Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 cleans up at the Golden Joystick Awards
The Golden Joystick Awards, the longest-running awards show for video games, were held last night in London. Hosted by Resident Evil VII‘s Lady Dimitrescu voice actor Maggie Robertson, 25 awards were given out, with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 winning seven of them.
Operated by Future Publishing, The Golden Joystick Awards is a British gaming award show whose winners are voted on by the public and which dates back to 1983; it’s been held annually since 2002. Now in its 43rd year, the categories have changed a lot since the five given out at the inaugural event. Highlights this year include R.E.P.O. winning Best Early Access Game and Hollow Knight: Silksong winning Best Indie Game (Self-Published). For a full list of winners, you can check the list on GamesRadar, also owned by Future.
Clair Obscur developers Sandfall Interactive were the biggest winners of the night, with their game, studio and actors taking home the awards for Best Storytelling, Best Visual Design, Studio of the Year, Best Soundtrack, Best Supporting Performer (Ben Starr), Best Lead Performer (Jennifer English), and Ultimate Game of the Year. This marks Starr’s third appearance at the show in a row, winning for his performance as Clive Rosfield from Final Fantasy XVI in 2023 and hosting in 2024.
Presenting the award for Best Lead Performer was Baldur’s Gate III actor Samantha Béart, who issued a mission statement to the creatives attending: “You are much too in the dark. We need to see more of you.” The nominees for the award were Troy Baker (Indiana Jones and the Great Circle), Tom McKay (Kingdom Come: Deliverance II), Alex Jordan (The Alters), Erika Ishii (Ghost of Yotei), Adriyan Rae (South of Midnight), and Jennifer English (Clair: Obscur: Expedition 33). The winner, with 43% of the vote, was English, for her role as Maelle.
Coming to the stage in a striped olive suit, English praised the “industry titans” she was up against in her impromptu speech before describing how falling in love with Baldur’s Gate III Performance Director Aliona Baranova helped her bring all of her emotions to the role of Maelle.“Maelle chooses to go on this crazy journey, choosing to leave behind a life that wasn’t serving her, and I did that a few years ago. I chose instead a life that was authentic, a life that was gay. I fell in love with a beautiful woman, who’s crying her eyes out right now,” English said. “And I chose queer joy. As a result of that queer joy I felt safe enough to pour my grief and pain and all that nonsense and joy and love into this incredibly beautifully written character. I am so proud of that and I just want to thank queer joy for that.”
Last night’s ceremony was live-streamed on GamesRadar’s YouTube page, where it can currently be watched in full. If you want to skip straight to English’s speech, which was the highlight of the whole event, just click the embed below.
Ultimate Game of the Year
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Split Fiction
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Peak
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Blue Prince
Silent Hill f
Ghost of Yōtei
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Hades II
Donkey Kong Bananza
Hollow Knight: Silksong
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