The likelihood of a roleplaying game once again getting most Game of the Year prizes after 2023’s Baldur’s Gate 3 is very high thanks to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The game has already scored many nominations from the Golden Joystick Awards 2025, with the winners due to be announced in a week from today.
Meanwhile, the surprising sleeper hit of the year has received two ‘votes’ from industry figures like Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi.
Speaking to Famitsu, Spencer mentioned various games as his personal 2025 highlights, but ultimately picked Sandfall Interactive’s debut title out of the bunch.
Excluding our games… I love the game I’m playing now, Hollow Knight: Silksong. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, that’s very good. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound was also good. Also, although it is a game for PlayStation 5 and PC, my friend director Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. The Game of the Year is probably Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
While not exclusive to Microsoft’s platforms, the game was available on its subscription service, Game Pass, from day one. As such, one could think Spencer might be slightly biased in his choice, but he’s far from the only one who thinks Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 deserves such recognition. Hamaguchi-san told Gamesradar the same thing, although he was also careful to highlight how its merits go beyond the advancements made to turn-based combat:
It’s a really great game and would deserve Game of the Year. I’d like to see them get that. What makes that game so good is the fact it gets all of the elements in it right, and it balances them all at such a high level of quality. The setting, the world, the characters, and the storyline, those are all really well done as well, in addition to the gameplay. And I think it all comes together, and that’s why it’s such a well-regarded game, why the fans like it so much, why it sold as well as it had.
As you may remember, there was a bit of a controversy with Square Enix. A few years ago, Final Fantasy XVI Producer Naoki Yoshida famously excused the game’s lack of a turn-based combat option with the statement that it did not mix well with realistic graphics. Following the smashing success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, some Final Fantasy fans have been hoping that Square Enix might change its stance in the future, but for now, there have been no such announcements. It will ultimately be up to the producers of the next mainline installments to choose what’s best.
In other Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 news, one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the past couple of years has recently expressed interest in being part of the film adaptation. By the way, we have our own TGS 2025 interview with Naoki Hamaguchi about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Part 3, in case you missed it earlier.
Follow Wccftech on Google or add us as a preferred source, to get our news coverage and reviews in your feeds.
