There’s too much stuff these days. It’s hard to keep up with all the blockbuster movies, streaming sensations, and trending video games that get released week after week. This is why we love awards. Awards give us a list, a starting point to try to stay current on the best of the best so we don’t waste time in our otherwise busy lives. For gamers, The Game Awards are as close to the Oscars as we get. And anyone who feels out of the loop now has the chance to get caught up because Game Pass just dropped a GOTY frontrunner into the lineup this week.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a mouthful of a title, but one befitting a majestic RPG. Developed by French studio Sandfall Interactive, Expedition 33 is an epic tale of grief, hope, and romantic adventure set in a world dripping with lore. Expedition 33 is a rare title that manages to do everything right and also get the credit it deserves.
From its opening moments, Expedition 33 announces itself with confidence: a bold, painterly odyssey blending character-driven storytelling, luminous worldbuilding, and combat that feels both theatrical and precise. At the heart of Expedition 33 is the doomed cycle created by the Paintress, a towering supernatural figure who “paints” a number each year. This number signals the age of everyone who will die next, established by a Prologue that feels like a blend of the 1976 sci-fi film Logan’s Run and Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery. This premise gives the narrative a built-in urgency as every character carries a private countdown, an awareness of just how close the brushstroke of death may be.
The writing does the heavy lifting, but what truly makes Expedition 33 stand apart are the performances. So much so that the cast has received three TGA awards for Best Performance. The voice cast treats the material not as genre fare but grounded drama. There’s a human vulnerability to each expedition member, making them feel less like archetypal party roles and more like fully realized people ravaged by a system they had no hand in creating.
Protagonist Gustave could have easily been another stoic hero haunted by tragedy, but Charlie Cox (yes, that Charlie Cox) plays him with a melancholy that manages to avoid being cliché. The supporting cast elevates the journey even further. From the idealistic young recruits desperate to outrun their painted doom to the seasoned cynics who’ve learned to live with despair as a companion. Expedition 33 understands how party dynamics make for potent motivators in an RPG.
Like all the best RPGs, Expedition 33 understands it’s not about the player but about the party.
A great game needs more than great performances, and Expedition 33 blends turn-based strategy with real-time input in a way that feels additive rather than gimmicky. Timed blocks, active reloads, and perfectly synchronized ability triggers give every encounter a sense of choreography. Turn-based battles don’t feel like math equations, they’re active and engaging.
The spectacle is enhanced by the game’s painterly visual language: ink splatters, brushstroke bursts, and swirling hues that react to the flow of the fight. It’s rare for combat to not only look great but feel tightly integrated with the game’s theme and artistic identity. That cohesive aesthetic carries through its worldbuilding. It’s not just window dressing, it's woven into the lore. The Paintress’ dominion over reality is everywhere. When you explore a crumbling mansion-turned-resistance bunker or wander through a gallery of unfinished “portraits” of doomed citizens, the environmental storytelling shines in a supporting role.
It’s no surprise, then, that awards conversations have circled Expedition 33 since its earliest trailers. But the difference now that the game is in players’ hands is the quality of that hype. This isn’t a game benefiting from spectacle alone. It has the narrative heft, mechanical polish, and artistic conviction to make those accolades deserved.
The layered combat system is a delicate balance of deep turn-based mechanics and reactive parries and dodges that create an edge-of-your-seat challenge.
Game of the Year contenders usually excel in one or two categories — Expedition 33 fires on all cylinders. Storytelling lovers, combat enthusiasts, and worldbuilding obsessives can all point to different aspects as their personal “this is why it should win” moment. It asks players to grapple with mortality, resistance, and the cost of hope. It delivers combat that feels as expressive as its narrative. And it builds a world that looks like a painting you could step into.
In a year already crowded with high-profile releases, this game distinguishes itself not by being louder, but by being more thoughtful, more beautiful, and more emotionally resonant than almost anything else on the market. Is it the Game of the Year? Play it now and find out for yourself.
