Is 'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33' Worth It? Here's What the 2025 GOTY Brings For You

It has been around eight months since "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" was publicly launched by Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive. Still, it has been the talk of the town because of its Game of the Year win at the recent The Game Awards 2025.

For the uninitiated, are you willing to join the hype?

'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33': Is It Worth It?

According to IGN, if you are a fan of classic and modern Japanese RPG titles, then "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" is a game for you as Sandfall Interactive has reiterated the inspirations and parallels of the game.

With this direction, the French game developer was able to deliver a refreshing game that was built on familiar experiences but was not exactly a copycat of other iconic titles.

The game follows the story of Lumiere's citizens embarking on an annual journey in hopes of finding "The Paintress," a god-like entity that marks a number on a tower, which represents the age at which people will perish. The goal of the citizens is to destroy it.

It was revealed that "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" only runs for around 35 hours of play time for its main story and several side content, and despite its short runtime, it gets praise for packing the plot, action, and more into this duration.

The game focuses on a turn-based combat set in the RPG format, which also features real-time elements, which IGN claims to be similar to Atlus' "Persona" franchise. Because of this, users could be kept engaged in the gameplay, even when it's the enemies' turn to strike.

Another massive highlight from the game is the blockbuster performance of its actors, with PC Gamer praising the cast for delivering a noteworthy game this year.

The Game Awards Game of the Year Winner

All of these elements combined made up "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33," and because of that, it saw multiple nominations in the biggest awards show in the gaming industry, The Game Awards, with the title securing the coveted "Game of the Year" award.

"Clair Obscur" faced off with massive AAA-rated games this year, including Hideo Kojima's "Death Stranding 2: On the Beach," Nintendo's "Donkey Kong Bananza," Supergiant Games' "Hades 2," Team Cherry's "Hollow Knight: Silksong," and Warhorse Studios' "Kingdom Come Deliverance II."

Other Awards Bagged by 'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33'

Sandfall Interactive and the "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" team took home eight awards and a separate individual award this year, totaling nine honors from one of the biggest video game award shows of the year.

Apart from the Game of the Year award, "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" also received:

• Best Art Direction award
• Best Game Direction award
• Best Narrative award
• Best Score & Music award
• Best Independent Game award
• Best RPG award
• Debut Indie Game Award
• Best Performance award (Jennifer English)

Because of its performance, the game also received recognition from French President Emmanuel Macron via a post on his personal Instagram account.

Following its recent awards haul, ComicBook Gaming reported that "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" saw its sales skyrocket, adding as many as 200,000 copies sold after the show.