The story, visuals, and animation are somewhat unimpressive. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's soundtrack will definitely grab your attention. Lorien Testard did a great job of capturing the overall tone of the game along with the themes of specific characters and events. I'm sure we've all sung along to the Lumiere theme without knowing any French.
But you might be surprised to learn that Clair Obscur's soundtrack wasn't nominated for a 2026 Grammy Award. Sandfall Interactive's first project has already won some awards this year, but was left out of the Grammys' category for Best Video Game Score Soundtrack.
2026 Grammy Award Nominee for Best Video Game Score Soundtrack
The artists nominated in those categories certainly deserved their spots, but it's hard to see how Clair wasn't among them (thanks, VGC). The candidates are:
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Pinar Toprak – Avatar: Pioneers of Pandora – Secrets of the Spire DLC
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Wilbert Roget II – Helldivers 2
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Gordie Harb – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
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Cody Matthew Johnson & Wilbert Roget II – Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card and Pirate's Luck DLC
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Austin Wintory – Sword of the Sea
The Helldivers 2 theme is one that is absolutely loved by the community and casual players alike. There's nothing like knocking off 500kg bombs on bugs and bots while waiting for a spill while making 'liberty' noises. However, with games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Star Wars Outlaws, it looks like the panel chose popular IP names.
He may not be up for a Grammy right now, but Testard has already won the Game Music Award at the World Soundtrack Awards. Best of all, the soundtrack topped Billboard's classical charts for quite some time. It's surprising that Clair Obscur wasn't nominated for a Grammy Award, despite also receiving recognition from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Previous winners in this category include Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Dawn of Ragnarök DLC in 2023, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor in 2024, and Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord in 2025.
- released
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April 24, 2025
- ESRB
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Ages 17 and older / Blood and gore, strong language, suggestive themes, violence
- developer
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Sandpole Interactive
- publisher
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Kepler Interactive
