Can I be completely honest? I think people are sleeping on The Expanse: Osiris Reborn.
Scheduled for release in Q2 2027, Owlcat Games’ upcoming RPG is shaping up to be the Mass Effect game I’ve wanted for years. The comparisons to EA’s franchise are obvious, but I don’t want to spend this entire preview comparing the two. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn deserves to be talked about on its own merits, and after spending 90 minutes with the game, I think there’s plenty worth talking about.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Hands-on Preview
Back in August, I got hands-on time with the game, playing a mission set on Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s moons. I joined my twin, J, in disguising ourselves as Osiris Agents to infiltrate a Protogen base and investigate a secret program.
What starts as an investigation quickly turns into a fight for survival when a human-Protomolecule hybrid escapes and begins hunting us. It’s a sharp shift in tone that brings together investigation, suspense, and combat in a way that left me excited to see how the full experience unfolds.
The writing was one of the biggest highlights of the 90 minutes I spent with the game. I don’t want to give too much away, but the dialogue and events felt natural, and even the conversations I overheard while walking through the base added to the experience. They helped make the world feel lived-in rather than simply serving as background noise.
There was one particular moment where you heard agents express their frustrations. During which you find that they don’t feel like they’ve done anything wrong. Rather, it was simply a case of following orders from their superiors. There’s even the opportunity to persuade them about a possible transfer from the base.
Just as I was making progress with the investigation, the base came under attack. The secret experiment, a human-Protomolecule hybrid, was released, and suddenly, I was no longer just trying to uncover what Protogen was working on. I was trying to escape it.
This was the first time the game genuinely made me feel afraid. There’s something unnerving about being hunted by a seemingly unstoppable creature, and the panic it creates is difficult to explain without experiencing it yourself. It’s a standout moment from my time with the game, and one that left me particularly curious about where the story goes next.
The main story is expected to take around 30 hours to complete, depending on your playstyle.
Gameplay With Promise
One of the things I really liked was the ability to control my partner. You can issue commands and dictate how they act depending on the situation, giving you more control over how encounters play out.
Your partner is also your twin, whom you help create at the beginning of the game. As you customize your own character, you’ll also shape your twin, making them part of the experience from the outset.
Regarding combat, it’s great. Seriously, I loved pretty much everything about it.
Shooting felt responsive to where I was aiming and how I was shooting. You also can’t just stand there and aimlessly fire your weapons. You need to move around and reposition. There are also times when you need to be tactical in your efforts. While in cover, you can deploy a drone that will take the heat off you and attack your enemies. There are even environmental hazards that you can take advantage of, such as ripping down a ceiling to crush the enemies below.
A game that doesn’t force just one way to get through enemies is often my favorite, and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn does it so well. There were times in the short time I had with the game when I questioned if there was a better way to clear an area, and what I could’ve done differently.
There are still a few things that need some polish, particularly movement. My character occasionally felt a little slippery, and there were moments when I struggled to move where I wanted to, especially while navigating cover. It wasn’t a frequent issue, and I was told these concerns are being addressed.
Despite those few rough edges, I came away from my preview time with The Expanse: Osiris Reborn excited to see more. Its mix of investigative storytelling, tense encounters, and flexible combat gives it plenty of potential beyond the obvious Mass Effect comparisons.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is scheduled to launch in Q2 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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