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Tag: Clair Obscur

  • Everything announced and all the winners at The Game Awards 2025

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    This year at The Game Awards, if your game wasn’t melodramatic, mechanically innovative, beautifully presented and aggressively French, it didn’t stand a chance. The Game Awards 2025 wrapped up on the evening of Thursday, December 11 with a record-breaking showing by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive. The game received the most nominations and wins in the show’s 12-year history.

    But, we know that’s not really why you’re here. Between the award presentations and musical numbers, there were heaps of new game trailers, announcements and updates, and we’ve collected them all for you right here. The award winners are also there.

    News

    Award winners

    Best family game: Donkey Kong Bananza

    Innovation in accessibility: Doom: The Dark Ages

    Best esports game: Counter-Strike 2

    Best esports athlete: Chovy

    Best esports team: Team Vitality

    Best mobile game: Umamasume: Pretty Derby

    Best indie game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Best adaptation: The Last of Us season 2

    Best action game: Hades II

    Best performance: Jennifer English, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Games for impact: South of Midnight

    Best ongoing game: No Man’s Sky

    Best audio design: Battlefield 6

    Content creator of the year: MoistCr1TiKaL

    Best fighting game: Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

    Most anticipated game: Grand Theft Auto VI

    Best action/adventure game: Hollow Knight: Silksong

    Best art direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Best sim/strategy game: Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles

    Best debut indie game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Best score and music: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Best sports/racing game: Mario Kart World

    Best community support: Baldur’s Gate 3

    Best VR/AR game: The Midnight Walk

    Best RPG: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Players’ voice: Wuthering Waves

    Best narrative: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Best multiplayer game: Arc Raiders

    Best game direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Game of the year: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    Trailers

    Pragmata by Capcom

    Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic by Arcanaut Studios and Lucasfilm Games

    Divinity by Larian Studios

    Coven of the Chicken Foot by Wildflower Interactive

    ONTOS by Frictional Games

    4:LOOP by Bad Robot Games

    Resident Evil Requiem by Capcom

    Order of the Sinking Star by Thekla

    Exodus by Archetype Entertainment

    WARLOCK by Invoke Studios and Wizards of the Coast

    Control Resonant by Remedy Enterainment

    Gang of Dragon by Nagoshi Studio

    Street Fighter movie sneak peak

    LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight by Warner Bros. Games

    Tomb Raider: Catalyst by Crystal Dynamics

    Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis by Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog

    Invincible VS by Skybound Games

    Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred by Blizzard Entertainment

    Deadpool is coming to Marvel Rivals

    007 First Light – Lenny Kravitz Announcement

    Saros by Housemarque

    Warframe featuring Werner Herzog for some reason

    Total War: Warhammer 40,000 by Creative Assembly

    Hitman World of Assassination by IO Interactive

    Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve by Bandai Namco

    Star Wars Galactic Racer by Fuse and Lucasfilm Games

    Out of Words by Kong Orange and WiredFly

    Phantom Blade Zero by S-GAME

    Mega Man Dual Override by Capcom

    Super Mario Galaxy movie trailer

    Highguard by Wildlight Entertainment

    Don’t forget to check out our Day of the Devs: The Game Awards 2025 roundup, which included six world premieres, three release date announcements and a whole bunch of awesome indie goodness. The Women-Led Games and Latin American Games showcases tied to the awards were also downright delightful.

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    Jessica Conditt

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  • Clair Obscur leads the AP’s list of 2025’s top video games

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    It’s been a difficult year for the people who create video games, with layoffs persisting while the tech industry tries to force us to use artificial intelligence for everything. But great games emerged nonetheless — and I can’t imagine AI ever being able to deliver the kind of thrilling, rewarding adventures we’ve seen in 2025.

    The biggest story this year was the release of Nintendo’s new console, the Switch 2. It’s a terrific piece of hardware, but it doesn’t yet have the killer app that makes it essential.

    The second biggest story was the arrival, seemingly out of nowhere, of one marvelous game that left many of us slack-jawed with wonder. It’s as profound an example of interactive storytelling as I’ve ever seen, and an easy choice for game of the year.

    1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

    The debut release from French studio Sandfall Interactive pays tribute to classic turn-based role-playing adventures like 1990s Final Fantasy, with a crew of intrepid fighters on a mission to confront a potentially world-destroying entity. But, man, does it take some surprising twists — I can’t remember a game had me gasping so often, either in horror or delight. The graphics and music are stunning throughout, and it’s all anchored by impeccable voice acting that made me care deeply about every single character. Altogether, a landmark achievement.

    2. The Outer Worlds 2

    Scenes from “The Outer Worlds 2.” (Xbox Game Studios via AP)

    This image released by Xbox Game Studios shows a scene from the video game "The Outer Worlds 2." (Xbox Game Studios via AP)

    This image released by Xbox Game Studios shows a scene from the video game “The Outer Worlds 2.” (Xbox Game Studios via AP)

    California’s Obsidian Entertainment has become one of the premier studios in the U.S., and this spacefaring romp is its best game yet. It drops you into a galactic feud among three political philosophies: totalitarianism, hypercapitalism and a math-based religion (think of the most annoying techbro you know). There’s plenty of satisfying combat against radioactive mutants and renegade robots, but even the grimmest situations are juiced with healthy doses of satire as you try to navigate the demands of all three would-be overlords.

    3. Silent Hill f

    "Silent Hill f." (Konami Digital Entertainment via AP)

    This image released by Konami Digital Entertainment shows a scene from “Silent Hill f.” (Konami Digital Entertainment via AP)

    The latest chapter of Konami’s long-running franchise digs into its J-horror roots, moving the action from America to Japan in the 1960s. Hinako Shimizu, the teenage protagonist, not only has to confront the trauma of high school — she has to fight off the grotesque monsters that have invaded her small town. What makes Silent Hill f fascinating is the way the two nightmares seem to be related. It’s the scariest horror game in years.

    4. Assassin’s Creed Shadows

    This image released by Ubisoft shows a scene from "Assassin's Creed Shadows" video game. (Ubisoft via AP)

    “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” video game. (Ubisoft via AP)

    Another young Japanese woman takes center stage in this sprawling adventure from Ubisoft. Naoe is a crafty ninja in feudal Japan who’s out to avenge her father’s murder. She’s soon joined by Yasuke, a powerful samurai. The mission variety here is impressive, letting you switch on the fly between Naoe’s stealthy attacks and Yasuke’s brute force. It’s a shining example of Ubisoft’s do-it-your-way approach to the open-world format.

    5. Donkey Kong Bananza

    The best new game on Nintendo’s Switch 2 is ideal for those times when all you want to do is punch something. The big ape’s bananas have been stolen and he has to dive into a vast underworld to retrieve them. Almost all of the environments are destructible, but when you get tired of pounding there are plenty of clever puzzles and minigames that often hark back to DK’s swinging jungle adventures.

    6. The Séance of Blake Manor

    "The Séance of Blake Manor." (Raw Fury via AP)

    This image released by Raw Fury shows a scene from “The Séance of Blake Manor.” (Raw Fury via AP)

    In this haunting mystery from Ireland’s Spooky Doorway, a group of mystics have gathered around Halloween 1897 to commune with the dead. You’re called in to investigate when one of the living humans vanishes. It’s a classic point-and-click puzzle game in which everyone has something to hide. It also digs deep into Irish folklore and history, adding an urgent element of class struggle to a very effective ghost story.

    7. Avowed

    Scenes from the video game "Avowed." (Xbox Game Studios via AP)

    Scenes from the video game “Avowed.” (Xbox Game Studios via AP)

    This image released by Xbox Game Studios shows a scene from the video game "Avowed." (Xbox Game Studios via AP)

    This image released by Xbox Game Studios shows a scene from the video game “Avowed.” (Xbox Game Studios via AP)

    Speaking of class struggle, Obsidian Entertainment’s other big role-playing game of 2025 doesn’t shy away from politics either. You are an emissary sent to investigate a deadly plague in the quasi-medieval Living Lands. Problem is, few of the locals are happy to see you, and they’re too busy fighting each other to help much. Again, Obsidian’s mastery of role-playing action is on full display, this time with swords and spells rather than lasers.

    8. Ghost of Yōtei

    Scenes from the video game "Ghost of Yōtei." (Sony via AP)

    Scenes from the video game “Ghost of Yōtei.” (Sony Interactive Entertainment via AP)

    This image released by Sony shows a scene from the video game "Ghost of Yōtei." (Sony via AP)

    This image released by Sony shows a scene from the video game “Ghost of Yōtei.” (Sony via AP)

    Yet another Japanese woman takes the lead in this revenge drama from Sony’s Sucker Punch Productions. Atsu is a mercenary who returns to rural Japan in the 1600s to hunt down her family’s killers, stirring rumors that an “onryō” — a vengeful ghost — is on the loose. The narrative is tighter than that in AC Shadows, but this is a real treat for fans of classic samurai movies — especially if you play in black-and-white “Kurosawa mode.”

    9. South of Midnight

    This fantasy from Canada’s Compulsion Games is a hypnotic evocation of the mythology of the U.S. Deep South. After a hurricane rips through her neighborhood, a woman named Hazel ventures into the bayou. The creatures she meets — a talking catfish, a massive gator, a blues-playing ghoul — are gorgeously rendered in stop-motion-inspired animation. The gameplay is fairly simple, but the art and music make for a memorable journey.

    10. The Alters

    In this survival adventure from Poland’s 11 Bit Studios, you are a humble engineer left on a hostile planet. Fortunately there’s a movable base nearby — but you can’t run it alone, so you’re going to have to clone yourself. Each clone has different personality tics, and the result is a fascinating metaphysical brainteaser that will have you wondering how long you’d be able to put up with half a dozen versions of you.

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  • The Game Awards 2025 nominees include Clair Obscur, Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2

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    We won’t have to wait too much longer to find out which game will follow the wonderful Astro Bot‘s triumph at last year’s edition of The Game Awards. The 2025 ceremony takes place on December 11 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. In between a cavalcade of video game trailers and announcements, the show will squeeze in some actual awards. We now know what the contenders for The Game Awards 2025 are after Monday’s announcement of the nominees.

    Those vying for the top prize of game of the year are:

    Half of those are also up for game of the year at the Indie Game Awards. Those three games (Clair Obscur, Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong) are up for the best independent game award at this ceremony as well, alongside Absolum, Ball x Pit and Blue Prince.

    With 12 nods in total — including three in the best performance category — Clair Obscur isn’t just the most-nominated game this year. It’s the most-nominated game in the 12-year history of the ceremony. Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yōtei have eight nods each, Hades II has seven and Silksong has five. Sony Interactive Entertainment leads the way among publishers with 19 nominations.

    A whole bunch of high-profile games missed out on nominations for the main award. However, the likes of Arc Raiders, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Mario Kart World, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Elden Ring: Nightreign, Battlefield 6, Split Fiction, Monster Hunter Wilds and Silent Hill f have picked up nods in other categories. It’s neat to see games like Consume Me, Despelote, Rematch and Dispatch pick up nominations this year too. Meanwhile, Marvel’s Deadpool VR, a game that isn’t even out until tomorrow, picked up a nod.

    Fan voting for this year’s edition of The Game Awards starts today on the TGA website. Public ballots account for 10 percent of the final vote, with a jury comprising dozens of media outlets accounting for the remaining 90 percent. The nominees for the players’ voice award — the only one determined entirely by fans — will be announced on December 1.

    The Game Awards (which is under fire over its handling of the discontinued Future Class program) will be streaming across a wide variety of platforms, including Prime Video for the first time. As ever, we’ll be on top of all of the big news from the event, so stay tuned to Engadget for all the juicy details. Place your bets now on what will be announced. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get a glimpse of Half-Life 3?

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  • Old-school platforming, Metroidvania horror and other new indie games worth checking out

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    Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game space. As ever, it’s been a busy week of new games arriving and details of upcoming releases emerging. Before we get to some of those though, the nominees for the second annual Indie Game Awards were announced this week.

    There’s a nice mix of big hitters and smaller, but equally worthy titles among the Game of the Year contenders. Those are:

    • Absolum – Dotemu, Guard Crush Games and Supamonks

    • and Roger – TearyHand Studio

    • Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector – Jump Over the Age

    • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Sandfall Interactive

    • Consume Me – Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P and Ken “coda” Snyder

    • Hades II – Supergiant Games

    • Hollow Knight: Silksong – Team Cherry

    • Keep Driving – YCJY Games

    • Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – Pocket Trap

    Consume Me and and Roger are two I’ve been meaning to check out for a while. I’m also yet to hop into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is arguably the frontrunner here — it’s looking like the favorite for top honors at The Game Awards next month as well.

    There are a whole bunch of worthy contenders in other categories, from hits like Discounty and the charmingly bittersweet Time Flies, to solo-developed projects like Spilled! and Vile: Exhumed. The supremely addictive Ball x Pit picked up a nod, but it’s going against the tremendous Öoo (and Absolum, Hades II and Silksong) in the gameplay design category. It’s neat to see Playdate game Taria & Como earn recognition too.

    The Indie Game Awards ceremony takes place on December 18 at 6:30PM ET. You can watch it on YouTube and Twitch.

    New releases

    The new release I’m most looking forward to trying when I have a chance is Windswept, a precision platformer that’s inspired by similar games from the ’90s like Donkey Kong Country. Marbles the duck and Checkers the turtle each have unique movement abilities, and you’ll need to swap between the pair to best navigate environments. You’ll be trying to help them get back home after a storm whisked them away.

    There are lots of secrets to discover across the 40-plus levels, animal buddies to ride and much more. I grew up with games like this one from WeatherFell and publisher Top Hat Studios, which looks completely up my alley. Windswept is out now on Steam, GOG, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S for $20.

    The Devolver Digital-published Possessor(s) is something a little different from Hyper Light Drifter studio Heart Machine. This is a horror-inflected Metroidvania and the developers drew inspiration from platform fighters for the combat. Here, high school student Luca forms an alliance with a demon in need of a host following “an interdimensional catastrophe.” They team up to stay alive and discover what led to the disaster.

    As with Heart Machine’s other games, it looks very pretty, but reviews for Possessor(s) — which is out on PS5 and PC — have been fairly mixed so far. Things haven’t exactly been going great for Heart Machine overall. The studio last month laid off staff and ended development of Hyper Light Breaker, which remains in early access.

    As with its earlier game Before Your Eyes, Nice Dream says its latest project, Goodnight Universe, is best played with a camera. There’s the option to interact with the game using your eye movement and facial expressions. That makes a lot of sense for Goodnight Universe, which casts you in the role of a six-month-old baby with psychic powers. Little Isaac just wants familial love, but a shadowy tech corporation is looking to take custody of him.

    Skybound Games is the publisher of Goodnight Universe, which is available on Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Steam for $20. A Switch version is coming on December 18, and an update that will bring camera support to the Switch 2 edition is on the way.

    Bonaparte – A Mechanized Revolution is a turn-based strategy game that affords you the chance to shift the outcome of the French Revolution. An opportunity to revolutionize the revolution, as it were. You can defend, depose or even reform the monarchy.

    As the title suggests, you’ll have mechs at your disposal in battle — to that end, this reminds me a bit of the clockpunk soulslike Steelrising, which was also set during the French Revolution. Bonaparte – A Mechanized Revolution, from Studio Imugi and co-publisher 2P Games, left early access on Steam this week. It costs $20.

    Upcoming

    I’m very happy to continue this little run of including a dog game in this roundup every week with something new on the beautifully titled Barkour. As part of Steam Animal Fest (which runs until Monday and includes a sale on games like Tunic and Hello Kitty Island Adventure), Varsav Game Studios unleashed a new trailer and an updated Steam demo.

    Here, you play as Agent T.H.U.N.D.E.R., a special agent with gadgets galore and plenty of bite to go with the bark. On missions, you can play the stealthy way, fight your enemies head on or carry out barkour parkour runs. Varsav Game Studios is hoping to release Barkour in 2026.

    Next up, we have release dates for a pair of cafe sims, starting with Tailside. As a furry cafe owner, you’ll be looking to perfect the art of coffee making so you can serve delicious concoctions to your patrons. You can even create foam art on lattes for an extra-special touch.

    In this game from solo developer Coffee Beans Dev, you can customize your cafe to your liking. There are no timers to worry about, so you can play at your own pace. Tailside is coming to Steam on January 21. A demo is available now.

    As revealed during the State of Play Japan showcase this week, the latest entry in the Coffee Talk series is bound for Steam, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch on March 5. Chorus Worldwide Games and Toge Productions’ Coffee Talk Tokyo places you in the role of a barista who hears out their clientele.

    The drinks you make (which you can enhance with sprinkle stencils for latte art) help shape your conversations with customers and have a bearing on the branching storylines. Coffee Talk and Coffee Talk Episode 2 composer Andrew “AJ” Jeremy returned to craft another lo-fi soundtrack for the latest installment.

    A release window for InKonbini: One Store. Many Stories was confirmed during the State of Play Tokyo stream as well. It’s coming to Steam and consoles, including PS5, in April. There’s a Steam demo available now.

    From Nagai Industries, this simulator puts you in the role of a college student and employee of a small-town Japanese convenience store (a konbini) in the early 1990s. You’ll decide which products to sell, and order and restock goods. More importantly, you’ll have to deliver exceptional customer service. That involves having conversations with customers, which will sometimes end up having an impact on their lives. It seems quite lovely.

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