Why Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is our Game of the Year

The gaming world saw many exciting releases this year, but one title stood out above the rest: Clair Obscur Expedition 33. This game captured the attention of players and critics alike with its unique blend of storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and immersive world-building. It offers an experience that goes beyond entertainment, inviting players to explore, strategize, and connect with a richly crafted universe. The parries alone may be worth a game of the year award.

Clair Obscur Expedition 33

A World That Feels Dense

One of the most impressive features of Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is its environment. The game transports players to a unique, well thought out and dense world, in which everything around you has both a literal and emotional reason. The exploration and world is fairly basic from a navigating and walking from point A to B, each waterfall truly does have a treasure. However, what makes this feel all that amazing is the density of art, the failed expeditions surrounding you, the artful environment, the constantly varying locales.

Deep and Engaging Storytelling

Clair Obscur Expedition 33 does not rely solely on visuals to captivate its audience, and although they are amazing, the story is where it shines the brightest. The narrative has such passion behind it, while maintaining a brutal realistic narrative for a fantastical world. A non-spoiler spoiler, this is not a game where every character you meet lives until the end. Lives are spent for those who come after, and the characters show their melancholy and resistance toward this likely fate of all in the world.

The worldbuilding of this story and game only build, it does not stop from the first to last minute, will there be more to come after, that is anyone's guess. However, as long as the developers show the pure passion they had for this game on future iterations then the worldbuilding will continue to shine.

Innovative Gameplay Mechanics

The game to an extent is a turn based role playing game, where they mix it up is the very active role in combat that you must take. Every single enemy and boss could be beaten with enough grit and determination, similar to soulslike games where the game also draws inspiration from in a different manner. As mentioned above, the parry feel and sound alone may make this our game of the year.

Music

If you asked me what type of music I liked before this game, I would not have pointed at the vibes that this game provides in music. That said, this may be my favorite video game music of all time. It feels, lives, breathes with you and the characters all throughout the journey. The constant feel of the grandeur of the scope of the story, the somber melodies, the bombastic boss battles. For those who know... the secret boss..... I didn't realize video games had it like that. I've often talked in our household that music is not my thing but it's very important to me, an ok movie can be my favorite because the music is so well curated and fits the movie like a glove. They both made the game for the music and made the music for the game, gloves for all around.

Why Game of the Year

Clair Obscur Expedition 33 has built one of the best games of all time. It may be my favorite game of all time. That is a story worth writing or painting, at another time. Story, combat, music, challenge, this game has almost every single item that we could ever ask for in a game and it deserves the Game of the Year for 2025.

We did not start writing until after this game came out, but if we did, we would have given it a 10/10 perfection.