French title 'Clair Obscur' dominates Game Awards

French indie title Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 dominated the annual Game Awards in Los Angeles, winning a record of nine categories including best video game of the year.

- MICHAEL TRAN

"What a weird timeline for us," Guillaume Broche of video game studio Sandfall Interactive said, thanking his team as he accepted the top award.

"And also, I want to extend thanks to the unsung heroes of this industry — the people who make tutorials on YouTube on how to make a game — because we had no idea how to make a game before."

Clair Obscur, Sandfall’s first game, tells the story of a group of characters battling seemingly impossible odds in a post-apocalyptic universe with a distinctively French visual style.

It was nominated in a record number of categories, winning many despite squaring up against heavyweights like Death Stranding 2 from industry legend Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid fame and Donkey Kong Bananza from Nintendo.

Clair Obscur began in 2020 as a project of Mr Broche, a developer at French gaming giant Ubisoft.

He brought ex-colleague Tom Guillermin on board to create the small studio that same year in the French city of Montpellier.