A French-made game, heavily inspired by the country¡¯s Belle Epoque (1871-1914) period and featuring a score and story as melodramatic as a night at a Paris opera house, has set records as 2025¡¯s game of the year ¡ª and it wouldn¡¯t have happened without Japan.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 released in relative, well, obscurity in April this year. But it wasn¡¯t long before the game developed by Sandfall Interactive, based in Montpellier, France, was being talked about as one of the year¡¯s best. The game¡¯s small pleasures ¡ª turn-based combat accented by real-time defensive parries and offensive attack boosts ¡ª and grand entertainment ¡ª a baroque, fatalistic story of ragtag adventurers fighting a seemingly impossible foe to save what remains of their declining world ¡ª combined for a uniquely polished and compelling experience no other game topped this year.
Major gaming award events agree. In November, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took home seven trophies at the London-based Golden Joystick Awards (tied with 2020¡¯s The Last of Us Part II for the most in the award¡¯s history), including accolades for best soundtrack, best storytelling and game of the year. On Dec. 11, it was the Los Angeles-based The Game Awards¡¯ turn to shower praise; Sandfall Interactive walked away with nine awards (including best art direction, best performance [by voice actor Jennifer English in the role of orphaned protagonist Maelle] and game of the year), again setting a new record in the show¡¯s history.
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