Expedition 33 is Frontrunner for Game of the Year – The Witcher 4 Community Director

It is no surprise that just about everyone that has played Sandfall Interactive’s RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ends up loving it, and this thought also seems pervasive throughout the industry as well as with regular gamers. The game even caught the attention of CD Projekt RED’s Marcin Momot – who works as the global community director on the upcoming RPG The Witcher 4 – who heavily praised the title on social media.

In a post on social media platform X, Momot wrote about how the world needs more games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 3. He praises various aspects of the game, from its story and characters, to its gameplay mechanics that blend turn-based combat with real-time inputs for added tactical depth. Momot believes that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 should be considered an early frontrunner for game of the year awards too.

“That’s it for Clair Obscur,” posted Momot. “I’m not going to be original here when I say we NEED more games like this. Such a great story from start to finish, super likeable characters, fun & engaging gameplay & don’t even get me started on the music. Brilliant! It has to be in the GOTY talks!”

An accolades trailer released for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 earlier this month even showcased how well-received the game has been since its release back in April. The trailer also served as evidence of the game being one of the best-reviewed games that have been released so far in 2025. For context, the title currently sits at the top of OpenCritic’s 2025 Hall of Fame, having scored an aggregate score of 92 from a variety of critics.

Recently, developer Sandfall Interactive had announced through a BlueSky post that it would be working on bringing more features to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Rather than focusing on more content, however, the studio is instead more keen on bringing in more accessibility features, as well as expanded localistation options to allow more players to experience the turn-based RPG.

When it comes to commercial performance, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 hit an impressive milestone just a month after its release. In a bit of cosmic coincidences, the studio announced that the RPG had sold 3.3 million copies over its first 33 days of release. The announcement came after similar milestones were crossed early after its release, with 500,000 copies sold at launch and a million copies sold in three days.

When it comes to the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, many things lined up to make it a true critical darling that has also been selling well. Publisher Kepler Interactive’s portfolio director, Matthew Handrahan and the studio’s COO François Meurisse believe that one of the biggest reasons for the title’s success has been its general brevity.

“One of the things that’s great about Expedition 33 is it really respects the player’s time,” said Hadrahan. “It gives them plenty to do, and it gives them plenty of satisfaction, but it isn’t arbitrarily 500 hours of gameplay. It’s impactful because it’s scoped correctly. […] It doesn’t have any sense of bloat or extraneous things that are put there just to make it larger and larger and larger.”

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review for more details.