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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is officially The Game Awards 2025's big Game of the Year winner, and as well as being an enormous win for RPGs and smaller studios as a whole, it also means something rather amusing – former FPS pro Michael 'Shroud' Grzesiez will finally play it himself after previously rallying against it in favor of Arc Raiders.
Back in November, before The Game Awards 2025's nominees were announced, Shroud declared that "we gotta make sure" Arc Raiders "wins game of the year," adding: "Do not let that Expedition game win game of the year. Do not let it. Absolutely do not." As it happens, Arc Raiders didn't get nominated for the category at all, and Shroud didn't seem particularly happy about the nominees, dubbing it "another rigged year."
However, he also said something else interesting at the time: "I like to play the game of the year, so whatever the game of the year is going to be, I'll play it." Well, Shroud, your time has come.
As The Game Awards 2025 orchestra performance began last night, just before the big Game of the Year announcement, it was clear that Shroud had had a bit of a change of heart since declaring that the world shouldn't let Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 win, directing his annoyances at another nominee, instead. "As long as it's not Donkey Kong… please don't be. [...] Don't let this be another rigged year, please," he pleads, praying for the downfall of the excellent Switch 2 game Donkey Kong Bananza. He then adds that either Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 winning would be "fine," saying he was "surprised" that the latter didn't sweep everything it was nominated for.
And, as the winner was announced, Shroud appeared to be at peace. But, despite apparently having plans to jump into Sandfall Interactive's RPG immediately after its victory, he was just a bit too tempted by Diablo 4 and its new Paladin class.
"You know what actually kinda sucks about the D4 thing, like the one negative, is I was going to play Clair Obscur literally after – the second it won," he begins. "But I would rather play as the Paladin in D4."
He then notes that he'll want to play Path of Exile over the weekend, followed by Arc Raiders and its upcoming winter update. "Then after that, I think there'll be a break, and then I can play it. So it's probably gonna be like a Christmas playthrough of Expedition," he continues.
So it is happening… at some point. Who knows, maybe he'll end up being an enormous fan? There's a reason why it won so many awards, after all.
Be sure to catch up on everything announced at The Game Awards 2025 with our handy roundup.
