Despite all of the horrors the world has been throwing at us more generally, 2025 has been a pretty unbelievable year for video game releases, regardless of what genre or platform you like to play on.
From the exciting February releases of Dynasty Warriors Origins and Monster Hunter Wilds to the recent arrival of Ghost of Yotei, something new has come along basically every month this year that really blows the game of the year conversations wide open.
With the cold now setting in and Christmas rapidly approaching, the time has come for awards ceremonies to decide which game they think is the best of the best, and the first winner for 2025 has just been crowned.
Though The Game Awards is probably the most prestigious around these days (alongside the Golden Joysticks if you ask me), those are not the only organisations handing out worthy prizes.
As first reported by ComicBook, the Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show 2025 is currently underway and they have made their choice for the best release of the year (even if there are a couple of months left still).
In news that shouldn’t surprise too many, the panel of judges has awarded Sandfall Interactive’s debut release Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 their coveted Game of the Year Award, beating out Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong to the prize.
The accolades didn’t stop there, though, for the beloved RPG, with the game also managing to take home awards for Best RPG Game, Best PC/Console Game, and Popular Vote. With over 200,000 people in attendance at the show this time around, it’s not a set of awards that should be dismissed in any way, and it could bode well for the shows coming later in the year.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 follows the volunteers of the titular expedition as they set out to defeat The Paintress, a mysterious entity who kills off everyone over an ever-decreasing age once a year, in an event known as the Gommage.
The story is very good, but it’s not the main talking point, with the game’s remarkably unique and intuitive approach to turn-based combat drawing all of the praise.
If you haven’t given it a try for yourself just yet, then it’s well worth doing so, with the game available for players on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Windows and GeForce Now, as well as via Game Pass if you’re subscribed.
