The Game Awards 2025 nominees have officially been announced, and while gamers have been anticipating a huge year for the hugely popular indie release, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, nobody was sure exactly which categories it would be nominated for, or how many nominations the game would get. As it turns out, Clair Obscur is breaking records this year at The Game Awards.
According to the Game Awards 2025 official nominee list, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has received a whopping 12 nominations for a range of different categories, including the top Game of the Year award, Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game, Best Game Direction, and more.
Clair Obscur Is The Most Nominated Game In The Game Awards History
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is Conclusively The Biggest Game Of 2025
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 absolutely dominated The Game Awards 2025 nominee list, with a dozen nominations in various categories, including the following:
- GAME OF THE YEAR
- BEST GAME DIRECTION
- BEST NARRATIVE
- BEST ART DIRECTION
- BEST SCORE AND MUSIC
- BEST AUDIO DESIGN
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BEST PERFORMANCE (x3)
- Charlie Cox
- Jennifer English
- Ben Starr
- BEST INDEPENDENT GAME
- BEST DEBUT INDIE GAME
- BEST RPG
The 12 nominations are more than any other game has received in the history of The Game Awards, which is an incredible accomplishment for an indie studio, Sandfall Interactive. Clair Obscur has become one of the most beloved games of all time for many players, so the laundry list of nominations is not entirely surprising. It’s wild to think of how far the game has come since its release earlier this year.
It’s worth remembering that Clair Obscur was made by a core team of just thirty employees, and that before its release, the game was virtually unheard of, with only a small group of fans excited about the mysterious turn-based RPG despite having very few details to go on. Ultimately, Clair Obscur absolutely exploded onto the scene and raised the bar for what is possible from small indie teams and solo devs.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Might Not Be A Shoe-In For GOTY 2025
Game Of The Year Nominees Are Stacked This Year
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is easily one of the best games of the year, but whether it wins GOTY outright isn’t a guarantee. While it’s become hugely popular and widely discussed as an obvious GOTY winner, the other nominees are absolute bangers as well, and could very easily claim the win this year. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is hands-down a worthy competitor, not to mention Death Stranding 2: On The Beach or the other surprise indie hit of 2025, Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Ultimately, the race is going to be a tight one, and while Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is bound to win many awards this year at The Game Awards 2025, I think we might see an upset this year given how stiff the competition is between GOTY nominees.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
9/10
- Released
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April 24, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
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Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
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Kepler Interactive
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5