Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Game Awards performance will go down in history. The French turn-based RPG stormed The Game Awards 2025 on Thursday night and walked away with a jaw-dropping nine wins, including the biggest prize of all: Game of the Year.
Los Angeles buzzed. The Peacock Theater shook. A debut title from a 30-person studio just rewrote the record books.
The Full List of Victories
Nine categories fell in a row:
- Game of the Year
- Best Role Playing Game
- Best Score and Music (Lorien Testard)
- Best Independent Game
- Best Debut Indie Game
- Best Game Direction
- Best Narrative
- Best Art Direction
- Best Performance – Jennifer English as Maelle
No game has ever won nine in one night. The previous record of seven belonged to The Last of Us Part II back in 2020.
The Orchestra That Opened the Show
The ceremony started with chills. A 45-piece orchestra and choir performed the main theme “Une vie à t’aimer” live. Lorien Testard conducted while legendary flautist Pedro Eustache played custom PVC instruments that created the game’s signature eerie tones.
The lights dimmed. Painted backdrops shifted like the game’s world. The crowd stood before the first envelope even opened.
Jennifer English Steals Hearts
When Jennifer English won Best Performance, she fought back tears. She dedicated the award to neurodivergent players who found comfort in Maelle’s story.
“I see you. I am you. This is for every kid who ever felt broken and found strength in stories,” she said. The theater erupted.
The Game of the Year Speech Nobody Expected
Creative director Guillaume Broche accepted Game of the Year last. He thanked Hironobu Sakaguchi first — the Final Fantasy creator who publicly praised the game earlier this year.
Then he grinned.
“Eight months ago we promised extra content if the community hit certain goals. You smashed every single one. So right now — literally right now — the update is live on every platform. It’s free. Go play it.”
Phones lit up across the audience. Downloads started before he left the stage.
What’s Inside the Free “Thank You” Update
Patch 1.5.0 weighs in at around 8 GB and adds serious content:
- Verso’s Drafts: a sprawling new late-game region with floating islands, hidden journals, and tough optional enemies
- Endless Tower: 100 floors of remixed bosses that scale forever
- Complete Photo Mode with depth-of-field, stickers, frames, and free camera
- Six new character outfits and three new weapons
- Seven new languages, bringing the total to 19
- Performance upgrades, faster load times, and hundreds of small fixes
Players reported hitting the new zone within minutes of the speech ending.
A Tiny Studio, a Massive Dream
Sandfall Interactive operates out of an old manor in Montpellier, France. Most of the team joined straight out of school. Guillaume Broche started the company in 2020 with zero shipped titles.
They built the entire game in Unreal Engine 5 on a budget that AAA studios spend on marketing alone.
Yet the painted Belle Époque world, the heartbreaking story of a civilization erased one age at a time, and the addictive real-time/turn-based combat hooked millions.
Numbers That Tell the Story
- 5.2 million copies sold in eight months
- Biggest third-party Game Pass launch of 2025
- 97% positive Steam reviews
- 1.8 million concurrent players the weekend after launch
The Internet Lost Its Mind
X timelines filled with celebration. New Photo Mode screenshots appeared seconds after the update dropped. Streamers abandoned their scheduled games to dive into Verso’s Drafts live.
Even critics who skipped the game on release posted apology videos. The sweep felt undeniable.
Why This Win Hits Different
A debut indie just beat every blockbuster. Turn-based combat — long written off by some publishers — took center stage. A French studio with almost no prior experience now holds the all-time record.
The message rang clear: creativity still beats budget.
Clair Obscur Expedition 33 didn’t just win awards. It reminded the entire industry what games can be when a small, passionate team gets the chance to dream without limits.
Which moment from the Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Game Awards night lives rent-free in your head? Let me know in the comments — I’m reading every single one.