Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is already making history at The Game Awards before the show even goes live in December, breaking a massive record. When it first came out, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 immediately stole the hearts of many gamers, thanks to a combination of great gameplay, amazing performances, top-notch graphics and score selection, and a heart-wrenching story. On paper, the game has it all, and when it was released in April of this year, many players already called it Game of the Year.
Flash-forward to today, November 17, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a GOTY nominee at The Game Awards, and fans believe it will win regardless of its competition. The other candidates for Game of the Year are Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. While the list is impressive and each game has its merits, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is sweeping its competition by setting a new incredible record for the number of overall nominations.
'Do Not Let That Expedition Game Win Game of the Year' Shroud Calls On Fans to Vote for ARC Raiders GOTY Over Clair Obscur
Popular streamer Shroud is urging fans not to vote for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for Game of the Year, suggesting that ARC Raiders should win.
Say Hello to The New TGA Record Holder, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been nominated for 10 categories and has 12 total nominations at The Game Awards 2025, which is the most ever in the history of the event. These are:
- Game of the Year
- Best Game Direction
- Best Narrative
- Best Art Direction
- Best Score and Music
- Best Audio Design
- Best Performance (3 nominations out of 6)
- Best Independent Game
- Best Debut Indie Game
- Best RPG
Specifically, for Best Performance at TGA, the nominations go to Ben Starr as Verso, Charlie Cox as Gustave, and Jennifer English as Maelle. This ties The Last of Us Part 2 as the only games to have three separate performances nominated in the category.
Interestingly, Ben Starr was also nominated for Best Performance at TGA 2023 for his role as Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy 16.
There have been several cases of outstanding games getting nominated for many categories in most TGA editions. A few examples are:
- Astro Bot and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in TGA 2024, with 7 nominations each, and Astro Bot being the GOTY winner
- Baldur's Gate 3 in TGA 2023, with 9 nominations and GOTY winner
- Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarok in TGA 2022, with 5 nominations and GOTY winner for Elden Ring, and 8 nominations for God of War Ragnarok
- The Last of Us Part 2 in TGA 2020, with 11 nominations and GOTY winner, which was the previous record holder before this year
- God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 in TGA 2018, with 8 nominations each, and God of War being the GOTY winner
Considering the history of games with most nominations at The Game Awards often being also the GOTY winners, this bodes well for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, as it well deserves the hype and praise it gets. It's also great to see not just Gustave in the Best Performance nominees, but Verso and Maelle, too. Charlie Cox's performance in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is phenomenal, but it's just another brick in the wall that makes the game outstanding.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 92 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- April 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Kepler Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, JRPG, Fantasy
