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It’s time for our annual countdown to recognize the best games of the year. Over the next 10 days, we’ll be counting down the top 10 games of 2025.
As always, the votes of each member of the Press Start team were collated, weighted from 10th to 1st place, to compile the best results of the year. A game worthy of the top spot will be awarded a maximum of 10 points, and its value will go down to the 10th selection, which will be awarded 1 point.
It’s funny considering that back in April, people were outraged that Microsoft shadow-released a remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the same week as Claire Obscure, potentially casting a shadow on a small indie that could have done so.
Now, eight months later, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is that little indie. It won countless awards, sold millions of units, and served as a great example to other developers that you don’t need a $100 million budget for your game to be successful. From the moment I previewed the game, I knew it was something truly special.
It introduced modern, Westernized storytelling to the genre while making turn-based combat approachable to a new generation of players through a live, reactive combat system. Aside from the game’s eye-catching visuals and epic soundtrack, the story and character work are some of the best of the year, and three of the game’s cast were nominated for Best Performance at The Game Awards, though some might argue there were still performances that were overlooked.
Simply put, Sandfall Interactive struck gold with their first project, creating a world that gamers are eager to spend their time in. Whether or not they return to Clair Obscur soon, they announced themselves with the confidence of a senior studio and caught the attention of the industry.
james says
“There’s not much we can say about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that hasn’t already been said. From the moment it was released, we knew this was going to be something special. This was clearly made with pure love for a genre shaped by games like Final Fantasy, Persona, and Chrono Trigger.”
The way the story is told is one of the biggest highlights, with the opening moments being a gut punch and setting up a unique scene pretty well. But beyond the story, combat remains engaging thanks to a simple parrying and firing system that adds tension and rhythm to every battle, and feels like a natural progression from systems we’ve seen in games like Lost Odyssey.
At the end of the day, Clair Obscur is clearly greater than the sum of its parts. Even though the story didn’t fully make sense to me, it’s one of the adventures I remember most fondly this year and probably for years to come. There’s a good reason for that. ”
In our review, Harry rated Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 8 out of 10 and said:
“Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of those double-A titles that blurs the line between the industry’s biggest hits. It’s not without its problems, but for a debut title from Sandfall Interactive, it’s very impressive and well worth checking out.”
On review aggregation site Metacritic, Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 rests with an average score of 92.
Congratulations to Sandfall Interactive and Kepler for taking second place in our 2025 Top 10!
2025 Game of the Year
#10 – Ghost of Yotei
#9 – Ball x Pit
#8 – Dispatch
#7 – silent hill f
#6 – Donkey Kong Bananza
#5 – Hades 2
#4 – Hollow Knight: Silk Song
#3 – Split Fiction
#2 – Claire Obscur: Expedition 33
