Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Skyrockets As Early GOTY Contender With High Metacritic Score

Published Apr 23, 2025

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has shot up on Metacritic with a high score, establishing itself as an early Game of the Year contender for 2025. The game is a turn-based RPG, and an original IP from Sandfall Interactive — the studio's first game. This first outing from the developer is proving to be a huge critical success.

Over on Metacritic, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is sitting at a score of 91 at the time of this writing, making it the second-highest reviewed game of the year, just one point lower than the sleeper indie hit Blue Prince. Reviewers are praising the game's fresh take on turn-based combat, the emotional weight of the game's story, and the powerful performances of the game's ensemble cast, which includes Daredevil actor Charlie Cox as the lead character Gustave, and Ben Starr, who played Clive Rosfield in FF16.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Trails Blue Prince As 2025's Highest Rated Game

Two Smaller Games Are Dominating The Critical Scores For 2025

Despite releasing in the same window as new entries in massive franchises, like Assassin's Creed Shadows, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Blue Prince, two smaller original IPs, have risen to the top of Metacritic and are the two highest-rated games of the year so far. They share a lot of similarities, too. Both seemed to come out of nowhere, both are day-one Game games, and both offer unique takes on established genres, with Blue Prince being a unique roguelike, and Expedition 33 being a rare high-graphic-fidelity turn-based RPG.

Does Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Have Early Access? When You Can Start Playing Clair Obscur

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is out on Game , PC, and PS5 this week, but can you play it in early access? Here’s what to know on its release date.

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Sandfall Interactive Impresses With Its First Title

An Incredible Debut

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is Sandfall Interactive's debut title, and it was reportedly made by a team of roughly 30 developers. Reviewers have compared it favorably to Final Fantasy X, The Legend of Dragoon, and other classic JRPGs of the late 90s and early 2000s. These high review scores and positive comparisons may help ease some fans' worries about the sudden announcement and release of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered potentially overshadowing Expedition 33.

With the game releasing tomorrow, hopefully, there is commercial success to be found with this game as well. The game is surprisingly only $49.99, and that is likely to please a lot of consumers, now that there is some anxiety in the air regarding game prices with Mario Kart World's $80 price tag. With the game reviewing as well as it is, the futures of both Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Sandfall Interactive are looking bright.