Since it was first announced, fans have been hoping The Expanse: Osiris Reborn could offer a new sci-fi RPG along the lines of Mass Effect. Indeed, it’s hard not to compare the two. Along with the same sci-fi action RPG vibes, Owlcat was directly inspired by Mass Effect when crafting their game’s combat system. That inspiration is clear even from early trailers. But today, April 22nd, some gamers will get to experience The Expanse firsthand through the game’s closed beta. I got to check it out early, and I’m here to tell you this game is off to a great start already.
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The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a bit of a shift for Owlcat, a developer best known for turn-based RPGs like their excellent Pathfinder games. This game’s third-person shooter style is a bit of a departure, but that doesn’t mean the compelling characters and narrative-driven gameplay Owlcat is best known for don’t come along for the ride. The closed beta is a relatively small sample of the game, and you can easily run through its single mission in just over an hour. But it’s nevertheless a good, representative sample of what Osiris Reborn has to offer, and I came away hopeful that Mass Effect fans are getting the spiritual successor they’ve been waiting for.
Osiris Reborn Is an Action RPG With CRPG Roots, and That Could Be Its Greatest Strength
As someone who knows her way around Owlcat’s Pathfinder games, I could see that story-driven CRPG soul all over the beta for Osiris Reborn. I played through the mission several times to try out the different pre-built character options and see how different decisions played out. And I was pleasantly surprised by just how impactful your choices are at every turn. Depending on your decisions both in dialogue and during pivotal moments where you decide how to proceed in real time, whole parts of the mission can play out completely differently. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say there are some big consequences for some choices, even in this single mission beta.
Despite the pivot towards real-time action, even this small sampling of Osiris Reborn shows that the narrative is still the driving force. And players can impact the flow of that narrative in real, tangible ways. Each conversation presents you with decisions about how to respond that can change not only your relationship with NPCs, but the story itself. And all of the dialogue is fully voiced, bringing the characters to life and offering the foundation for what looks to be a compelling story in the making. For The Expanse fans, you’ll be getting something fresh here, as the story is brand-new, but it will bring in plenty of familiar faces and places.
Admittedly, some of the cutscenes felt a little rough around the edges, and I did notice some frame rate drops and lags. That’s expected in a beta, especially when you’re running the game on a PC that admittedly just brushes up against the minimum required specs. Provided that gets ironed out, this game is poised to offer memorable characters and story moments that will land it right alongside other iconic sci-fi games like Mass Effect.
If The Snags Get Ironed Out, Osiris Reborn Could Stand Alongside Mass Effect As One of the Best Sci-Fi RPGs
The beta covers just one early-game mission, so we just brush the surface of the game’s story. However, Owlcat packs in a good sample of what the final game will offer in its short closed Beta test. It showcases cinematic cutscenes, dialogue, exploration, and combat. I really enjoyed running around Pinkwater-4, which feels vibrant and alive. It’s packed with NPCs going about their daily business, really pulling you into a setting that brings the game’s world to life. Though you can’t necessarily talk to every NPC, the world doesn’t feel static. And those you can check in with offer engaging side quests and lore that round out the world nicely (fully voiced, of course).
But what about combat? It uses a pretty Mass Effect-inspired shoot-and-cover system, one that has the foundations of something good but still feels a little rough around the edges. Diving for cover is essential, as you won’t last long without it. However, I found that the time between hitting the “cover” button and my character actually doing the action lagged enough to be the difference between life and death at times. In fact, movement in the game in general feels a bit slow during the beta, so that’s definitely something I’d hope to see improve as time goes on.
Overall, though, both exploration and combat feel pretty satisfying. Osiris Reborn offers plenty of options for cover and for using the environment around you. And of course, you can issue commands to your companions during combat, asking them to shoot certain areas to create really satisfying explosions that take out a ton of enemies at once.
Along with showcasing different gameplay elements, the beta shows off two of the game’s classes, the Gunner and Hacker. You also get to choose between being a female Belter or a male Earther. These classes have different default layouts, with different guns and tools at their disposal. In the short span of one mission, though, they don’t feel too different just yet. But you can use the workbench to make upgrades to your equipment and combat skills even in the beta, showcasing the playstyle customization available regardless of the class you choose.
The Beta Test Makes a Strong Case for Baldur’s Gate 3 Level Replayability
As I mentioned, I completed the beta mission in about 70 minutes during my first playthrough. And that’s accounting for me realizing that without cover, you’re going to die pretty fast. But I wound up sinking a lot more time into it not just because it’s my job to get the lay of the land, but because I genuinely wanted to. It’s so clear that your decisions impact the story in critical ways, which just begs for a replay to see what would’ve happened if you chose something different.
If an hour-long beta mission can change so dramatically depending on which dialogue option or mission direction you choose, I can only imagine the variety of stories players will tell when the full game arrives. My playthroughs of the beta had quite different outcomes depending on the options I chose, and I had a lot of fun seeing how each choice played out. I can easily see this game joining the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3 for replayability if the rest of the game offers as many tough and genuinely impactful choices as the beta did.
Overall, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn shows a lot of promise in its beta form. The game definitely feels a little rough around the edges, but it’s got the foundation of something really promising. Whether you’re an existing fan of The Expanse or Owlcat’s previous game catalog or not, this feels like a game any sci-fi or action RPG fan will want to keep an eye out.
Will you be playing the closed beta for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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