the “unsung heroes” of the video game industry, “people who create YouTube tutorials on how to make games because we had no idea how to make a game before.”
The Game of the Year award goes to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! #TheGameAwards @wyprawa33 @sandfallgames @kepler_interakcja pic.twitter.com/s33D7xvdvq
— Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 12, 2025
Broche then personally thanked Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, “who inspired me to become a game developer.” Broche concluded his speech by announcing the release of the Clair Obscur DLC in shadow form.
Clair Obscur also won awards for Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Soundtrack and Music, Best Indie Game, Best Indie Debut, and Best RPG Game. Jennifer English won the award for Best Performance for her role in the game.
The only categories in which Clair Obscur was nominated but did not win were: Best Audio Design, which went to EA’s shooter, Battlefield 6, and Player Voice, which received Wuthering Waves. Still, this is a remarkable result for the relatively compact Sandfall Interactive team, especially considering Clair Obscur is its debut title.
Clair Obscur was released in April alongside Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and both games made it to Game Pass on their first day of release. It was thought that Clair Obscur might struggle in such circumstances, but it enjoyed immediate and significant popularity, and by October had sold 5 million copies.
IGN’s review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 gave it a 9/10. We said: “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lives up to its inspirations and joins the pantheon of great RPGs with its brilliant combat system and gripping, harrowing story.”
Be sure to check out everything announced at The Game Awards 2025 for more information, as well as the full list of winners.
Photo: Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images.
Wesley is the news director at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
