Expedition 33 absolutely robbed this The Game Awards nominee of a win — it didn’t deserve this award

Okay, so before the entire internet busts out the torches and pitchforks and sentences me to death, I want to make something crystal clear: I love Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It's a beautiful game, and a tremendous achievement for the fledgling team at Sandfall Interactive.

From its innovative blend of turn-based strategy with real-time action mechanics to its amazing boss fights to its impeccably written story and gorgeous audiovisual presentation, it's nothing less than a masterpiece. It's a stunning work of art, and it absolutely deserved to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025.

However, I don't believe it deserved to win the Best RPG award, which it of course did (along with eight others, including GOTY). It was up against the likes of Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, and Monster Hunter Wilds, and while I think you could argue that any of these three had stronger RPG systems than Expedition 33 — The Outer Worlds 2 especially — there's one nominee that handily beats it in this respect.

That game is Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Warhorse Studios' gigantic medieval sequel to its original 2018 title, and easily one of (if not the) most expansive, yet deep RPGs I've ever sunk my teeth into. I can understand it losing Best Narrative and Game of the Year to Expedition 33, but Best RPG? No way, man.

Now, that's not to say that Expedition 33 isn't a great RPG in its own right. It's got some very impressive options for building each member of your party — and your party as a whole — with different skills and abilities, and you can further refine your setups with a wide variety of unique and powerful weapons, too. It's an excellent JRPG-style experience, no doubt about that.

But even so, I'd argue that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's systems-heavy depth is far more impressive. Its adventures through medieval Bohemia feature a ridiculous amount of options to approach problems with, "crunch" to engage with, and a world that's remarkably reactive to your presence and your choices.

This is a game in which any time you think "I wonder if I can do that," the answer will almost certainly be "Yes, you can! Go wild." Sneak, steal, scare, sweet talk — all of these and more are options available to you whether you're diving into one of KCD2's countless nuanced side quests or simply trying to figure out how to get your hands on that fancy suit of armor you saw in a shop. Patient players can even brew potions to fortify their skills or smith high-quality weapons and tools to sell.

But engaging with these mechanics isn't as simple as just leveling a skill over time. There's a huge, complex network of systems always working in the background to determine how successful each of these approaches are, with tons of factors you probably wouldn't even think about at first.

Let's take stealth, for example. It probably won't surprise you to learn that lighting in the environment and the color of the clothes you're wearing affects how hard it is to spot you, but the sound of your gear matters too; cloth garb makes far less noise than the rattling of chainmail. Even your hygiene and satiety has an impact. Even if they can't see you, people might smell you if you're covered in muck, or hear the growls of an empty stomach.

These kinds of things also play a big role when you're trying to get your way through dialogue, also. Currying favor with a nobleman or bartering with a trader will be much easier if you're clean and wearing a polished suit of plate or fancy, opulent clothing. But if you're planning to try and intimidate someone? It often pays to be covered in the blood and viscera of your enemies.

The game's NPCs are strikingly intelligent, too, so if you plan to get up to less-than-lawful activities, you'll have to be far more careful than you would be in other games. Even if you manage to kife a valuable from someone's home without getting caught in the act, they'll figure out it was you if they saw you leaving and report you. Wearing stolen gear in eyesight of its owner will expose you, too — obvious when you think about it, but something you can easily forget to think about while playing.

This reactivity of KCD2's medieval life simulation is really what sets it apart — and these are just a few of the many, many ways it manifests across the game's 120+ hour runtime (assuming you're doing side quests). Some others include a broad reputation system at each individual settlement that also factors into how you're responded to, and the outcomes of some side quests affecting the options available to you for resolving others.

One of the game's most interesting systems is how it handles crime. Unless you're caught murdering someone, your first few transgressions for crimes like thievery or loitering in private areas will result in little more than a fine, or perhaps being clapped in the stocks for a day.

But continue to repeat your offenses, and you'll be branded (literally, with a hot iron) as a criminal, which makes people trust you significantly less for the week of in-game time the mark lasts. And if you get caught while you're branded yet again, guards will straight up have you executed by hanging.

A game world like this that gives you ultimate freedom to do whatever you want, but also challenges you to avoid and/or contend with the consequences of your actions? It's an absolute joy to play around in, to test its rules and boundaries and see what you can get away with.

And on top of all of that, it's got a wonderful directional-based melee combat system with several different weapon classes to master, a layer-based armor system, tons of skill perks to build into, and terrific writing of its own with countless meaningful choices to make.

Put simply, it's a phenomenal RPG that pushes the genre forward, and I'd even go so far as to say it's the best RPG I've ever played. I completely understand feeling that Expedition 33 is a better overall game, which is why I didn't mind it taking home Game of the Year, and I do think its story is superior too, so it deserved Best Narrative.

But Best RPG? I just don't see it, not in the same year that we got Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 in. This was robbery, straight up (Warhorse jokingly feels the same way), and it bums me out that KCD2 didn't go home with this award. But I am glad, at the very least, that it scored nominations for it and Game of the Year. It absolutely deserved them.

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2: was $59.99 now $33.49 at loaded.com

Whether you believe Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 got robbed of awards by Expedition 33 or not, it's nevertheless a terrific game that you should absolutely check out if you love RPGs. It, too, is on sale with these steep deals.

Xbox version: $34.99 at Xbox

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: was $49.99 now $30.79 at loaded.com

Sandfall Interactive's innovative turn-based RPG stood tall as 2025's Game of the Year, and won eight other awards at The Game Awards, too (including Best RPG, grumble grumble). Thanks to this nifty discount, you can snag the PC version for nearly $20 off.

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