Don’t let any hater online convince you that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is overrated and didn’t deserve each one of those nine awards it got at this year’s Game Awards—It did. 

Well, okay, it fully deserved eight out of those nine awards. One of them, you could argue, maybe should’ve gone another way, but I’ll get into that in a bit. Now, I still stand by my article from a couple of weeks ago, in which I discussed how I believe the media’s voting process for The Game Awards has an issue because each year, it seems as though only four or five titles—usually triple-A or big-name indies—get nominated for every major category. As such, the show never feels like it fully captures the year in gaming. I’m still mad South of Midnight didn’t get nominated for Best Music and Best Art Direction.

Nevertheless, what Sandfall Interactive have done is nothing short of tremendous, and I am so happy they got their flowers at The Game Awards. For me, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the best games of the past decade, right up there with the likes of The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Breath of the Wild. The fact that it was made by an independent studio of just 30 people (and about a hundred contractors, but we’ll let that slide) is all the more impressive considering its scope and polish. 

As I said in my full review, “It’s a mesmerizing tour de force in audiovisuals with a heartfelt narrative that delicately weaves a gut-wrenching tale about grief and loss…Mechanically, it wears its inspirations from the likes of Persona and Soulsborne on its sleeve, though doing more than enough to be unique in its own right.” Now, did it deserve Best RPG over Kingdom Come: Deliverance II? Maybe not. In terms of being a proper “role-playing game,” KCD2 is a far more robust and intricate experience that should’ve taken home this year’s trophy. But alas, the award went to the beret-wearers, and you know what? We may as well complete the sweep.