Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Leads The Game Awards 2025 With 12 Nominations

As another gaming year winds down, awards season is once again front and center, and few shows carry as much spectacle as The Game Awards. In a year stacked with ambitious sequels, long awaited indies and surprise hits, one turn based role playing game has somehow stolen the spotlight.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has marched into The Game Awards 2025 with twelve nominations, the most ever awarded to a single title in the show’s history, instantly turning a niche, painterly RPG into the face of an entire year of games.

Record breaking run at The Game Awards 2025

Those twelve nods stretch across almost every major creative category: Game of the Year, Direction, Narrative, Art Direction, Score and Music, Audio Design, Best RPG, plus recognition as both Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game. On top of that, three members of the cast, including high profile names like Charlie Cox alongside standout work from Ben Starr and Jennifer English, are up for Best Performance, underlining how much of Expedition 33’s impact comes from its characters and voice work.

How players fell in love with Expedition 33

For many players, Expedition 33 is not just the darling of this year’s line up; it is being talked about as a once in a generation experience. Comment threads are full of people calling it their favourite game since Red Dead Redemption 2 or Elden Ring, the rare RPG they delayed finishing because they did not want the journey to end. Others jokingly compare its nomination haul to the awards sweep of big fantasy films, framing this year’s show as a coronation for a game that seemed to come out of nowhere.

A big part of that love comes from the way Clair Obscur fuses its hand painted world with a dramatic score. The orchestral soundtrack and choral pieces are already living in players’ playlists, with fans downloading the album the moment they roll credits and insisting it has Best Score and Music locked up. Paired with a weighty, tactical battle system and a story that bends from intimate character beats into apocalyptic stakes, Expedition 33 hits the sweet spot between classic menu based RPGs and slick, modern presentation.

Is turn based really dead

Not everyone sees Clair Obscur as revolutionary, and that tension is part of the discussion as well. Veteran RPG fans point out that Expedition 33 openly borrows from genre giants like Persona and Final Fantasy, right down to its social style character moments and twist heavy mid game turn. Some adored the finale, others saw the ending coming early and bounced off how it wrapped up its themes, even while praising the game’s confident pacing and consistently strong character writing.

The game’s success has also reopened an old industry myth, that no one wants turn based RPGs anymore. For years, developers and publishers have repeated that line while quietly pushing long running series toward pure action combat. Expedition 33’s runaway momentum, and the fact that it is proudly, unapologetically turn based, has players asking who exactly was being listened to. The enthusiasm around its systems suggests there is still a huge audience ready to dive into slower, more tactical games when they are marketed and produced with real confidence.

A brutally competitive year for Game of the Year

Of course, Expedition 33 is far from alone on the ballot. Death Stranding 2 has racked up seven nominations of its own, with many arguing that its strange, melancholic road trip has lingered with them longer than anything else this year. Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong and Ghost of Yōtei are all heavy hitters with multiple nods, each bringing fiercely loyal communities. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has a passionate grassroots campaign behind it, puzzle fans swear by the once in a lifetime design of Blue Prince, narrative devotees champion Split Fiction, and there is even a pocket of voters backing DK Bananza on principle, frustrated that Nintendo’s work rarely dominates the show.

The nomination lists have also reignited the annual arguments over snubs and surprises. Some viewers are puzzled that Expedition 33 managed to secure two major acting slots on top of an already crowded Best Performance category, given how many strong leads 2025 produced. Others feel Ghost of Yōtei’s spread of nominations reflects a game that is technically brilliant but somehow less than the sum of its parts. Meanwhile, Silksong supporters are adamant that its uncompromising design, refusal to chase an easier audience and sheer craft deserve to be rewarded with the biggest trophy of the night.

The show, the spectacle and what comes next

Then there are the meta debates around The Game Awards themselves. Some fans roll their eyes at categories like Best Content Creator and esports athlete or team, arguing that it is like the Oscars suddenly handing trophies to critics instead of keeping the spotlight on people who actually made the games. Others are just hoping the voting website holds together long enough for them to cast a ballot, after wrestling with pages that feel like they were coded before the turn of the millennium. Love it or hate it, the show remains a mix of celebration, marketing blitz and internet circus.

All of that energy will come to a head on 11 December 2025, when The Game Awards stream worldwide at 5 p.m. PT and 8 p.m. ET with the usual blur of world premiere trailers, musical guests and unexpected cameos. Whether Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ends up sweeping its categories or simply walks away as the most nominated game in the show’s history, its presence already defines this year’s conversation. In a crowded, wildly diverse release calendar, a moody, turn based indie RPG has muscled its way to the front of the stage, and that alone says a lot about where players’ hearts really are right now.