[UPDATE - January 22, 2026] In a serendipitous turn of events, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is now the most awarded game of all time thanks to our very own Wccftech Awards '25, which crowned it as Game of the Year from both staff and community and enabled its overtaking of FromSoftware's Elden Ring. Congratulations, Sandfall!
[ORIGINAL STORY] Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was undeniably the defining game of 2025. For all the industry discussion it drove, to its dominating performance at The Game Awards 2025, it was the one game that came out of nowhere and took over for the year. Not only did it win Game of the Year at The Game Awards, but it was the winner at the Golden Joysticks, and the choice of several media outlets across the globe as they all picked Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as well.
ResetEra user Angie keeps an amazingly long and detailed thread of games during each awards season, with several stats for anyone interested to dig through. Now that we're into 2026, the numbers for 2025's awards season have mostly been tallied, with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 getting 291 Game of the Year wins in 2025.
That sets it just above Baldur's Gate 3, which was awarded 288 Game of the Year wins when it arrived in 2023. Ahead of it by a fairly large margin is The Last of Us Part II at 326, and ahead of everything by a country mile is Elden Ring with 435 Game of the Year wins in 2022.
Looking at the list, it'll be quite the event when/if something ever beats The Last of Us Part II and Elden Ring, since The Last of Us Part II is a solid 35 wins ahead of Clair Obscur, and Elden Ring is 109 wins ahead of The Last of Us Part II.
Here's the full list of the 21 games with over 100 Game of the Year Wins:
- Elden Ring (FromSoftware) - 435
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog) - 326
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive) - 291
- Baldur's Gate III (Larian Studios) - 288
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red) - 281
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD) - 264
- God of War (2018) (Santa Monica Studio) - 263
- The Last of Us (Naughty Dog) - 257
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda) - 229
- Astro Bot (Team Asobi) - 196
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog) - 190
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games) - 178
- Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games) - 163
- Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare) - 139
- Death Stranding (Kojima Productions) - 118
- God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio) - 118
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Naughty Dog) - 115
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD) - 114
- Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment) - 114
- Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar Games) - 111
- Mass Effect 2 (BioWare) -102
This may not be the most 'official' list in the view of some people, but it is an interesting one to look at as a way to 'take the temperature' of what games media and game critics value and look toward as their picks for what is the best of the best each year. The top five, for example, are all single-player, story-driven experiences, with four out of five being fantasy-based RPGs. The only game in the top ten that's not fantasy-based, isn't largely narrative-driven, doesn't have RPG mechanics, and isn't an open-world game is 2024's Astro Bot with 196 wins.
In the top 21 listed, the only multiplayer-focused game is Overwatch in 19th place. Rockstar, Naughty Dog, BioWare, Santa Monica Studios, and Nintendo all have multiple titles on the list, with Naughty Dog leading the pack at four.
Multiplayer games may be the games people are going to daily, and the ones that sell the most each year, but it's clear that they are not the ones critics are looking to as the best-of-the-best each year.
As for Wccftech's pick of 2025's best, Clair Obscur was indeed one of our top ten Best Games for 2025. It also made our list for Best Indie games and Best Role-Playing games.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
