Before “Andor,” arguably the best space saga on TV in the past decade was “The Expanse”. Getting over a slightly rocky first season, the initially Syfy and later Amazon Prime series hit a high of an astonishing 91/100 on Metacritic for its fourth season and scored much acclaim for its style, performances, and storytelling.
Now the franchise returns with “The Expanse: Osiris Reborn,” a large scale sci-fi action RPG video game that bears a lot of similarities to the “Mass Effect” franchise and which just debuted its first trailer today.
From an over-shoulder third-person perspective and cover-based gunplay, to class-driven powers, squad coordination/management, and companion romance – there’s a lot of parallels to BioWare’s iconic late 2000s/early 2010s game series here blended into lore of “The Expanse” universe with the Earth-Mars-Belter conflict and the fight over the mysterious and dangerous protomolecule.
The game is being developed by Owlcat Games, known for games like “Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous” and “Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader”.
The story involves Pinkwater Security mercenaries trapped on Eros Station during a deadly lockdown. Players create their own captain (be it Earther, Martian, or Belter) as you take command of the system’s most advanced ship and lead a crew navigating the solar system.
The developer says fans of the TV show will encounter familiar faces, with several actors reprising their roles, though wouldn’t indicate who exactly will be back. Owlcat’s Creative Director, Alexander Mishulin says in a statement:
“We’ve been dreaming about building a sci-fi action RPG of this scale for a long time, and The Expanse is the perfect universe to bring that vision to life. It’s a world grounded in realism and complexity, perfect for telling a story how we like — mature and character-driven, where your choices truly matter. We are excited to bring this new experience to our players and look forward to sharing more soon, especially knowing how many questions our fans will have.”
Game Design Producer Yuliya Chernenko also confirms the impact the original “Mass Effect” trilogy had on the game’s development, calling it “absolutely an inspiration to the team” and saying:
“Many of us first played it in our teenage years, and it left a lasting impression. We are building on that legacy and expanding what players anticipate from this experience. Our story is deeply rooted in hard science fiction, one of the core reasons The Expanse universe resonates so well with its fans. The combat reflects the standards of modern action gameplay. The narrative emphasizes political tension and moral complexity. And yes – there’s romance too.”
Locations like Ganymede, Ceres, Mars, and Luna all appear in the story-driven RPG which will be set sometime during the events of the first two-and-a-half seasons. The title will hit Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, Xbox Series X and S, and PlayStation 5 but no release date is yet set.
Source: IGN
