Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 makes GOTY history

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the unexpected RPG from French studio Sandfall Interactive, was one of the most popular games of 2025, and it was no coincidence. Not only did the title win the coveted Game of the Year award at major industry events, it also racked up an impressive series of accolades across award-giving events.

As of 2025, Clair Obscur has won 291 Game of the Year awards, a number that puts it in third place when compared to all games in history. It is only behind giants such as The Last of Us Part II (326) and Elden Ring (435), which had more awards in all their cycles.

This feat is even more surprising if you take into account that Clair Obscur was launched out of nowhere to become one of the most praised games of the year. In addition to GOTY at events such as The Game Awards 2025, the game also won awards in several categories and was voted on several best of the year lists by various media outlets and critics.

The most impressive thing is that despite being a project from a relatively small studio, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 managed to stand out in a year full of games from large producers. Critics responded very positively, with the game receiving awards in several areas, such as narrative, artistic direction and soundtrack.

But not everything went perfectly. As we reported, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was disqualified from the Indie Game Awards and lost the awards at that event, due to a decision related to the eligibility rules for independent games.

List of 21 games with more than 100 Game of the Year awards:

• Elden Ring (FromSoftware) – 435
• The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog) – 326
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive) – 291
• Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios) – 288
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red) – 281
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD) – 264
• God of War (2018) (Santa Monica Studio) – 263
• The Last of Us (Naughty Dog) – 257
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda) – 229
• Asstro Bot (Team Asogobi) – 19
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog) – 190
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games) – 178
• Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games) – 163
• Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare) – 139
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions) – 118
• God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio) – 118
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Naughty Dog) – 115
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD) – 114
• Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment) – 114
• Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar Games) – 111
• Mass Effect 2 (BioWare) -102

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