2025 has been a crowded year for RPGs, and I’ve played as many as I’ve been able to. From revisiting Cyrodiil in Oblivion Remastered to diving back into Eora in Avowed, a lot of great RPG worlds have returned this year. As we approach the end of the year, that momentum isn’t slowing, with titles like The Outer Worlds 2, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 on the horizon.
Amid the flurry of titles, there’s one true standout. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 carved out a 93 on Metacritic, staking its claim as the best 2025 RPG on the market. With so many other games I’ve needed to hit, I haven’t gotten the chance to play it myself yet, so I can’t say whether it would be my personal favorite or not. Even without playing a second of it, though, it’s earned my affection as one of the most important releases of the year.
2025 Was Full Of RPG Sequels & Remasters
Hey, I’ve Seen These Ones Before
Every other RPG I’ve named shares one feature — they’re all based on things we’ve seen before. While Avowed isn’t a direct follow-up to Pillars of Eternity, it still exists in that world, and most of the other hits have beenremasters or sequels.
Those are just a small sample, too, with the lineup extending to games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Citizen Sleeper 2. Just this month, we got remakes of Trails in the Sky FC and Final Fantasy Tactics. There’s been no shortage of totally new RPGs, of course, but they aren’t the ones dominating all the conversations.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with these games belonging to recognizable IPs. The first Kingdom Come Deliverance was a bold breakout title, and developer Warhorse Studios certainly earned the right to return to Henry’s story. Outer Worlds 2 offers Oblivion a chance to expand on a promising concept that was marred by a limited execution. While it’s possible to dismiss a few games as cynical corporate endeavors, most qualify as more than that.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is A Truly Fresh Game
France Doesn’t Count As An IP, Right?
All the same, this sea of familiarity makes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 all the more refreshing. Despite the semicolon in this title, there was no Clair Obscur before this, nor was there anything particularly like it. It’s not a loose tie-in or spiritual successor. For all the inspiration that it takes from games like Final Fantasy and even Sekiro, Expedition 33 is fully its own thing.
I went to an entertainment convention about a month after the game’s release, and one of the more memorable moments was seeing a group of Clair Obscur cosplayers meeting up for a photo. Half of them were effectively wearing the same outfit, with red berets, striped shirts, and baguettes in their hands. It’s a conveniently simple cosplay, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen that much convention energy around something truly new.
I’ll Play Clair Obscur, But My Opinion Won’t Change
I Don’t Need To Enjoy Clair Obscur To Appreciate It
I’m aware that praising originality without actually playing the game in question is a bad look, especially when my excuse is that I was playing Oblivion Remastered when it released. I don’t even particularly care for Oblivion Remastered, which loses a lot of the original Oblivion’s style.
When you write about games for a living, though, that’s just how it is sometimes. I was happy to talk about Oblivion for a few weeks, and that left me with insufficient time to embark on another huge RPG that other writers were already covering.
I’ve played plenty of other original titles this year, but Wuchang: Fallen Feathers has been the only expansive RPG that I’ve been able to squeeze in. I plan to rectify this as soon as I can, and after I spend October in the company of horror games, I’m hoping to carve out some time for Clair Obscur in November. I feel like I have a responsibility to hit it before the Game Awards, as Silksong needs more competition in my GOTY consideration.
I expect to like Expedition 33 a lot, but even if I don’t, I don’t think my love for its general existence will fade. I just want to see new things that feel like sincere attempts at art, whether they’re my cup of tea or not. A lot of people have clearly had a wonderful experience with Clair Obscur this year, which matters more than whatever my personal response ends up being.