Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the second Unreal Engine 5-powered title to launch this week. The game leverages the entire UE5 suite, including Lumen, Nanite, Niagara, and Virtual Shadows. Despite that, it runs better than the Oblivion Remake. Perhaps due to its smaller environments and aggressive culling rate.
VGChartz's Evan Norris: "Some years, it's fairly easy to predict the sort of games that will make the shortlist for Overall Game of the Year. And some years it's surprise after surprise after surprise. 2025 was one of the more unpredictable years, for sure, despite a couple of obvious contenders — Ghost of Yōtei and Split Fiction — being highlighted at The Game Awards 2024. But just look at the remaining finalists. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 came out of nowhere and became an instant classic. Donkey Kong Bananza, the first 3D platformer starring the great ape in 26 years, was first announced in April 2025, just three months before launch. And Hollow Knight: Silksong, which had topped so many fans' wishlists for six-plus years, arrived just two weeks after Team Cherry announced its release date, which sent other indie studios scrambling to delay their titles, for fear of being overshadowed."
VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "Sometimes everything turns out as expected and you sit in your chair stroking your cat with a satisfied smirk like a supervillain. Other times things surprise you. Sometimes those things are games and sometimes that surprise is a positive one. 2025 had a few cases like that thankfully, where something flew in from left field and turned out much better than people expected. Those are the games we're here to talk about today."
With the 2025 Wccftech Awards GOTY, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 surpassed Elden Ring as the most awarded game of all time.
