Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director's GOTY pick, and not just because it features JRPG-inspired combat: "It gets all of the elements in it right"
Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director Naoki Hamaguchi is clearly a man of good taste if his own games are anything to go by, but if there was ever any doubt, he's also declared that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is his personal game of the year pick. Get in line, buddy.
When asked by GamesRadar+ what his favorite game of 2025 was so far, the FF7 Remake trilogy's lead said it was Sandfall Interactive's debut. "It's a really great game and would deserve game of the year," he told us. "I'd like to see them get that."
Of course, he called out Expedition 33's JRPG-style turn-based combat and the "new spin" that's put onto the genre with its quick-time parrying, but Hamaguchi also argued that combat "shouldn't be focused on too much," because "what makes that game so good is the fact it gets all of the elements in it right, and it balances them all at such a high level of quality. "
"So for example, the setting, the world, the characters, and the storyline, those are all really well done as well, in addition to the gameplay," Hamaguchi explained. "And I think it all comes together, and that's why it's such a well-regarded game, why the fans like it so much, why it sold as well as it had."
Hamaguchi also took the time to mention how some of the Clair Obscur developers actually visited the Final Fantasy head office, "and it was really inspiring... So you can see they've got a lot of respect as well. Not only have they made a really great game, but they showed that respect to the traditional turn-based style of JRPGs. Obviously, as Japanese games creators, we're really delighted to see people taking that and doing something with that."
Now someone just needs to ask Hamaguchi what he thinks about the real 2025 GOTY, Megabonk.
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