Nobody can decide if Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an indie game or not

If one game has dominated more conversations than anything else in 2025, it's definitely Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive. As the awards season draws near, the discourse about the game has lingered among those looking to debate which games were the best of the year. But one topic that has constantly put everyone at odds is whether Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an indie game or not. The controversy comes from it being nominated for various indie honors at events like The Game Awards, which many feel is not right. And the real cause of that is because everyone can't decide whether Sandfall Interactive's title is a true indie game compared to the rest of the competition.

The question of what makes a game indie is always in contention. Various characteristics of past indie game releases are often pointed to as prime examples of the spirit of that kind of classification. But with so many things changing so often in the gaming industry, getting everyone on the same page about such a topic is a herculean task that everyone avoids. Here's why nobody can decide if Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an indie game or not.

What makes an indie

The games we view as such

Trying to clearly define what an indie game actually is in today's industry isn't easy. Conversations about how a game is published, the amount of resources and money used to create it, and the number of people behind its creation are all important factors that are enough to make anyone's head spin. But when you get deeper into the common factors between most indie games that are viewed as true indie titles, it all comes down to one phrase: limitations. The game releases that we see as indie darlings are usually fun titles that are able to overcome heavy limitations that get in the way of their release. It's a defining factor when these games achieve success and resonate with audiences, without having to be connected to larger entities in order to be legitimate.

Every other aspect of the classification of an indie game is associated with this in some way. Beloved indie games like Dust: An Elysian Tail, Fez, and Vampire Survivors are great examples of this, where each one had incredible limitations that were worked around and led to major success stories. These games were independently made, without the backing of a major entity in resources, and released in a way that was far removed from what the AAA space was doing. Other games that are like this include Shovel Knight, Undertale, Animal Well, the first Little Nightmares, and many others.

But this is where things get very murky for games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The game was made with aspects that fit closer to a larger AA game release, which make it look very different when juxtaposed to other indie titles.

The indie awards debate

When everyone can see an issue

When the nominees for The Game Awards 2025 were revealed by Geoff Keighley, the biggest controversy to come from them was the categories for indie games. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was nominated for Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game, which sparked a highly sensitive debate among people online. How could Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 be included in the same category as games like Megabonk, Blue Prince, Hollow Knight, and Hades 2 when it's not an indie game? The back and forth between people comes down to how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was made, and the questionable details about its release.

Originally, outlets reported that Sandfall Interactive was a studio of around 30 people who developed the game. But over time, this became less true as details about the studio utilizing hundreds of contractors were revealed, calling into question if it can be said that it was made by a small team at all. There's a very big difference between an independent studio hiring five to ten contractors, and another studio being able to hire over 400 of them. At that point, it's hard to convince anyone that a game is made by a small team like that, when the technicality is they had a lot of extra assistance from people outside the studio.

The other part of this was the concern over Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 being published by Kepler Interactive. Sandfall Interactive was able to have a partnership with Kepler and gain resources to grow the team and secure funding for various parts of development. This includes bringing on Hollywood talent like Charlie Cox for voice acting. To many people, this stepped out of bounds for what the spirit of being an indie game was, because of how the game was not self-published and had access to vast resources through another entity. Some pointed to similar examples of games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Hollow Knight Silksong having similar scenarios, but both of those titles were still self-published by Larian Studios and Team Cherry respectively, despite gaining access to funds in their own ways that didn't involve a publisher.

The problem with praise

Having an honest conversation about it

With all the questions about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's development, the other big problem with the entire discourse is the inconsistency about it. Debates and discussions between people online about the game being nominated for the indie categories at places like The Game Awards are filled with talking points that never feel consistent. Part of this can often be attributed to people wanting to support the games that they like, and sometimes excusing aspects of it in favor of the game being praised more by others. This can compromise any honest and fair discussion about a highly contentious topic, like whether Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is truly an indie game alongside other Game Awards nominees.

The truth is that the game has continuously received a lot of praise from nearly every corner of the internet, with a lot of people feeling strongly for one reason or another. And any kind of criticism or discussion that is the opposite of that is met with a visceral reaction from everyone. For people who love the game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 having the most award nominations in the history of The Game Awards is what they want to see, despite two of the nominations being highly questionable. Trying to honestly view the nominations with an element of objectivity and questioning whether Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is in the same spirit as other indie games automatically gets viewed as undermining its quality. Even though that's not the case at all. It's a problem with constant unchallenged praise, where everything contrary to it is viewed as hostile.

Other events like the Indie Game Awards, which included Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, were also highly questioned about the issue. And while they ultimately decided to have the game as part of the nominations, it wasn't enough to ease the discourse about everything. Despite multiple places trying to say that the game is part of the group of indie titles from 2025, many people are still not convinced and feel it's taking away from those games that are indisputable indies.

Never getting to a consensus

While everything for The Game Awards will come and go, as it does every year, the discourse about what classifies a game as indie will continue to linger long after. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will most likely win many awards from its nominations, but there will always be an asterisk connected to it with the indie categories for many people. The fact that there are reasons to argue why it's not an indie game and why others take issue with it being nominated as such should've been enough to really clarify things for everyone. But with such a loose and constantly changing view on what indie games are today, it doesn't seem like anyone will be able to agree on it anytime soon.