The Game Awards nominees have landed, and six games will jostle for the prized Game of the Year honor: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. This year’s nominees have made history for the award show, now over a decade old, with multiple indie games vying for the top prize for the first time.

Though that history isn’t without a bit of head-scratching. One has to wonder: Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 really an “indie” game? Amid its 12 nominations — the most in the show’s history — Clair Obscur was nominated for both indie categories, Best Independent Game and Debut Indie Game, in addition to Game of the Year and a host of craft categories.

At first glance, Expedition 33 has a look and prestige that’s more aligned with a typical AAA blockbuster than smaller-scale indies like Peak or Megabonk. With Sandfall’s team size of around 30 core members and a smaller budget than you’d expect for a game with these production values, Clair Obscur would likely be considered a AA game, according to a classification system posited by industry data experts earlier this year. It’s a nebulous label that sits somewhere........

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