Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Writeup by Paul Skevington
If, like me, you are an enthusiast for fantasy novels, you will know the great breadth and range of narratives available to us nowadays—it’s not all dragons and elves anymore. There is still a place for those tropes, as there is a position for more traditional RPG tales. However, the genre is in need of developers willing to wipe the canvas clean in order to paint something more unusual, with vibrant, unfamiliar colours. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 does exactly that. With a plot hook more compelling than most I’ve heard recently in any medium, Expedition 33 starts strong and then constantly adds layers to the base material. When you think you know where the writers, led by Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, are taking you, sudden shifts create new perspectives, leading to much grander and yet in many respects more intimate revelations. It is a story now etched in the mind of our community, a story painful and rewarding in equal measure.
Runner-Up: Deltarune: Chapters 3 & 4
Writeup by Aleks Franiczek
You know you’re experiencing a narrative masterpiece when you can identify it as such before even getting to the climax, and clearly Deltarune has made enough of an impression so far to earn this honor. What Chapters 3+4 excelled at in particular was fleshing out the core cast. Toby Fox has expertly written them out of whatever tropes they may have initially seemed rooted to with continually surprising depth and empathy. Beneath all that is a permeating sense of mystery (and even dread) to the uncertain fates that await these characters. All I know is that I’m locked in and ready for whatever is in store for the final chapters of this story.
