Expedition 33 leads the charge with 12 nominations for The Game Awards 2025, and it will probably win most of them

Sacré bleu! What a year for the French! 2025 has been a banner year for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and it’s ending in a total of 12 nominations at The Game Awards, Geoff Keighley revealed today.

The debut turn-based RPG from Sandfall Interactive racked up the nominations, including the one for the biggest award of the night, Game of the Year. In the crown achievement of the show, it’s up against Hades 2, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

As Keighley rattled off the list of nods, it was basically impossible to see a category without E33 nominated. Several of the main cast were nominated for Best Performance, including Ben Starr, Charlie Cox, and Jennifer English. But just about any applicable category you can think of, the game was nominated for, and it amounts to 12 noms for 10 different awards.

Other than GOTY and Best Performance, E33 is also nominated for Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game, and Best RPG.

I genuinely think it’s got a chance to win every award it’s nominated for. There’s been plenty of amazing games in 2025, but the one that continues to stick out the most in my mind is E33. For my money, it was the most memorable, new, and original experience all year long, and a true pleasure to play and review for Destructoid.

There’s an argument for all of the games to be awarded in every category E33 is in, but the hype has followed all the way through in the seven months since the game launched, and it’s going to be the favorite in most categories.

The Game Awards takes place on Thursday, Dec. 11, and will surely contain a lot of new game announcements within the ceremony. Fan voting for the awards is available on the website now.