2025 Belonged to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Mike's Musings ✨ @expedition33

There is a terrific "How it started/How it's going" meme going around contrasting Sandfall Interactive head Guillaume Broche's initial, charming, kickstarter appeal on reddit with an image of him accepting every award known to man at last weeks Game Awards.

I’m not sure anyone involved with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 expected to walk away from the ceremony with their arms full of trophies, but here we are. Game of the Year, best Debut, Art Direction nods, critical darling status cemented, and a room full of developers looking faintly annoyed that a relatively small French studio just strolled in and stole their lunch money.

As noted in our own glowing review, Clair Obscur is the first game from Sandfall Interactive, a studio that, until very recently, was mostly known for not existing. Founded by former Ubisoft developers, the team hovered somewhere in the “AA but dangerously competent” space, reportedly numbering in the few dozens rather than the hundreds.

No vast satellite studios. No eighteen-hour mocap shoots for incidental NPCs. No decade long development hell. Just a relatively small team, a very clear vision, and the audacity to build a turn based RPG in 2025 and assume people might still care.

They were right.

Critical reception was, frankly, obscene.

Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader – Switch 2 Character Creation 🔫 @OwlcatGames #IndieGame #GameDev

Rich steps into the grim darkness of the far future with Warhammer 40000 Rogue Trader on Nintendo Switch 2! ⚔️ In this video, we dive deep into the character creation system, exploring classes, backgrounds, and customization options to build the perfect Rogue Trader for your journey across the galaxy.

Turtle Beach Rematch Wireless Controller: Mario Bricks Review By Britt "Ladies and gentlemen… we have a winner." 🎮 @TurtleBeach

I’ve covered a lot of controllers during my ten years here at The Mighty GF, and I really do have some favourites that are still with me, but the Turtle Beach Rematch Mario Bricks controller for the Switch (and Switch 2) is the controller so good that I would ‘accidentally’ drop it onto a bar just before closing time in front of a hot girl like it was the key to a Dodge Viper in order to seduce her instantly. And it would work.

In a world of so many options, wherein you can get lost in the sheer choice and amount of variables, Turtle Beach have honed in on the most appealing aspects of gaming, designing and delivering a controller that is a pure celebration of the Super Mario franchise itself. 

Put aside the fact that this features customisable back buttons, has a USB-C based rechargeable battery that lasts for up to forty hours of gameplay, and features up to 30-foot low latency wireless connection, or that the smooth thumb sticks and satisfying triggers and buttons feel like they would last years – I could say that about many controllers – but just look at it.