For years, Owlcat Games has been the undisputed champion of the intense and PACKED isometric CRPG. Every title they create has more options at character creation than some have across their entire story. Despite innovating with deep story choices across numerous IPs, they have never really stepped too far outside their box until now. With The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, the studio isn’t just releasing another isometric CRPG; they are taking off into uncharted space (pun intended).
A New Frontier
Moving away from the traditional top-down perspective, Osiris Reborn represents Owlcat’s most ambitious leap: a third-person action-RPG with stunning visuals that can’t help but invite direct comparisons to THAT sci-fi space RPG, BioWare’s classic series Mass Effect. For fans of The Expanse book and TV series, this is the high-fidelity adaptation that does the series justice, even in the small slice the beta provides. You step into the boots of a mercenary surviving the Eros incident, and you’re immediately thrown right into the action.
With the beta, you don’t get to see the opening prologue sequence, but instead pick up mid-drama and are forced to learn what happened retroactively. Now, this is a bit jarring at first, but as this is a beta, the rest of the experience does a fine job of giving players just enough of each branch to get a nice feel and, more importantly, to inform and provide feedback before the eventual launch next year.
The story, RPG elements, and decision-making are classic Owlcat. Interesting, nuanced, and each choice feels important, even early on. The big difference between their old stuff and this is two-fold. The presentation itself and the third-person combat give their tried-and-true narrative depth a whole new perspective.
Visually, they are in a whole new league. Big, beautiful character models and some awe-inspiring space visuals are so much closer to the action than anything they’ve ever done before. The combat, notably, is the most promising new aspect of The Expanse, but also the one that requires the most work.
Now it feels solid, looks the part, and even has good sound design, but it’s just missing a bit of oomph to the overall feel to live up to modern third-person shooter standards. Now, this is a beta, and I can easily see them iterating on it and improving it drastically, with small details and improvements along the way. Not too dissimilar to BioWare when they themselves made the leap from isometric CRPG to third-person shooting. But the bones are there, you can see and feel what they are going for, it just needs a bit more love and time in the oven to go from underbaked to a combat culinary delight.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a fascinating and exciting prospect. A game serving essentially three different audiences with one release. You have Owlcat Games’ diehard fandom, who are excited to see the studio branch out into something different. You have Expanse fans who are eager to dive into high-quality experiences in a world they love. And then you have folks like me, Mass Effect fans yearning for a hit of that classic trilogy, since it’s clear it may be a long while before that series returns. This beta has a ton of promise, and with months of community feedback pouring in, it has the potential to be something truly special. It represents a stunning jump forward for the studio, and I, for one, am looking forward to how it evolves from here.
