This Indie RPG Came Out of Nowhere – Now Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is a GOTY Contender

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wasn’t supposed to be the biggest RPG of 2025. Developed by a small French studio, Sandfall Interactive, and boasting a debut team made up largely of industry newcomers, the game looked like a mid-budget gamble. Fast-forward to today: it’s a critical darling, a fan favorite, and a top contender for Game of the Year.

Released on April 24, Clair Obscur sold over a million copies in just three days and hit two million within two weeks – a staggering feat for a brand-new IP. Across gaming forums, social media, and review platforms, players are raving about its deep story, stunning visuals, and challenging (sometimes too challenging) combat.

Set in a dark fantasy world with Belle Époque aesthetics, the game follows the doomed 33rd Expedition – warriors given just one year to live before they’re literally erased from existence. Each year, a mysterious goddess known as the Paintress paints a number on a tower, and everyone older than that number turns to dust. It’s grim. It’s beautiful. It’s unforgettable.

What makes the storytelling especially compelling is how little it explains. Players are thrown into the world without lore dumps or tutorials, forced to piece things together from context and character dialogue. Some love the immersive mystery, while others found themselves scratching their heads. But even critics who stumbled early on admit the story packs a serious emotional punch by the end.

If you’ve seen screenshots, you already know why the internet is obsessed with this game. The art direction is painterly and dramatic – think oil paintings come to life, complete with crumbling cathedrals, golden forests, and nightmare beasts. Using Unreal Engine 5, Sandfall created something that punches way above its budget.

The music, composed by Lorien Testard, blends sweeping orchestras with surprise bursts of dubstep and industrial beats, giving the already unpredictable game even more personality. Top-tier voice acting by Jennifer English (Baldur’s Gate 3) and Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI) rounds out a production that feels distinctly AAA, even though it isn’t.

Let’s talk combat – the love-it-or-hate-it core of Expedition 33. On paper, it’s turn-based. In practice, it demands real-time dodges, parries, and perfectly timed counters. It’s like Persona met Sekiro, had a difficult child, and named it Clair.

Many players are thrilled by this. Social media is full of clips showing players dodging six-hit combos or landing perfect parries on monstrous bosses. But others aren’t so thrilled. Some call the game “a reflex test disguised as an RPG,” and even Story Mode can feel punishing if you’re not in sync with the enemy patterns.

That said, there’s help: difficulty settings, auto-combat toggles, and guides aplenty. One player even beat the game without dodging or parrying at all, proving the challenge isn’t impossible – just intense.

Despite the difficulty curve, Expedition 33 has built a passionate fanbase fast. Reddit threads are overflowing with praise for characters like Gustave, Lune, and Maelle. Fan art, memes, and lore theories abound. The game has sparked real conversation – about design, difficulty, even modding controversies.

And the developers? They’re listening. Sandfall has been transparent, responsive, and gracious. In interviews, studio lead Guillaume Broche called the success “surreal” and gave full credit to his junior team and the players pushing them forward.

In a year full of safe sequels and big-budget remakes, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 feels like a miracle – a brave new RPG that swings hard and mostly hits. Whether you’re hooked on the story or still trying to parry that one boss, one thing’s clear: this game has left a mark.