Clair Obscur Dominates The Game Awards with Nine Wins

Sun Dec 14 2025 05:48:33 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

French Indie RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sweeps The Game Awards, taking home nine awards including Game of the Year, best narrative, and best music, while showcasing exciting upcoming titles during the ceremony.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has set a record at The Game Awards by winning nine out of ten categories, including Game of the Year. Competing against major titles like Death Stranding 2 and Donkey Kong Bananza, Clair Obscur captivated audiences with its emotional story and unique gameplay. The event also revealed new games, including two Tomb Raider titles and a Star Wars RPG, while addressing social issues with notable speeches.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been named game of the year in a record-breaking haul at this year's Game Awards.

The French-developed role-playing game (RPG) cleaned up in nine of the 10 categories it was up for, with wins in best narrative, best music, and best performance.

It fended off competition from Death Stranding 2, Nintendo platformer Donkey Kong Bananza, indie games Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2, and medieval adventure Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 to claim the top prize.

During the ceremony in Los Angeles, players also got a first look at two new Tomb Raider games, a sequel to Control called Control Resonant, and a new Star Wars role-playing game.

Clair Obscur is set in a world where a supernatural being known as The Paintress prevents the population from growing past a certain age. The game, which tells the story of a group of adventurers on a quest to destroy The Paintress, was praised for its emotional narrative and use of old-school, turn-based battles.

Accepting the game of the year award, director Guillaume Broche, wearing a red beret and a striped t-shirt to nod to the game's strong French identity, said it had been a weird timeline for the studio as he thanked his team.

He also extended thanks to the unsung heroes of the industry - the people who make tutorials on YouTube on how to make a game because we had no idea how to make one before.

Clair Obscur was the hot favourite going into the awards, and the most-nominated game in the ceremony's history with a total of 12 nods.

Its composer Lorien Testard won the award for best score and music, marking a debut project discovered after posting homemade video game music on SoundCloud.

The game also excelled in the best role-playing game, best independent game, and best debut indie game categories.

Three nominations were in a single category – best performance, with actress Jennifer English claiming the prize for her role as Maelle, dedicating her win to every neurodivergent person watching.

Clair Obscur only missed out on two awards: Battlefield 6 won best audio design, and open-world action RPG Wuthering Waves won in the fan-voted Player's Voice category.

Best game rival Donkey Kong Bananza won the family game award, while online shooter Arc Raiders won the best multiplayer prize.

Sequel Hollow Knight: Silksong was named best action-adventure, and the mobile game award went to the anime-inspired horse racing game Umamusume: Pretty Derby.

The Game Awards also honored Girls Make Games with the second honorary Game Changer award for their initiative encouraging girls and young women to enter the gaming industry.

Among the celebrity appearances at the ceremony were actor David Harbour announcing a new Total War: Warhammer 40K game and Lenny Kravitz revealing his role in the upcoming James Bond game 007: First Light.

Despite past criticisms of the ceremony prioritizing ads over awards, this year's show addressed some concerns, although ongoing industry issues regarding job losses were still highlighted.

Complaints arose about the cancellation of the Future Class initiative, aimed at highlighting rising stars in video games, showcasing the need to address industry challenges further.