Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 swept 2025’s Game Awards with a record-breaking nine wins. Streamer Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek had been championing extraction shooter Arc Raiders, however, urging his viewers to “not let” Clair Obscur win.
The popular FPS streamer received backlash for pushing against Expedition 33’s eventual win for not having played it, prompting a response from fellow streamer Asmongold, who urged him to play it himself: “Are you kidding me? You didn’t even play the game! It’s an FPS; you can shoot with free aim. He’d love it.”
Shroud said that if the French RPG did win, he’d play it, and he lived up to his promise in a December 21 stream. After playing for around seven hours, the streamer gave his early verdict.
Shroud gives early Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 verdict
“Dare I say Asmongold was right?” asked shroud towards the end of his stream (timestamp of 12:25:30). “If I remember correctly, he said when I play this game after it wins Game of the Year, I’m gonna enjoy it. Dare I say he was right? Is it too soon to say that? I mean, the game can’t get worse. It’s gonna only get better.”
“That was fun. I had a great time, I got no complaints. Not one,” he said shortly before ending the stream. While he did call the menus convoluted, he said he doesn’t mind.
“The game’s cool, I like it. The story’s ramping up a little bit. I mean, I don’t care too much about story, but the gameplay’s really, really fun. I’m not a big JRPG guy, but [I’m] having a great time with the parry system. I will say if it didn’t have the parry system, I don’t know if I’d be vibing as hard.”
“To me, gameplay and mechanics come first over story, and the game has good gameplay and mechanics … I’m excited to see where the story goes, but I also don’t care. Like if someone spoils it, I’m not going to be upset about it.”
Shroud will be carrying on his Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 playthrough in his next stream on December 22, alongside more Arc Raiders. Whether he changes his mind on Game of the Year remains to be seen.
