LOS ANGELES: French indie title &quot;Clair Obscur: Expedition 33&quot; dominated the annual Game Awards in Los Angeles, winning a record of nine categories, including best video game of the year. &quot;What a weird timeline for us,&quot; Guillaume Broche of video game studio Sandfall Interactive quipped, thanking his team as he accepted the top award. &quot;And also I want to extend thanks to the unsung heroes of this industry -- the people who make tutorials on YouTube on how to make a game -- &nbsp;because we had no idea how to make a game before.&quot; &quot;Clair Obscur,&quot; the first game from Sandfall Interactive, tells the story of a group of characters battling seemingly impossible odds in a post-apocalyptic universe with a distinctively French visual style. It was nominated in a record number of categories, winning many despite facing heavyweights like &quot;Death Stranding 2,&quot; from industry legend Hideo Kojima of &quot;Metal Gear Solid&quot; fame, and Nintendo&#39;s &quot;Donkey Kong Bananza,&quot; starring the eponymous gorilla. &quot;Clair Obscur&quot; began in 2020 as a project of Broche, a developer at French games giant Ubisoft. He brought ex-colleague Tom Guillermin on board to create the small studio in the French city of Montpellier the same year. &#39;Thank you to the players&#39;They struck a publishing deal in 2022 with UK-based Kepler, which provided funding for the project. Some 5 million copies of &quot;Clair Obscur&quot; have been snapped up since its release in April of this year. &quot;This was supposed to be a joke; I have no idea what&#39;s happening,&quot; Broche joked. &quot;Just a massive &#39;thank you&#39; to the players.&quot; The grassroots popularity of &quot;Clair Obscur&quot; has manifested in fans attending conventions and video game fairs wearing a striped mariner&#39;s shirt and red beret -- one of the most stereotypically French outfits players can equip for their characters. The action game follows a small group of characters as they seek to defeat a powerful entity threatening their home city, Lumiere, which bears a striking resemblance to Belle Epoque Paris. Inspired by Japanese games such as the long-running Final Fantasy series, the French title is a role-playing game featuring turn-based combat against monsters inhabiting the world. Its popularity was founded on the story&#39;s emotional depth and endearing characters, combined with original gameplay that introduced reactive, rhythm-based elements for parrying enemies&#39; attacks. Sandhill &quot;managed to present something really polished and go toe-to-toe with major titles,&quot; industry specialist Benoit Reinier told AFP at the time of the game&#39;s release. At just 30 people for most of its development, the team behind &quot;Clair Obscur&quot; was far smaller than typical blockbuster studios. Broche said they brought everyone from Sandhill to Los Angeles to celebrate the awards. The music of &quot;Clair Obscur&quot; stuck in many players&#39; heads and played an outsized part in their immersion into its universe. Winning categories for the game included narrative, role-playing, and music score. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the team in May, thanking them for &quot;putting the spotlight on French-style boldness and creativity.&quot; There are also plans to bring the &quot;Expedition 33&quot; story to the big screen.

(L/R) CTO and co-founder of Sandfall Interactive Tom Guillermin, Sandfall Interactive Art Director Nicholas Maxson-Francombe, CEO, Creative Director, and Co-Founder of Sandfall Interactive Guillaume Broche and Co-Founder and Producer of Sandfall Interacti

Video Game

The game won in a record nine categories, including best video game of the year, best narrative, role-playing, and music score.

Articles tagged with "french"

French indie 'Clair Obscur' dominates Game Awards

French indie 'Clair Obscur' dominates Game Awards