Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Officially Becomes 2nd Most Awarded Game in History
The French “Double-A” turn-based RPG, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has just done the impossible. In a year which also saw Death Stranding 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong, Sandfall Interactive’s debut title didn’t just win, it swept the board.
As of January 2026, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has dethroned Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II to become the second most-awarded game in history.
Revealed by Neat and Angie via ResetEra, Sandfall Interactive’s RPG won a total of 334 awards, placing it only behind FromSoftware’s Elden Ring, which won a total of 435 in 2022.
👉 READ ALSO: All the Winners at The Game Awards 2025
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Wins Big In 2025
Released in April 2025 for a budget-friendly $39.99, Expedition 33 was expected to be a niche hit. Instead, it captured 334 out of 489 possible global awards, a strike rate that almost embarrasses the industry’s billion-dollar blockbusters.
A large number of the awards won were at The Game Awards 2025, where the game set a new ceremony record with nine wins, including Game of the Year, Best Narrative, and Best Score.
Sandfall’s success meant highly anticipated titles like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and the long-awaited Silksong were left fighting for scraps as the “Paintress” saga consumed the cultural conversation.
What makes this victory sweeter is the irony. Sandfall Interactive, a small French team, used a classical turn-based system, a genre declared “dead” by AAA executives, to deliver the year’s most emotionally resonant experience. They proved that impeccable art direction and a tight narrative loop outweigh massive open worlds.
Expedition 33 vs. The Titans: The All-Time Top 5
With the 2025 awards season officially closed, the “Hall of Fame” has been rewritten. The Last of Us Part II held the silver medal for five years, but its reign is over. Here is the new hierarchy of gaming legends:
- 1. Elden Ring (435 Awards): The Unreachable King. FromSoftware’s open-world masterpiece remains the gold standard, a statistical anomaly that may never be beaten.
- 2. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (334 Awards): The New Challenger. A debut indie/AA project that outpunched heavyweights through sheer artistic cohesion and a flawless launch state.
- 3. The Last of Us Part II (326 Awards): Now relegated to Bronze. Naughty Dog’s technical marvel remains a benchmark, but it no longer holds the “modern era” runner-up spot.
- 4. Baldur’s Gate 3 (288 Awards): The previous RPG standard-bearer. Larian’s epic sits comfortably in fourth, proving that CRPGs have mass appeal.
- 5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (281 Awards): The classic. Despite being over a decade old, Geralt’s journey holds its ground against modern contenders.
Is Clair Obscur the Greatest RPG of the Decade?
It hasn’t toppled Elden Ring, but Expedition 33 has achieved something perhaps more significant: it fixed the “bloat” problem of modern gaming. By offering a concise, visually stunning, and mechanically deep 30-hour experience for $40, it exposed the flaws in $70 live-service giants.
Do you think a turn-based game deserves to rank higher than The Last of Us Part II?
Fueled by a passion for gaming and the ever-evolving world of gaming news, Daniel loves connecting with seasoned and new players to bring games to life on the page, exploring their narratives and gaming trends. A self-published fiction and fantasy author, Daniel has nearly 20 years of experience writing gaming news and a love for storytelling that drives his enthusiasm to deliver breaking news, in-depth analysis, and industry innovations. You will find him in-game as "Windfell."
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