Baldur’s Gate 3 Director Predicted Clair Obscur’s GOTY-Level Success

Baldur’s Gate 3 Director Predicted Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Meteoric Rise

The surprise GOTY contender embodies the ideals Swen Vincke championed at The Game Awards 2024.

Few could have anticipated the monumental success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a turn-based RPG from French studio Sandfall Interactive that is currently the highest-rated game of 2025 on Metacritic. Except, perhaps, for one person: Swen Vincke, the creative director of Baldur’s Gate 3 and CEO of Larian Studios.

At The Game Awards 2024, Vincke—onstage to announce Astro Bot as that year’s Game of the Year—made a bold and now-prophetic prediction. Describing the blueprint for future greats, he said the next GOTY winner would come from a team driven not by shareholder expectations, but by passion, idealism, and a deep love for games.

“They didn’t make it to increase market share... They were driven by idealism... because they love games. It’s really that simple,” Vincke told the crowd.

His words resonated with players and developers alike. But they took on new meaning with the release of Expedition 33, a game that appears to follow Vincke’s prescription to the letter.

A Surprise Success, But Not Without Signals

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had buzz behind it after an impressive showing during Xbox’s 2024 summer showcase and a strong marketing push featuring a star-studded voice cast. Still, no one expected it to captivate both critics and fans at this level—or to become an early Game of the Year contender.

Blending traditional RPG mechanics with a modern narrative flair, Expedition 33 draws inspiration from genre classics while confidently embracing its own identity. The game’s emphasis on tactical turn-based combat, a sprawling world map, and challenging, ambiguous storytelling harks back to RPG traditions often considered too niche for today’s mass-market environment.

That hasn't stopped it from thriving.

Fans See Vincke’s Vision in Action

Following its release, fans on Reddit and social media were quick to connect Expedition 33 with Vincke’s now-iconic Game Awards speech. One user wrote:

“It’s not that Expedition 33 is a perfect game... But still, the game has passion at every corner and that’s what really sticks with us in the end.”

Another echoed the sentiment, noting the studio’s transparency and restraint—two qualities often missing in a landscape of overpromising and under-delivering.

Passion, Not Bloat

Sandfall Interactive’s development model stands in stark contrast to bloated AAA productions. Using Unreal Engine, a lean core team, and extensive outsourcing, they managed to build a game that looks AAA, plays fluidly, and doesn’t collapse under the weight of unnecessary features.

This doesn’t mean Expedition 33 is without flaws. But those imperfections are often overlooked in the face of what truly matters to players: authenticity, creativity, and fun.

What It Means for the Industry

At a time when the gaming industry is weathering mass layoffs, rising costs, and creative stagnation, the success of Expedition 33 feels like a rallying cry. It suggests that respecting developers, trusting vision, and putting fun first still works—and perhaps now more than ever.

Vincke’s speech wasn’t just an aspirational note; it was a warning. And Expedition 33 now stands as proof of what can happen when developers follow that path.

As studios reevaluate their strategies and gamers continue to push back against homogenized content, Clair Obscur may not just be a great game—it may be a turning point.

Stay tuned to The Horizons Times for more insights into this year’s biggest games, the studios shaping them, and the trends defining gaming’s next era.