The New York Videogame Critics Circle (NYVGCC) held its 15th Annual New York Game Awards on Sunday, and indie blockbuster Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 walked away with the ceremony’s top honor. The hit French RPG took home two awards: the ceremony’s coveted Game of the Year distinction and Best Acting in a Game, awarded to Jennifer English, the recognizable voice behind the game’s spunky protagonist Maelle. Since its late April release, the Sandfall-developed, Kepler-published RPG has dominated the industry awards circuit; on December 11, Expedition 33 became The Game Awards’ most-decorated title ever.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 nabbed two trophies, but many of the event’s awards went to lesser-known indie releases. Poti Poti Studio and Wholesome Games‘ shape-seating logic puzzle, Is This Seat Taken?, was awarded the Critics Circle’s Best Mobile Game honor, while entrancing rhythm-based hit Lumines Arise earned the Best VR/AR Game award. Panic’s surrealist, live-action Blippo+ was awarded the ceremony’s Best Writing award.
Check out the full list of event winners:
A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game
- 🏆 Is This Seat Taken? 🏆
- Skate City: New York
- What The Clash?
- Umamusume: Pretty Derby
- Spooky Express
- Chaos Zero Nightmare
Central Park Children’s Zoo Award for Best Kids Game
- 🏆 Donkey Kong Bananza 🏆
- Koira
- Sunderfolk
- Lego Party!
- Pokémon Legends: Z-A
- Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
High Line Award for Best Remake
- 🏆 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered 🏆
- The Talos Principle: Reawakened
- Story Of Seasons: Grand Bazaar
- Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
- Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake
- Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection
Statue of Liberty Award for Best World
- 🏆 Hades II 🏆
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Split Fiction
- Baby Steps
- Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
- Keeper
Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game
- 🏆 Blue Prince 🏆
- Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist
- Despelote
- Deltarune Chapters 3+4
- Consume Me
- No, I’m not a Human
- Tiny Bookshop
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
Herman Melville Award for Best Writing in a Game
- 🏆 Blippo+ 🏆
- Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
- Avowed
- The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-
- Mafia: The Old Country
- Ghost of Yōtei
Excelsior Award for Best New York Game
- 🏆 Ball x Pit 🏆
- Despelote
- Baby Steps
- Consume Me
- Old Skies
- Skate Story
Coney Island Dreamland Award for Best AR/VR Game
- 🏆 Lumines Arise 🏆
- Ghost Town
- V-Racer Hoverbike
- The Midnight Walk
- Marvel’s Deadpool VR
- Arken Age
Great White Way Award for Best Acting in a Game
- 🏆 Jennifer English as Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 🏆
- Adriyan Rae as Hazel in South of Midnight
- Amelia Sargisson as Nora in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
- Alex Jordan as Jan Dolski in The Alters
- Judy Alice Lee as Melinoë in Hades II
- Erika Ishii as Atsu in Ghost of Yōtei
Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game
- 🏆 South of Midnight 🏆
- Lumines Arise
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Mario Kart World
- Deltarune Chapters 3+4
- Sword of the Sea
- Hades II
- Ghost of Yōtei
Chumley’s Speakeasy Award for Best Hidden Gem
- 🏆 News Tower 🏆
- Keep Driving
- Nubby’s Number Factory
- Many Nights a Whisper
- Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action
- and Roger
- Look Outside
- Shujinkou
NYC GWB Award for Best DLC
- 🏆 Lies of P: Overture 🏆
- Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Star-Crossed World
- The Sims 4 Adventure Awaits
- Star Wars Outlaws: A Pirate’s Fortune
- Hello Kitty Island Adventure – Wheatflour Wonderland
Knickerbocker Award for Best Games Journalism
- 🏆 People Make Games 🏆
- Duncan Fyfe
- Felipe Pepe
- Jackson Tyler
- Joseph Earl Thomas
- Lewis Gordon
- Nicanor Gordon
Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year
- 🏆 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 🏆
- Split Fiction
- Blue Prince
- Despelote
- Sword of the Sea
- Silent Hill f
- Hades II
- Ghost of Yōtei
