Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 stomped at the 2025 Game of the Year. For me personally, I thought it was always going to smash it and take it home. I hadn’t even heard of the Kingdom Come series before the award ceremony, which is an utter shame. I only became to learn of it because there was a portion of fans upset at the outcome, believing Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 to be the worthy winner.
Now I put a lot of time into Expedition 33, but I wanted to play through Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 for the first time. I unfortunately never got to experience the 1st, but better late than never, I suppose. So now, with both games under my belt, I’ve decided to break down both games into multiple sections, deciding which game wins each sector. At the end, the game with the most points wins it for me.
The reason I’m doing it this way is that both games are powerhouses. They’re both up there and deserving of awards.
Please note, if you haven’t played these games, they will contain spoilers.
Narrative and World
The narrative is down to your own personal preference. Do you prefer a sci-fi world that’s able to completely immerse you in a different reality? Do you prefer a world that’s set in medieval times, within a world that feels completely alive at times?
That’s ultimately it here. Both stories are stupidly good. Both are immersive in many ways. Henry’s story is often tragic, layered with multiple emotional branches that you get to feel and connect with as you progress. He goes again from next to nothing to building, getting knocked down again, to building again.
Expedition is a story that twists you and turns you, barely letting up. Just when you think you know what’s going on, the writing goes in a completely different direction. I’ve never felt on the edge of my seat as much as I did with Expedition. The story was a masterpiece, a complete 10/10. The world itself, the paintings, the side missions, it’s all just so perfectly well done.
Winner – Expedition 33
Characters and Performances
Both games have an incredible abundance of characters. In Kingdom Come, you play mainly as Henry. In Expedition, you play as an array of characters, including Maëlle, Gustave, Lune, Sciel, Verso, and Monoco.
Both games have an extreme level of depth. Henry is an amazing protagonist, but for me here, Expedition 33 stomps. I felt more emotionally invested in Expedition than I did with Kingdom Come, and that’s not to throw any shade on Kingdom Come. Expedition 33 has multiple layers that hit home, characters with reveals that inject the story, making it that much more interesting. When you consider that many believed Gustave to be the mainstay in the story (especially being voiced in English by Charlie Cox), only to be killed off relatively early. It sets the bar immediately that the characters you think you know won’t be.
It’s a special thought. The characters here aren’t just characters that were great in a single game. They were memorable. I don’t think I’ll forget their names for a long time to come. Kingdom Come has a great single protagonist, but Expedition 33 has multiple.
Winner – Expedition 33
Gameplay Core
This one will be 100% subjective, and that’s completely okay. It all depends on the type of gameplay you prefer. Expedition 33’s main attraction comes with turn-based combat with a twist that you can dodge, parry, and jump. Expedition 33 allows for a lot of combinations in the section of pictos and abilities. You really can play 100 different ways with Expedition, and it’s great for theory crafting.
Then there’s Kingdom Come. Now my winner is Expedition here, not because I enjoyed the combat more (I’ve always been a fan of turn-based combat), but simply due to the fact that Kingdom Come has a huge learning curve that can be extremely off-putting quickly. Sticking with the game is rewarding in many ways. It feels fantastic when you level up enough to begin smashing 1v1s with relative ease. The problem is mainly that it can take some time to get to that point.
Both games are brilliant, but Expedition 33 allows for an easier learning experience (Expedition also allows for gameplay difficulty; Kingdom Come 2 doesn’t). It meant I could focus on the story and theory crafting a lot earlier. Kingdom Come doesn’t provide that same experience. There are times it can be clunky, and the game gives you next to nothing at times. I know it’s designed to be like that, but there have been times I’ve screamed at my TV wanting the game to throw me a bone.
Winner – Expedition 33
RPG Systems and Player Choice
Kingdom Come wins here by flying colors. Expedition 33 is pretty linear, although you do get to choose the ending. Kingdom Come defines what an RPG means. You literally choose nearly everything as you progress through.
After the opening sequence, you’re quite literally thrown into it. You can play it almost however you want to. The game will fight back at many points, making things incredibly difficult, but that’s the beauty of it sometimes. When it comes to dialogue, you get to choose how you progress, how you act, how you actually want Henry to be. It does a damn good job at that as well.
Winner – Kingdom Come 2
Exploration and Open World
Both games come with an open world. Expedition 33 is a smaller open-world that layers into smaller, mostly linear maps. Kingdom Come is properly open-world, and it’s huge as well. What gives Kingdom Come so many further points here is the sheer fact that it’s split into regions. It adds engagement, and it also rewards you for looking around. This could be in the form of side missions or general loot; either way, it’s nice for the game to add that level of intrigue.
There isn’t a lot more to slot in here when it comes to the exploration or the open worlds. If you prefer for your games to be as open as Fallout, Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, or even Grand Theft Auto, then Kingdom Come is certainly the better choice. If you prefer mostly linear with a hint of exploration, then Expedition 33 is great. Both games do brilliantly in their realm; it again comes down to preference. However, simply due to the scale and size, Kingdom Come has to come out on top here for me.
Winner – Kingdom Come 2
Presentation (Visuals, Art Direction & Audio)
Both games are beautiful, aren’t they? I’m going straight in here. Expedition 33 absolutely and utterly stomps in this category. The audio alone deserves the win. Lorien Testard created masterpieces in terms of soundtracks for Expedition 33. The art direction and visuals were also perfect in Expedition 33. This isn’t throwing any shade on Kingdom Come 2; Expedition 33 may have the best audio in any game in history. It wins purely on that point alone. This is the only section I’ll give a game a homerun for.
Winner – Expedition 33
Polish, Performance, and Stability
As I went through both games, I never found a single flaw with Expedition 33. There wasn’t a single bug, crash, or anything. In that category, Expedition was a flawless experience for me. Kingdom Come 2, for the size of it, has played pretty well, but I have stumbled across a handful of bugs with 1 hard close on PS5. Kingdom Come does deserve a lot of praise, especially when you look at the likes of Fallout or Skyrim, which are riddled with bugs.
Winner – Expedition 33
Innovation and Identity
Both games in their respective categories have rubber-stamped their names in history. The thing is, Expedition 33 focuses on reinvention and redefining a genre that people are either bored with or absolutely love. That’s turn-based combat. The developers for Expedition go beyond just traditional turn-based systems, giving the players an opportunity to be more involved in the battle. It’s a system that feels fresh but new all at the same time.
Kingdom Come has tried something very new since the beginning, more so with its combat system. It’s unique in the grand scheme of things. The premise of the actual game isn’t, it feels like a traditional RPG game (to an extent), but Kingdom Come doesn’t give power fantasy aspects a lot of RPG games do, like Fallout, Skyrim, or even Expedition in this matter. The game feels oddly realistic. It’s difficult. It’s engaging. It rewards you for sticking with it, but not with God-tier meta abilities, with just pure experience.
On that front alone, I think Kingdom Come has done the most with the RPG category. Whilst Expedition has done a tremendous job reinventing turn-based games and making them popular again, it’s difficult to ignore the unique feeling Kingdom Come has.
Winner – Kingdom Come 2
Overall Impact and Longevity
Both games have left an impact on my heart. I love them both. I must be honest here and discuss the impact and longevity again. Expedition 33 reinvents something, whereas Kingdom Come 2 (and 1) invents something fresh. The combat is quite like nothing I’ve played before. Kingdom Come isn’t just a typical RPG where you become a literal God as you go through; the game allows you to be better, but still challenging.
Kingdom Come 2 already has multiple additions of content to keep the game fresh. It’s something that’s fairly difficult for RPGs to do, yet it does. Expedition 33 hasn’t added much except the odd few updates. The thing that scares me about going back to Expedition 33 is the fear of updates that could cause things to be nerfed or buffed, meaning it’s a new learning experience. Please correct me if this hasn’t happened; it’s due to the developers nerfing Stendhal.
All in all, I feel like Kingdom Come 2, already being on a sequel, adding multiple layers of content, being unique in its combat system, deserves to win this section.
Winner – Kingdom Come 2
Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
In the end, I think the correct winner was crowned. Both games are memorable. Both games are masterpieces. Unfortunately, only one could win it. I’m glad I’ve got to experience both. I’m glad more than anything that I got to LOVE both of these games. Expedition though, is probably one of the best games I’ve ever played in history.
