Sandfall Interactive continues its Larian-like ways as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins Game of the Year and four other trophies at the DICE Awards

A character in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wearing round glasses and a beret in the sunlight — (Image credit: Sandfall Interactive)

The 29th annual DICE Awards, honoring game makers "whose work pushed the boundaries of interactive storytelling, technical innovation," went down last night, and you'll never guess who took home the big prize for game of the year. I'll give you a hint: They're French.

No, not Ubisoft, I mean Sandfall Interactive, the team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the most feted videogame of 2025. Sandfall added a total of five more trophies to its shelf at last night's DICE awards, claiming wins for Role-Playing Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Story, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, on top of its GOTY.

And the 29th Annual #DICEAwards Game of the Year goes to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! Congratulations @expedition33.bsky.social!
— @official-aias.bsky.social (@official-aias.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-02-13T21:08:57.418Z

The PlayStation 5 exclusive Ghost of Yotei did well last night, winning a trio of awards for Outstanding Achievement in Character, Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition, and Adventure Game of the Year. Kojima Productions won Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design and Outstanding Technical Achievement for Death Stranding 2 (coming soon to PC!), and—back to games you can actually play on PC—Dogubomb also took two trophies for Blue Prince, which won Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game and Outstanding Achievement in Game Design.

Evan Well, the co-founder and former president of Naughty Dog, was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame during the ceremony, "in recognition of his decades-long contributions to game development and leadership." The awards ceremony also included a brief interlude paying tribute to Vince Zampella, the co-founder of Infinity Ward and head of Battlefield, who was killed in a car crash in December 2025.

Thank you Vince. #DICEAwards
— @official-aias.bsky.social (@official-aias.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-02-13T21:08:57.492Z

The five DICE Awards wins for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 adds to a Larian-like domination of the 2025 awards season: Sandfall's debut RPG matched Baldur's Gate 3's record-setting run at the 2025 Golden Joystick Awards, and then actually surpassed it by winning nine trophies at The Game Awards. The sweep is set to continue at the Game Developers Choice Awards in March, where Clair Obscur is nominated in eight out nine award categories. On top of all that, the studio was bestowed with France's Order of Arts and Letters earlier this month.

The full list of winners at the 29th annual DICE Awards is below.

🏆Outstanding Achievement in Animation: South of Midnight

🏆Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

🏆Outstanding Achievement in Character: Ghost of Yōtei – Atsu

🏆Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition: Ghost of Yōtei

🏆Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

🏆Outstanding Achievement in Story: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

🏆Outstanding Technical Achievement: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

🏆Action Game of the Year: Hades 2

🏆Adventure Game of the Year: Ghost of Yōtei

🏆Family Game of the Year: LEGO® Party!

🏆Fighting Game of the Year: Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection

🏆Racing Game of the Year: Mario Kart World

🏆Role-Playing Game of the Year: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

🏆Sports Game of the Year: Rematch

🏆Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year: The Alters

🏆Online Game of the Year: Arc Raiders

🏆Immersive Reality Technical Achievement: Hotel Infinity

🏆Immersive Reality Game of the Year: Ghost Town

🏆Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game: Blue Prince

🏆Mobile Game of the Year: Persona 5: The Phantom X

🏆Outstanding Achievement in Game Design: Blue Prince

🏆Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

🏆Game of the Year: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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