Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is game of the year

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was named Game of the Year in a record number of games at this year’s Game Awards.

The French-developed role-playing game (RPG) cleaned up in nine of the 10 categories it was eligible for, with further wins in Best Story, Best Music and Best Performance.

It beat off competition from Death Stranding 2, Nintendo’s Donkey Kong platformer Bananza, indie games Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2, and medieval adventure Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 to claim the top prize.

During the event in Los Angeles, players also got first glimpses of two new Tomb Raider games, Control Resonant II and the new Star Wars RPG.

Clair Obscur is set in a world where a supernatural being known as The Paintress prevents the population from growing past a certain age.

The game, which tells the story of a group of adventurers on their quest to destroy The Paintress, was praised for its emotional narrative and use of old-school turn-based combat.

Players have also been captivated by the story of developer Sandfall Interactive, which was formed by a group of employees Who left the giant gaming company Ubisoft to pursue their dream project.

While accepting the Game of the Year award, director Guillaume Broche wore a red hat and striped shirt in a nod to the game’s strong French identity. – He said the year had been a “strange timeline” for the studio as he thanked his team.

He also thanked the “unsung heroes” of the industry – “people who give YouTube tutorials on how to make a game, because we had no idea how to make a game before.”

Clair Obscur was the favorite to take home the awards, and the most nominated game in the history of the ceremony with a total of 12 nods.

Its composer Loren Testard won Best Score and Music Awards.

This was the first project for the musician, who was discovered after he posted a collection of homemade video game music on his SoundCloud account.

Clair Obscur also won in the Best Role Playing Game, Best Independent Game, and Best Debut Independent Game categories.

Three of her nominations were in one category – Best Performance – and actress Jennifer English took home the award, beating out co-stars Charlie Cox and Ben Starr for her role as Mayelle.

The actress, who has spoken often about her ADHD, dedicated the award “to every neurodivergent person watching.”

Clair Obscur missed out on only two awards.

Battlefield 6 won Best Sound Design, while open-world RPG Wuthering Waves surprisingly won in the fan-voted Player Sound category.

Donkey Kong Bananza won Best Family Game, and online shooter Arc Raiders won Best Multiplayer Game.

Sequel Hollow Knight: Silksong won the Best Adventure Game award, while the anime-inspired horse racing game Umamusume: Pretty Derby won the Best Mobile Game award.

A second honorary Game Changer Award, which was first presented last year, went to Girls Make Games.

The nonprofit group encourages girls and young women to pursue careers in video games, and runs summer camps to teach coding and design skills.

No Game Awards would be complete without an appearance from the odd A-list star, and this year was no different.

Stranger Things star David Harbor took to the stage to announce a new strategy game, Total War: Warhammer 40K, and American singer Lenny Kravitz also officially revealed his villainous role in the upcoming James Bond game 007: First Light.

Although referred to as the “Oscars of Games,” the Game Awards, hosted by founder Geoff Keighley, are a combination of the traditional ceremony and trailer show.

Some of the gaming industry’s biggest developers will be giving first looks at major upcoming titles during the show, and this is believed to be one of the main reasons why many fans are tuning in to the game.

One of the biggest announcements of the night was RPG Divinity from Larian Studios, maker of 2023 Game of the Year Baldur’s Gate 3.

The developer had teased the unveiling of a mysterious statue that first appeared in the California desert.

A remake of the original Tomb Raider game has also been leaked, but the announcement of a brand new entry starring Lara Croft came as a surprise.

Star Wars fans got a glimpse of two new games – Fate of the Old Republic, a long-awaited successor to the beloved 2004 game Knights of the Old Republic, and Galactic Racer, developed by UK-based studio Fuse.

The cast of the new Street Fighter movie, excluding rapper 50 Cent, has presented its first trailer.

Fans also saw new footage from the upcoming Resident Evil 9 game, confirming the appearance of fan-favorite character Leon Kennedy and PS5 shooter Saros.

The Game Awards have been criticized in the past for prioritizing advertising over awards, with shortened winner speeches and an absence of on-stage presentations in some categories.

There was praise for the 2024 bid as it went some way to addressing criticism, but developers continued to call on organizer Geoff Keighley to better acknowledge problems in the industry, such as the high number of job losses in recent years.

This year, there were complaints about the awards abandoning its Future Class scheme, an initiative established in 2020 to highlight “rising stars” in video games.

It was last run in 2023, when current and former members of the group signed an open letter urging the war between Israel and Gaza to be addressed.

In the run-up to this year’s nominations, and after it was confirmed that Future Class would not return, alumni accused the scheme of tokenism and not doing enough to help them build connections.

Last year, a new game-changing award was given to Amir Satvat, for his work helping laid-off developers find jobs.

BBC Newsbeat has contacted the organizers for comment.

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