Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has just won the BAFTA award for Best Game, and in so doing has completed its GOTY sweep. Sandfall Interactive’s tribute to the glory days of JRPGs is just the second title to win all five major Game of the Year awards, following in Baldur’s Gate 3’s footsteps.
That Best Game win came over Arc Raiders, Blue Prince, Dispatch, Ghost of Yotei, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Expedition 33 was nominated in a total of 12 categories, and also won awards for Best Debut Game and Best Performer in a Leading Role thanks to Jennifer English’s portrayal of Maelle.
BAFTA’s awards are voted on by the group’s industry members, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has done well in front of just about every group that’s judged it. It took the fan-voted Golden Joystick Ultimate Game of the Year award, as well as top honors at the industry-driven DICE and GDC awards. It also took top prize at The Game Awards, which is determined by a combination of a jury of media outlets and a fan vote.
Article continues below
All together, those five GOTY awards are arguably the most prestigious prizes that the industry can aspire to, and some observers have taken to calling them gaming’s ‘Big Five’ awards. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is just the second game to take all of those awards, after Baldur’s Gate 3 did it in 2023.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is absolutely a deserving GOTY winner, but some arguably sweep-worthy games have been snubbed in one way or another since 2014, the first year all five award shows existed. The Witcher 3 was denied a 2015 sweep when Fallout 4 won the DICE and BAFTA awards. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild lost the BAFTA to What Remains of Edith Finch in 2017. And in 2022, Elden Ring was denied the sweep by Vampire Survivors’ BAFTA win.
You can take that all to illustrate two things: it’s tough to predict what the BAFTA voters are going to choose, and it’s even harder to lock down all five GOTY awards. Congratulations to the team at Sandfall – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has achieved a very special kind of success.
No prizes for guessing GamesRadar+’s own pick for the best game of 2025.
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
