When 191 Japanese developers and entertainment figures were asked what game they loved most this year, the answer surprised no one and still felt fresh: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Famitsu's annual poll — a tiny industry hall of mirrors where creators name the games that moved them — crowned Sandfall Interactive's indie JRPG the Most Popular Game of 2025.
The top five reads like a snapshot of the moment: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at number one; Ghost of Yotei in second; Urban Myth Dissolution Center third; Donkey Kong Bananza fourth; and Mario Kart World fifth. That Nintendo doubles presence matters. Two Switch 2 exclusives ranking so highly underlines the console's momentum this year and echoes the broader market story of strong first-party debuts and surging hardware demand. Nintendo's success here dovetails with the platform's broader performance over the year, a trend that has analysts and publishers taking note as console sales climbed and with a healthy release cadence from first- and third-party partners [/news/nintendo-switch-2-games-release-plan].
Why Clair Obscur? The indie hit landed on many ballots for reasons that show up in players' reactions: a distinct visual identity, tight design, and an imaginative melding of Western-painting aesthetics with JRPG structure. Developers tend to reward craft and risk, and Clair Obscur seems to have checked both boxes. Its director also revealed that the studio experimented with AI during development but ultimately 'didn't like it', a detail that feels like a small thesis statement for an outing celebrated precisely because it leans on human-driven design and personality.
A peek behind the ballots
Famitsu's list comes with the usual celebrity sprinkling — names like Hideki Kamiya, Akira Yamaoka and Takayuki Nakayama were among the respondents — and the magazine's roll call often produces both predictable winners and the occasional oddball. This year's top 20 includes big-budget standouts (Monster Hunter Wilds; Elden Ring: Nightreign), remakes and reimaginations (Dragon Quest I & II HD2D Remake; Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles), and a few surprising entries that point to eclectic tastes across studios.
There were also small human beats in the data. Atlus staff shared their personal top lists — Shinjiro Takada, Kazuhisa Wada, and Kazuyuki Yamai each posted favorites that mixed AAA and indie picks. Takada's year was about catching up with older hits like Hogwarts Legacy and Cyberpunk 2077; Wada praised the sheer ambition of Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy and declared Urban Myth Dissolution Center 'a model for indie games to follow'; Yamai, meanwhile, singled out Clair Obscur and praised Mario Kart World for its fresh ideas. These individual choices turn the poll from a sterile ranking into a collage of what creators actually played in their downtime.
Indie success, sustainable ambition
Clair Obscur's rise is also a story about restraint. Sandfall Interactive's team says they won't let the game's success force them into bigger, less personal projects. Creative director Guillaume Broche has said scaling up doesn't appeal to the studio; they'd rather stick to processes that match their team and preserve the game's 'soul' than chase blockbuster scope. That stance — choosing quality and fit over growth at all costs — resonated with peers and, evidently, with enough players to turn the game into an industry darling.
What the poll tells us about the industry right now
If you read the list as a mood board, 2025 felt like a year of contrasts. Big, polished Nintendo experiences and large-scale live-service or AAA offerings share the stage with compact, auteur-driven indies. Developers rewarded both ambition and intimacy: games that innovate mechanically or present a strong aesthetic voice stood a good chance of being mentioned. It also shows that the industry's gatekeepers — the people who make games for a living — are still willing to celebrate small teams and unexpected hits alongside safe franchises.
For readers chasing deeper context on the hardware and release-side dynamics that helped shape this year's rankings, the Switch 2's market performance and release schedule provide useful background for why Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World landed so high as the platform's momentum grew and how first- and third-party support has been unfolding [/news/nintendo-switch-2-games-release-plan].
Famitsu's poll isn't a perfect mirror of broader sales or mainstream awards — it's a shorthand for what creators admired, respected, or simply enjoyed playing. This year, that shorthand favored a tiny studio's bold JRPG, a few Nintendo blockbusters, and a scatter of ambitious experiments. The result: a list that reminds the industry — and players — that great games can arrive from either end of the budget spectrum, and that personality still matters.