San Francisco Frontiers - French indie title 'Clair Obscur' dominates Game Awards

"What a weird timeline for us," Guillaume Broche of video game studio Sandfall Interactive quipped, thanking his team as he accepted the top award.

"And also I want to extend thanks to the unsung heroes of this industry -- the people who make tutorials on YouTube on how to make a game -- because we had no idea how to make a game before."

"Clair Obscur," Sandfall's first game, tells the story of a group of characters battling seemingly impossible odds in a post-apocalyptic universe with a distinctively French visual style.

It was nominated in a record number of categories, winning many despite squaring up against heavyweights like "Death Stranding 2" from industry legend Hideo Kojima of "Metal Gear Solid" fame and "Donkey Kong Bananza" from Nintendo.

"Clair Obscur" began in 2020 as a project of Broche, a developer at French gaming giant Ubisoft.

He brought ex-colleague Tom Guillermin on board to create the small studio that same year in the French city of Montpellier.

- 'Thank you to the players' -

They struck a publishing deal in 2022 with UK-based Kepler Interactive, which provided funding for the project.

Some 5 million copies of "Clair Obscur" have been snapped up since its realease in April of this year.

"This was supposed to be a joke; I have no idea what's happening," Broche joked.

"Just a massive 'thank you' to the players."

The grassroots popularity of "Clair Obscur" has seen fans attend conventions and game fairs wearing a striped mariner's shirt and red beret -- one of the most stereotypically French outfits players can dress their characters in.

The action game follows a small group of characters seeking to defeat a powerful entity threatening their home city Lumiere -- which bears a striking resemblance to Belle Epoque Paris.

Inspired by Japanese games such as the long-running "Final Fantasy" franchise, the French title is a role-playing game offering turn-based combat against monsters inhabiting the world.

Its popularity was founded on the story's emotional depth and endearing characters married with original gameplay, which introduced reactive rhythm-based elements to parry enemies' attacks.

Sandfall "managed to present something really polished and go toe-to-toe with major titles," industry specialist Benoit Reinier told AFP at the time of the game's release.

Broche said they brought everyone from Sandfall to Los Angeles to celebrate the awards.

The music of "Clair Obscur" stuck in many players' heads and played an outsized part in their immersion into its universe.

Winning categories for the game included narrative, role playing, and music score.

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the team in May, thanking them for "putting the spotlight on French-style boldness and creativity."

There are also plans to bring the "Expedition 33" story to the big screen.

The awards show was streamed on 30 platforms, including Amazon Prime for the first time.

It was packed with trailers or coming games including "Star Wars" and "Tomb Raider" titles as well as apperances by celebrities including Jason Momoa, who is among actors in a film based on "Street Fighter" set for release next year.

"The games nominated this year were created by teams from all over the world," said Nicolas Doucet, founder of Team Asobi that won top game last year with "Astro Bot".

"This is a testament that our industry feeds from various world cultures and, in this day and age, is something we should really, really appreciate and celebrate."

U.Campbell--SFF