Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Nominated in Almost Every 2026 GDC Awards Category

The year 2025 has passed with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Sandfall Interactive which won many awards at various annual video game events such as The Game Awards and the Golden Joystick Awards.

Of course there are still several performances that will take place in 2026 to appreciate works released in 2025. One of them is the Game Developer Choices (GDC) Awards which will take place next March – of course with Expedition 33 which will again enliven the various award categories.

Unlike other shows which can have dozens or dozens of categories, GDC only has nine categories. And eight of the nine categories nominated games made by this French developer.

The only thing not participating in Expedition 33 is the nomination for the Social Impact category. Here are all the categories and games nominated for the 2026 GDC Awards:

Best Audio

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Rift of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Game, Tic Toc Game / Klei Publishing)
• South of Midnight (Required Games / Xbox Game Studios)

Best Debut

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogub Bomb / Raw Rage)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Delivery (Adhoc Studio)

Best Design

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogub Bomb / Raw Rage)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Innovation Award

• BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Small Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogub Bomb / Raw Rage)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best Narrative

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
• Delivery (AdHoc Studio)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Best Technology

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Best Visual Arts

• Absolum (Guardian Crush Game, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hades II (Super Giant Game)
• Guardians (Double Good Productions / Xbox Game Studios)

Social Impact

• Dan Roger (TearyHand Studios / Kodansha)
• Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia)
• Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
• Delivery (AdHoc Studio)

Game of the Year

• Blue Prince (Dogub Bomb / Raw Rage)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

At least the categories in the GDC Awards show aim to focus on assessing the quality of development rather than popularity. The assessment itself is carried out strictly by the International Choices Awads Networks (ICAN) committee, consisting of veteran game developers who are specially invited each year.

However, there is also an Audience Award which is a popularity category—a direct choice from the audience fan. Voting from fans will open on January 26 and last until February 8.

So, what do you think about this? crime? Come on, let’s get straight to it share your opinion in the comments column.

Also read interesting information or other cool articles from Andy Julianto. For further information and other inquiries, you can contact us via writer@gamebrott.com