Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s record-breaking efficiency ultimately week’s The Game Awards has caught the eye of French president Emmanuel Macron, who celebrated the information of its Game of the Year award on Instagram over the weekend.
Sandfall Interactive’s role-playing sport swept The Game Awards 2025 with 9 wins, the most any online game has received in a single The Game Awards present. In addition to Game of the Year, Clair Obscur received greatest narrative, greatest music, and greatest efficiency, warding off competitors from Dying Stranding 2, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hole Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 to say the high prize. You’ll want to try every little thing introduced at The Game Awards 2025 for extra, in addition to the winners checklist in full.
“Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has simply been named Game of the Year in Los Angeles. A historic first for a French title!” Macron exclaimed in French, appending a picture of Gustave, Maelle, and Sciel. “Nice satisfaction for Montpellier and for France. Congratulations to the Sandfall Interactive staff. For future generations and people who comply with!”
After all, this is not the first time Sandfall Interactive has acquired public backing from the French president — when the RPG bought 1 million copies in simply three days, Macron also took to Instagram to say: “1,000,000 copies and to this point, one of the best-rated video games in historical past: and sure, it is French! Congratulations to Sandfall Interactive and all the creators of Expedition 33. You’re a shining instance of French audacity and creativity.”
Whereas many commenters shared the President’s pleasure, some selected to remind him of the feedback he made throughout France’s 2023 riots during which he instructed younger folks had been poisoned or intoxicated by online game violence and social media.
He later downplayed the feedback, claiming he had “at all times thought-about that video video games are a chance for France, for our youth, and their future, for our jobs and our financial system,” and pressured that he “expressed issues at the finish of June as a result of online game conventions had been utilized by criminals to normalize violence on social media,” including: “It’s this violence that I condemn, not video video games themselves.”
Accepting the Game of the Year award to rapturous applause, Clair Obscur director Guillaume Broche thanked the “unbelievable staff” at Sandfall Interactive, most of whom had been in attendance and in costume. Broche prolonged his because of the “unsung heroes” of the online game trade, “the individuals who make tutorials on YouTube on find out how to make a sport, as a result of we had no thought find out how to make a sport earlier than.”
Clair Obscur launched in April proper up towards Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, with each video games hitting Game Cross as day one releases. It was felt that Clair Obscur may battle underneath these circumstances, however it loved immediate and important reputation, and would go on to promote 5 million copies by October.
IGN’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 evaluation returned a 9/10. We stated: “Sporting its inspirations on its sleeve, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 paints itself into the pantheon of nice RPGs with an excellent fight system and a gripping, harrowing story.”
Whereas accepting the Game of the Year award, Sandfall shadow-dropped new DLC and Patch 1.5.0, which introduces new location Verso’s Drafts and a few actually difficult boss fights. Are You Beginning Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? Here is a Helpful Information for Newbies.
Photograph by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP through Getty Pictures.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and marketing consultant with 15+ years expertise working with some of the world’s largest gaming websites and publications. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.