Continue to flex
There was absolutely no doubt that Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 wins prizes during the Game Awards. He was even the big favorite of GOTY, despite the late but beating arrival of Hollow Knight Silksong And Hades II. But with 13 nominations spread across 11 categories, the success was even greater than anything that could have been imagined, because the RPG won almost all of them. Here is the reminder of the list:
- Game of the year
- Best Indie Game
- Best RPG
- Best soundtrack
- Best Art Direction
- Better management
- Best Storytelling
- Best performance
- Best first game
Alone Battlefield 6 deprived him of “Best audio design”, and Wuthering Waves beat him out for “People’s Choice.” The final table obviously remains impressive with these nine distinctions, sweeping away the record of The Last of Us Part II and its seven statuettes.
Rarely has it been possible for us to witness such a plebiscite highlighting, above all, the certain quality of a particularly significant adventure. It must be said that quite a few ingredients were brought together to make this Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 a must-have of the year.
Recognition of a major title
Everyone will highlight what he or she preferred, but it’s hard not to talk first about the music, a true masterpiece led by Lorien Testard and Alice Duport-Percier, who also performed on the Game Awards stage for our greatest pleasure. The story will also have played a big role, between drama, epic moments and comedic twists.
A plot embellished by a group of characters perfectly embodied by the actors and actresses, whether it is motion capture or dubbing (VF or VO for that matter, eh). Finally, and of course, the combat system which, no, did not reinvent the genre, but was able to offer a particularly well-executed balance between turn-based and real time.
All this and much more has helped elevate Sandfall Interactive’s very first game to the ranks of RPG benchmarks. Now, it’s also impossible to deny the perpetual pushing of the hype ceilings, and it’s clear that the debates are passionate between those absolutely won over by the experience, and the others who will have at best had a great time, and at worst given up on the adventure along the way.
Regardless, the members of the Montpellier studio still haven’t come down from their clouds, and that’s not about to happen. Neither do the players, moreover, since the free “Thank You” update arrived overnight and allows you to prolong the pleasure by benefiting from fights, outfits, pictograms and many other new content.