The Expanse: Osiris Reborn

If anyone is looking for more games like this, I implore that you keep an eye on: • [**Exodus 2**](https://youtu.be/DmJxSKn47EE?si=h5Bqj-ENihmMkWjI) • [**The Expanse: Osiris Reborn**](https://youtu.be/akemL0MHLg4?si=Y-SmsGi3CIPFvI0S) Both are releasing next year. Exodus 2 has a bunch of former BioWare talent on board, and Osiris Reborn is being made by Owlcat Games (*devs of Rogue Trader & Pathfinder*).

I've been re-playing Andromeda, and took a break to play through the Expanse Beta a couple of times. So that's where I'm coming from. I really enjoyed the Expanse Beta, impressive for a year out from launch., For me, the dialog in the Expanse Osiris Reborn beta playtest isn't at ALL like Andromeda. I do think the voice actors need tighter direction in the booth. I actually like the Belter VA, with that caveat. I only played Belter, so my experience of the male VA has just been from YT clips, and he does seem a bit wooden. I do agree, as so many others are pointing out, that the Belters should at least have the accent - the full Belter patois would be a bit of a slog in a game, but some of the classic phrases should definitely be in the Belter dialog, bossmang. I don't find the Expanse dialog to be banter-heavy or, as some are labeling it "Marvel cringe." Maybe they're struggling with tone a bit, but I don't find it as awful as so many other commenters seem to. And OwlCat is taking the feedback, I respect them for that. I was really excited to get an early look at the game. This is just my experience. PS - Andromeda has really fun and engaging traversal and combat, and also definitely suffers from some iffy dialog and characters that feel undercooked and oddly written. It helps to not try to compare it to the OG Mass Effect trilogy, and from this many years down the road, that's a lot easier to do. But for me, it's nothing like the Expanse Beta.

[https://eskapisterne.dk/2026/05/10/afsnit-356-early-access/](https://eskapisterne.dk/2026/05/10/afsnit-356-early-access/) Vi er endelig tilbage og ingen dårlige undskyldninger kan stoppe dagens podcast. Der er sket en masse, så vi har rigeligt på programmet i dag. Casper lægger ud med utroligt spændende fakta, Christian er klar at stå for spin-kampagnen når verden går under og Jimi er forsvundet ned i et uendeligt stort spil. Vi har spillet “The Expanse: Osiris Reborn playtest” (Millers Hat Edition), “Aphelion” og så har vi spillet videre på “Crimson Desert”, “Arc Raiders” og ” Xenonauts 2″ Anbefalings resumé: Vi har set “Historien om VLTJ” på TV2 Play, “Super Mario Galaxy – The Movie” i biografen, “Kommisionen”, “Landevejens Konger” , “Landet Rundt: Convoy” og “Tjernobyl: De glemte bånd” på DRTV, “#skyking” på Disney+, “Wolfs” på Netflix også har vi lyttet til bog 3 i “Dungeon Crawler Carl” Ugens Discord-link: [https://discord.gg/FJm5qbT2a](https://discord.gg/FJm5qbT2a)

Declassifications of UAP materials by the DoD, FBI, and NASA on May 8 catalyze a broader cultural conversation about aliens that spills into gaming and speculative fiction, with Don’t Nod’s Aphelion (backed by the ESA, 2026) and titles such as The Expanse: Osiris Reborn (Owlcat Games) and Exodus 2 (Archetype Entertainment) expanding spacefaring narratives, Artemis II boosting Kerbal Space Program’s player counts, and science-driven encounters in The Outer Wilds and Barotrauma, all illustrating how declassified material can refresh storytelling with plausible, evidence-informed premises, as Craig Robinson weaves science, exploration, and culture.

I disagree, I genuinely think the combat is quite satisfying (though I tend to never play soldier in any Mass Effect, so I use a lot of abilities), if the enemies don't randomly decided to just dodge The issue is that the story is just... Meh. They've also reduced the amount of story/companion decisions, and the worst part has to be the lack of depth for characters Here's hoping that Osiris Reborn will be a worthy spiritual successor

There are 2 games coming out in the future that might capture the unique feeling of Mass Effect series brought to gaming. ***The Expanse: Osiris Reborn*** [According](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse:_Osiris_Reborn) to the developers, the main source of inspiration for them was the Mass Effect game series. ***Exodus 2*** [Being](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus 2_(2027_video_game)) developed by Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by former BioWare developers James Ohlen, Chad Robertson, and Drew Karpyshyn. And I eagerly await what these games to see if it will capture the emotional storytelling, companion interactions and comradery, the gameplay and most of all the journey through the world of the gaming universe were exploring.

My simple answer, as user of RTX 5090 FE on CachyOS, is Yes. Yes you are getting full DLSS support (basically you can select your favorite preset, for me it is "M", ie 4.5 performance), Frame Generation or MFG fully functional, undervolting with LACT (like MSI afterburner), Path tracing, etc... In terms of compatibility, full hdmi 2.1 support, fully full encoder support (OBS, handbrake). For gaming, I've only one game that is incompatible with the driver 595 (like on windows 11), ie Solasta II (working on 590 or 596), otherwise it is working. However, please note there is a performance penalty. My RTX 5090 FE is using less power than on Windows 11 (iso setup), driving to a performance loss of -10-25%, pretty consistant. You can check my youtube channel as I'm posting some trials on it : [CachyOS - RTX 5090 FE UV - The Expanse : Osiris Reborn](https://youtu.be/Si6s-JdK4Qs) I'm keeping a windows 11 partition (500Go only) for benchmarking, firmware update. It is way better than emulation. But my main daily usage is CachyOS only. If you have any question, let me know.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm not saying you're right either. When The Expanse came out, I don't recall anyone comparing it to Mass Effect, and honestly, I'm not even sure how you could. The two series don't have much in common bar the broadest of tropes (in space, a degree of emphasis on scientific accuracy, a ship and crew, etc.). Mass Effect has more in common with stuff like Babylon 5 and Star Trek, while The Expanse is more in the style of Battlestar Galactica or the Enderverse. It's absolutely true that Mass Effect provided inspiration for Osiris Reborn, but that's more on the level of gameplay, not setting.

Mass effect andromeda was a good game hampered by an incredibly shitty launch, and I will die on this hill. The patches and bug fixes it has seen since launch have made it an enjoyable game from start to finish, and I’ve played it multiple times on revisits to the franchise. Osiris reborn still has the opportunity to fix its bugs and rougher edges before launch in a year. The beta was fun, the combat reminded me of the Division which is a compliment in every way. I loved it, it just needs work to fix some dialogue and quirks along the way.

I'm sure this has been said many times before, but this game strikes me as extremely similar to Andromeda, at least the first impressions of it. We're talking solid combat and gameplay systems, lovely graphics and environment design, and banter-heavy trying too hard to be edgy and funny dialogue to a grating degree. Andromeda was hammered so heavily becuase of its name and studio's pedigree.. take Mass Effect out of it, and imagine it made by an upstart studio finding its foot for the first time in the cinematic RPG genre, and you've got The Expanse Osiris Reborn. Owlcat's lack of experience in this genre will certainly nudge many players and reviewers to cut it some slack, just as long as people stop considering it the second coming of Mass Effect, because that's a very cruel comparison indeed. I returned to Mass Effect 1 after the Beta, just to make sure i'm not being too judgmental on the Expanse's writing problems, but no, even just the first few conversations in ME were vastly tighter and snappier than pretty much any modern RPG including The Expanse, and that's fine, let's just manage our expectations here.

The closest one I came to enjoying like Mass Effect is Dragon Age Origins. The problem with the Dragon Age franchise though, is that unlike Mass Effect it's extremely inconsistent in terms of story and immersion. Each game feels completely different from the other and undergo various art style changes to the point that it sometimes feels like you're playing a completely different game. Mass Effect changes gameplay mechanics, but overall the art style and theme feel mostly consistent throughout the entire trilogy. Even Andromeda, with its faults, still mostly feels like a Mass Effect game. I tend to play interactive drama games like Detroit: Become Human, Telltale's Wolf Among Us, Walking Dead, and Life is Strange to scratch that RPG itch, but those games are generally short and don't require much thought for the gameplay. Great stories though. The only game that gave me the same vibes was Baldur's Gate 3, but I have a short attention span and I'm not a fan of the turn based RPG style that it provides. Luckily there is a new action RPG coming out next year called The Expanse: Osiris Reborn that looks extremely promising, I would check out the gameplay trailer!

Here’s a curveball: try strategy games. That opens up a whole new genre of games with space vibes. I really like Battletech (HBS), you fly a giant home base across the galaxy and deploy mechs to the planet surface. You HAVE to watch the intro cutscene on Youtube, it sets up the world super well. Also, you should definitely keep tabs on Exodus 2 and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. Those games should be right up your alley

Bro, we are literally paying to be beta testers for them...we're not only giving them money, but we're also saving them money from having to employ game tester. Also, I'm assuming OP is like me and didn't get through Playstation or Xbox, but directly through the Osiris Reborn website, which then generated a Steam key, so they for sure have the power to refund people with or without the 14-day window if they wanted to. I think what's more likely is that the beta has been receiving more negative feedback than they initially planned for (although how, with the current state of voice acting and writing for that mission, they would think that was a good product), and they have a high number of people asking for refunds.

Exodus 2 has a pretty thick novel out (40 hours + on audio) as well as TTRPG rulebook. They want Exodus 2 to be the DnD of SciFi which is why Wizards of the Coast is publishing. So overall I think Exodus 2 has the best chance to be a significant IP few years from now. Osiris Reborn will probably be a fun game with a good story by release but Expanse is a established world and I just don’t see the game introducing anything groundbreaking to the lore, maybe it will be a well made triology that ends up in Laconia, plus OwlCats big focus is Warhammer world right now. Actual Mass Effect IP I don’t have alot of faith in BioWare right now. So if we are talking Mass Effect as the IP that gave a incredible world for millions of sci fi to dive into and obsess over Exodus 2 seems like the front runner now. If we talking Mass Effect as one of the greatest RPG trilogy’s, Osiris as a good shot but the beta showed there’s still alot for them to work on.

Dawnwalker is incredibly interesting, it has such potential - if the story is deep and immersive and carried well by the acting, it's going to be a fantastic game. I'm less convinced by the Osiris Reborn and Exodus 2 - these games will be hindered by the fact that Mass Effect probably did most of what they're trying to do better*.* From what's been showcased so far, I'm also worried about falling into some companion tropes - none of the characters *seem* very original at the moment. I do of course hope I'll be proven wrong.

I disagree. >Barely Understands The Series’ Aesthetic That's right here: >That being said, it does all look a bit too…clean. The world of *The Expanse*, outside of Earth’s megacities, is a lot filthier than the station you visit in *The Expanse: Osiris Reborn*. And >Completely Lacks Subtlety is described at length. Sure, the title is a bit clickbaity but everything is these days. It's not really as egregious as you put it.

I know the expanse and exodus 2 are at least a year away from a release, but they have shown off a lot of the gameplay and I am gonna be honest, I am not impressed, the dialogue in Exodus 2 has some weird cuts and the writing isn’t very good (from what I have seen) same with Expanse Osiris I hate the quippy marvel dialogue and the way they just ’over explain‘ or over analyze things before it comes to you naturally (also no belter creole? That is a stable of the franchise) Dawnwalker has much better dialogue in my opinion, the gameplay looks a little wonky but that’s doable but something that worries me is that you can just go an kill any one you like and take them out, I feel like that’s going to severely impact the pacing of the game and water down story beats I really hope all of these games fix their problems and succeed because I dont want this genre of games to be coasting off of 20 year old franchises like Witcher, Baldurs Gate, Dragon Age, Wasteland, Fallout, Elder Scrolls etc. forever, we need some new blood like KCD and Cyberpunk

No problem at all, Just to warn you it can be finicky with some mods but through trial and error i got it to work on my current save with no further issues. Not exactly sure which was the conflict but I put it lower on my load order and getting rid of the community patch mod fixed it for my save. Also I've played the Beta for The Expanse Osiris Reborn and it's great, definitely something worth preparing for.

Did you read the article? That's not what they are saying at all. >He comes across as wise and sullen, a character with a deep, tragic past…which is then immediately revealed to you by the NPC that runs the nearby shop, who tells you that “*Zafar has a tragic past*” and that “*Someone died or something…*” \[...\] Thanking him prompts him to say, “Enough people died because I did nothing…” >At no point do you have to guess if a character is feeling a certain way about something, because they’ll just outright tell you.  >he player character in the beta, a “Belter,” is voiced by an American. For those unfamiliar with the source material, the term Belter refers to people in *The Expanse* who are born in outer space. They speak a language known as Lang Belta: a creole language crafted by Nick Farmer (the same man who created the Trill and Barzan dialects for *Star Trek: Discovery*) and influenced by Hebrew, Ukrainian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, and close to a dozen other languages. >That being said, it does all look a bit too…clean. The world of *The Expanse*, outside of Earth’s megacities, is a lot filthier than the station you visit in *The Expanse: Osiris Reborn*. The critique is that the game is not subtle and the dialogue is badly written, not that it's not "grounded".

Ive been playing on pc for about 3ish years now but haven't played a lot of online games so my friends list consists of just my cousin lol. I love playing survival, builder, simulation, shooters. I am currently waiting for my proper pc to come in ive been limited by my mini pcs capabilities but am able to play more demanding games through a virtual machine from shadow pc as long as the anti cheat system doesn't block the virtual machine. Im hoping my pc comes next week then I wont have that problem anymore. Im currently waiting to go back to work so im on most days sometime after 10am est for most of the day. When I get back to work my gaming time will become a bit more random. I smoke so I might afk on occasion to go have a smoke. Games ive played and enjoyed are forever skies, satisfactory, planet crafter, voidtrain, ats, ets, dune awakening, roadcraft, heatdeath survival train, lost skies, raft, outpost infinity siege, gta. I also enjoy battlefield and cod but I dont own them on pc just Xbox. Favorite game of all time halo although I played it way too much back in the day Games im exited for is the expanse Osiris reborn (so disappointed its only single player), gta6, space craft, rooted, sands: raiders of Sophie, twisted tower (the demo was sooo good), railborn, light no fire. I also play star citizen until they updated the anti cheat software it now blocks virtual machines so I have to wait till my pc comes in. Im not big on txt chat its not that I dont like it. Its either im too busy focused on the chat rather then the game or Im to into the game that I forgot its there. So voice chat is better. My steam code is 1441806596 My steam name is twitnugget

Additionally, we’ve fixed several crashes you reported to us, as well as minor graphical bugs with the Belter VAC suit, the backpack thrusters animations, and J’s animation in the first dialogue sequence in the Beta. It also improves performance on Xbox. This patch also updates our launcher, which now allows you to log in to your account on our official site. This will help you access your digital downloads faster and will be especially useful at launch. Right now, we are sorting through all the feedback we’ve received via social media and the Beta survey. We hear your concerns, and we are grateful for your input. Our current focus is on collecting and analyzing your feedback so we can make a list of changes, whether it's regarding characters’ VA or animations. We will keep you posted on the future changes in the game via our socials and newsletters. Finally, if you haven’t yet completed the Beta survey, there is still time to do so, and we would greatly appreciate your input! [https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/4048390/view/515241155306194016](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/4048390/view/515241155306194016)

I do not think Osiris Reborn breaks current canon. The stealth ships were made known during the Donanger attack. Eros happens after that. We are only privy to the Roci’s crew perspective in regards to Eros. They were busy trying to escape so they have no idea what happened in terms of comms blackouts, Protogen ships around Eros, etc. We only see outside of Eros after Protogen left, when the quarantine beacons are out in place. Yes the power armor and Protogen logos are more than a bit overt but this is a game so you need clearly marked goons to mow down. As far as Pinkwater-4 goes, comms get blacked out there too so the twins don’t get to broadcast what they know. We don’t get to see the aftermath of Protogens takeover of Pinkwater-4 either. Maybe everyone is killed to keep Protogens secret? Owlcat is good at making side stories that run along existing cannon. They had DLC for both of their Pathfinder games that did this exact thing, and did it very well. I see the point you’re trying to make but I think we need more story info from the game before we jump to your conclusion. You may end up being correct. We just need more data points first.

This is effectively a slightly reworded crosspost of a point I raised on the main games subreddit, I was encouraged to get a second opinion here as the initial post was not very well recieved there. Its a long one so bear with me EDIT: Owlcat CM reply https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanse/s/fe92DeTFsy \--- This post will contain spoilers of the Osiris Reborn Beta TLDR.: The Beta breaks established canon by having the Protogen assailants and their Amun-Ra stealth ship that we face directly announce themselves and their identity as Protogen for no apparent reason, at a time (right after Eros was infected) where this was the most closely guarded secret in the Solar system, the early reveal of which would have lead to severe consequences. To preface this, I had some overall very positive first impressions of the Beta, and feel like the team at Owlcat is doing their best to live up to the very high expectations placed on the game. There are a lot of subtle details that make me confident they will do their best to respect the source material. The game is work in progress, so this is not final and I'm hoping to give helpful feedback. Mind you, I am not against adding to the existing canon, quite the opposite, as long as it is done without introducing retroactive plotholes. Lets begin with a recap of the Beta mission: We arrive at a large Pinkwater Security station, in a stolen (conventional) Protogen vessel, seeming to be roughly comparable in tech to martian military ships. We had just escaped the beginning of the Eros infection, which we had witnessed first hand and are convinced it is an intentional spread of a bio-weapon. We say as much to one of our companions-to-be, Zafar. After arriving at the station, News already speak of an "infection" on Eros, and quarantine beacons having been put up. Right as we inform our boss about the truth of the Eros situation, the stations comms are suddenly hacked and taken over by a previously unseen ship fast approaching. An Amun-Ra class, at this point in time likely the very last one, Osiris as indicated by their labeled armors, later to be destroyed in the battle for Toth station. We see a station wide broadcast by the "Brute", their ground forces' leader, who announces they are Protogen Corporation, here to take custody of the MC and our twin, aswell as to take back their stolen ship. The rest of the mission consists largely of fighting a horde of Protogen goons in various levels of barebones equipment, but, importantly, all wearing the same or similar purple uniforms with the Protogen logo prominently displayed. We even see some in power armor, with the aformentioned Osiris branding above the Protogen logo. This power armor almost seems to be employing protomolecule technology to heal and absorb fire, which would raise even further questions, but I will omit these here since I cannot say for certain. Finally, we manage to free our stolen ship, and escape together with Zafar. If we chose to ask our boss to only hide us, and didn't convince him to fight, the pinkwater station will be seen intact in the ending cutscene as opposed to getting destroyed if we asked our boss to fight. To summarize the issues and put them into context with the known timeline: This takes place right after Eros had been infected, a time where Protogens involvement in either Eros or rest of the events of the system are unknown to all, even to the show and game protagonists, as they too are surprised at Protogens initial message and reveal to Pinkwater station. Protogens goal is to proceed with the Eros experiment undetected, keeping people from interfering with fake quarantine beacons. Their directive, above all, is to remain anonymous. To this end, they employed nameless troops wiped from all records years prior, in unbranded black suits, and committed the majority of their fleet to destroying the Donnager not too long before. To further provoke a conflict, no doubt, but also to make sure none of the Canterbury survivors could recant their statement or defuse tensions by taking the blame away from Mars again. We see one of the Protogen attackers explicitly refuse to give up his identity when questioned, even has he is sure to die in the fight. Protogen used the same masked and nameless apparently elite troops for the Eros infection mission itself, hiring unrelated and disposable goons from Ceres to do the dirty work. Them announcing themselves plainly as Protogen (Avasarala directly calls them a "Biotech-research company" in S2E4, implying that is what they are known for) to all of the personnel on Pinkwater station, while also choosing to wear very aggressively Protogen branded gear, and docking at the station with their last remaining stealth ship, is in direct contradiction to their modus operandi thus far, and mere hours prior. It is also deeply illogical at this point in the lore, and I cannot think of a good reason for them to have chosen to do so. Said stealth ships mere presence directly links them to the faction responsible for the destruction of the Donnager, and perhaps even the Canterbury, evident to all Pinkwater personel whose had even a passing glance at the news over the last in universe days. It also ensures our MC knows the stealths are connected to the infection of Eros, and that they are behind everything. Them identifying themselves by name is just icing on the cake, and would demand that they ensure the death of everyone on the station with no room for error. In doing either of those things, they take an incalculable risk of exposing their secret, thus severely harming the chances of the Eros experiment proceeding as planned, and putting the entirety of Mao-Kwikowski in jeopardy. We see the consequences of exposure in the show, when Avasarala has the wreckage of the Osiris pushed into patrol routes post battle for Toth, with even that indirect evidence sufficing to cause all of Protogens assets to be frozen, and J.P.Mao ending up under intense scrutiny, later to lose access to his entire empires wealth post Eros incident. The only reason the incident could play out regardless of Toth being hit and Protogen being found out was that it was unstoppable from the moment the infection started, but nobody in Protogen would have known that would be the outcome or operated under that assumption at the time. Lastly, as mentioned before, there is a path where the station survives the ordeal, and we can presume that they do not go through with killing the personel, as our boss is shot in the final cutscene if they do destroy the station, and seen left alive if they don't. This is again a violation of known in-universe logic and Protogen operating principles, and our boss now knows that Protogen intentionally spread a bio-weapon on Eros, and is responsible for the destruction of the Donnager, probably also the Cant. The feeling I got is that they tried to have a recognizable big bad for us to fight, a sort of 'aha moment' for show enthusiasts, but to me personally it felt very immersion breaking to have this just laid bare to our ingame characters not in the know, and makes me (hopefully needlessly) worried about the rest of the games plot potentially messing up and retconning key events from the show. My suggested solution is to stick to Protogens stealth crew using their black suits and clandestine operating principles, this still gives us a recognisable enemy to fight, but we avoid the issues of directly giving away highly classified information without need. The game implies our stolen ship is special somehow, so there can be a logical reason for Protogen to be trying to recover the vessel instead of nuking Pinkwater station outright. I'd be glad to hear thoughts, or things I might have missed

**Mass Effect** is one of the best RPG shooters that have ever been created. However, based on [its SteamDB Price History page](https://steamdb.info/app/1328670), its lowest discounted price was ₱259 during March 12 to 26, 2026. I was able to buy one myself at the same price noong December 28, 2024. This is the first time the discount price is ₱649.75, which is pretty expensive for me. It is up to you if you want to wait for a better discount soon, or maybe this might become the new standard discount the game will ever have in the future. If you managed to finish this game and want to play more like it, you may want to check out an upcoming RPG shooter called [The Expanse: Osiris Reborn](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3727390). **The Expanse** is actually a series of novels that eventually got its own television series adaptation spanning six seasons. Due to the show's success, **Telltale Games** (the developer of *The Wolf Among Us*) also developed [The Expanse: A Telltale Series](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708010) before, which is considered a canon prequel to the television series. You might want to watch at least the first season of *The Expanse* TV series to understand its crucial context for the worldbuilding and character relationships, as the Telltale game does not fully explain them. Additionally, this Telltale game, like many titles from the studio, features meaningful "choices matter" mechanics where your decisions shape the story and character relationships. If you are interested in buying the Telltale game, you can wait for a sale. Based on [its price history](https://steamdb.info/app/1708010), it might cost ₱382.50 or much lower.

I can appreciate that these writing problems *might* actually exist within the game, but this article feels …sensationalist. It feels more focused on being shocking and controversial than on being honest The criticism is super inconsistent and full of bizarre leaps in logic, too. Like, the game doesn’t respect its source material because you didn’t like the characters? Okay “I wanted to like Osiris Reborn, I really did” and yet your writing does not convince me

do you genuinely think this is a GOTY contender like baldurs gate? i didnt say the dune game was bad, it just did the same thing osiris reborn does - taking an established story but not including any of the main characters in the game, in a story thats very much about like 8 different characters with everything else being the backdrop i have to say i never heard or saw anything about the avatar game so cant say anything about it well, why do they need to take existing IPs only instead of making their own game then? rogue trader has 40 years of lore to pull from f.e.

> But moving on from that the gameplay itself is also where so much effort was put in. Comparing to Mass Effect its a better ME2 but not better than ME3. ME3's cover shooting mechanics and enemies were just more engaging and interesting. From the variety of weapons, powers, and enemy types. Osiris Reborn being more realistic does mean its enemies, weapons and powers are limited. But even then there are some things lacking. The game has a shield and melee enemy to flush you out of cover yet they still send guys shooting at you like it is ME1. Awkwardly shuffling themselves over into gun fire. Not reacting at all. And the damage fall off is insane, for some weapons. Using the assault rifle on an enemy that is like 10 meters away will trigger so much reduced fall off. But if I close that gap just a bit and now I am killing him quickly. And I assume the purpose of this is to encourage players to swap to the correct weapon. Which is the pistol and sniper. Which is fine but it is still weird and not indicated at all. It feels much better to just let the player use what weapon they want and for the controlling factors to be accuracy, recoil and fire rate. Snipers are better long range because of those factors. But those same factors make it terrible in short range. > But that can be easily fixed. So, with that in mind the gameplay really is stand out and its the Mass Effect connection is the strongest. Because it does feel very much like Mass Effect 2. I do agree that the gameplay is currently somewhere between ME2 and ME3, but I actually think there is a stronger resemblance to The Division in the movement and cover mechanics. ME2 and 3 used a universal cooldown for all abilities, which is a pretty big divergence in design. That said, without the open world of The Division, the combat feels much more hamstrung. I do like that there seem to be "active reload"-esque qualities to ability use. > After landing the ship on the station we get to meet our character. You and J. For some reason Owlcat isn't giving the player character a name and they just are referred to as "You" in the subtitles. And when Gemini is used its referring to the twins. I don't know why they don't give the twins names. Like Owlcat this is a voiced protagonist. They are by their nature not the players. We are co-authoring them. Just leaving it up to the player isn't enough for these kinds of games. Especially when the name given to our main characters is literally "You" and J. I suspect in the full game the protagonist will just be referred to Gemini. But can you imagine a Mass Effect where Shepard isn't called Shepard? And is some generic name like "You"? Its missing a very key opportunity because the name Shepard invokes a lot of imagery and what their role in the story is. Shepard is the... Shepard for the galaxy. Guiding them from danger and into safety. And the analogy to Christianity makes thinking about Shepard as a messiah like figure easier to understand. Its just odd and I hope they change it. > But what stands out here the most is the dialogue and the voice acting. Both male and female "You" and J are a bit poor. J's in particular is wild. Both J's first words are the most weirdest atonally dialogue I have heard. Not even Andromeda had this issue because it was largely intentionally. The MEA team wanted to have a CW show like tone. It can be argued that was an issue and a mistake but it can't be denied that at least owning up to that is better than accidently doing it. Or, it seems at least with Expanse: Osiris Reborn. > Because the more light-hearted quippy tone of the Beta doesn't seem like its an accident and is more intentionally. Which is even weirder because I swear I remember Owlcat addressing the tone issue of this game long before the Beta and saying that after the Eros Incident the tone will change. And I can't see how this is the case. Its seems like a deliberate choice on their part that this game will be more of an adventure. Which makes sense considering this game is quite literally a side game. Owlcat has said we aren't going to take part in the main story the same way Holden did. At the very least the player might be present but we aren't going to do anything about it. The line delivery of the PC and J didn't make for a good first impression for sure. Show-Expanse basically lived in the muck, an imperfect stew of human nature harnessing technological progress that only enhanced the rare comedic elements whenever they cropped up, whether it was a quip from Amos or Bobbie eyeing some sweet treats. Owlcat-Expanse feels like it's living in the mode of boilerplate exposition or cheap quips as a default. > To start first though, Owlcat's style of openings is to have some kind of cold opening. Which is fine. Blood, violence and explosions is one way to engage the player but that has rarely been BioWare's style. And when it is done its done with the understanding that the prior game(s) established the world. ME2 is not as effective without the context that ME1 provided. It does work well enough on its own but it does better when in conversation with ME1. The same applies even more to ME3. BioWare's trilogy is in context and conversation with one another. > The opening does take ques from ME2 in the sense that it starts with a cold opening and a station is involved, and is attacked by an outside force. But this has always been Owlcat's style for all of its games. > And I think if a game were to be a Mass Effect like it would have to attempt to open itself like it to some degree. In ME1 it took a lot pains to give the player the context required to understand its setting. Its shorter than BioWare's other prologues but it still gives the context needed. The Normandy is an advanced stealth ship co-build by the turians and humans. It is a great step towards cooperation considering the First Contact War. But something is amiss. This is just a simple milk run to the safest colony in the Alliance. To simply demonstrate the ships capabilities. Yet the entire ship is staffed fully, one of the most decorated officers in the Alliance is on board, and a Specter is here. > It gives the player an understanding of what they are doing, what might happen, and the gravity of the situation. So, when you finally confront Nihlus (my beloved) you understand what is happening. > And what is so great about this is BioWare delivers all of this natural through characters. Just speaking their minds about what is going on. Joker thinks this is more than it is. Kaiden thinks it makes sense. The Council invested in this project. They need to know if it bears fruit. And even if this tension is short lived having the character act like this makes total sense and established the verisimilitude of the setting and characters. I don't believe the opening to the beta will be the same as the finished game. I would assume that part of the "attempt to open itself" in the finished game involves an opening mission on Eros, where you probably actually get to see Captain Barros, etc. So the comparison to me seems a little bit premature. Though I do agree that I like how ME1 set up the hook and lays out different characters' perspectives on that hook to lay out to the player early motivations and potentially their own theories on what they'll encounter on Eden Prime. > And now finally "You" our character. Its quite safe to say that neither male nor female "You" have the presence that Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale have. What they brought to the role was so iconic that it seems any time Jennifer Hale get's a voice acting gig it seems like all they want is the Shepard voice. As evidence by Ashe from Overwatch who just sounds like southern female Shepard. > Again, if this is meant to be like Mass Effect than the voice actor for "You" fails at this. They don't even have much of a personality. And this is another example of this being Owlcat's first time using a voiced protagonist. While Shepard did belong to the player they were a character in of themselves. Who had limits on what they would do. All voiced protagonists are like this. But Owlcat seems to want the player to inject personality into "You" for them. Which is fine if that is what they are going for. But again that isn't Mass Effect. Even with BioWare's silent protagonist their is a personality there that isn't present here. > And the range of who "You" can be is very different from Shepard. If anything the BioWare protagonist that "You" is closest to is Ryder. The player can't be as evil as Shepard was. Bending and breaking rules that got in their way even if it ended in people's death. The closest "You" got was saying to O'Connell that they don't need him to believe them. > Shepard had more variety on who they could be and how they could act. > And again this just leads me to believing that this is intentional by Owlcat. Owlcat doesn't want Shepard they want a character whose range is affable to firm. Whose morality is very lawful good. > And that is fine. Ryder is a fine protagonist but if this is meant for people who want the OT Mass Effect than this fails. First, there are quite a few people who argue Renegade Shepard isn't evil either; Shepard still saves the universe but is more of an asshole about it. Furthermore, I believe Owlcat confirmed on their recent livestream that they aren't going for a binary morality framework behind decisions. Overall, I can get behind that - I always thought that framework eliminated a lot of interesting shades of grey that could accompany such decisions. Now, that said, I don't necessarily think that the one main decision we got in the beta - whether to escape secretly or have the station provide cover, was exactly presented perfectly. And when it comes to the use of merely identifying "you" as the player character and Gemini as the universal reference made by NPCs, it does ring odd to me. Definitely feel like the twins need an actual name.

I really enjoyed my time with the Beta. I played 4 times. Three Belters and one Earther. But one of the things I wanted to examine closely was how similar it was to Mass Effect. Because Owlcat themselves have said this is very Mass Effect like and fans of this game have said it feels very much like Mass Effect. But how true is that? And I also want to explore this game on its own terms without the expectations of Mass Effect in mind at the end. And then answer the question of which is better to expect for this game. I will also just be examine other points as well. One thing Owlcat has knocked out of the park is the visuals of this game. Its such an amazing realization of the Expanse setting. Everything looks realistic and purposeful. No flashy sights nor anything extravagant. The Gemini and the Pinkwater Station 4 adhere to every design language of the Expanse. And this extents to the characters. Belters are properly tall and tower over Earthers. It is such a difference it bleeds into the comical. Seeing O'Donnell just looking like a short man is hilarious and the same is true if the player is an Earther. Everything in the station is built for a Belter and so playing an Earther makes everything seem so large and overwhelming while playing a Belter seems that its the right fit. They were born of the stars and their homes reflect it. Its built by them but not used for them. (Even though it might be like this for design reasons. Still pretty cool.) What also happens with this height difference is that it indicates what a NPC's background are immediately but also makes the player think of NPCs with similar heights as their guys. When I was playing as a Belter I didn't really catch on immediately that Larry and Luciana were Belters themselves because they were my height. And when I did it made that interaction feel immersive. Of course a Belter isn't going to be weirded out by someone of the same height but an Earther will feel very different and so will a Martian. But the game's visual language isn't without issues. Because there is this minor inconsistency in the game that is made just to indicate Mass Effect inspiration. And that is the door icons and the "omni-tool" (the device that projects out of character's wrists). And when scanning a small floating drone just pops out. It doesn't seem to have any thrust pushing it up. It just floats. Expanse has 9 books and 6 seasons of visual language to pull from and none of them describe having door icons and an omni-tool. Nor this floating drone. Yet it was made anyways. For what I assume is just to create a connection with\] Mass Effect. Its a minor point but one I think needs to be focused on because one of the reasons Mass Effect is so great is because it developed a whole new visual language that was its own. Any screenshot you see of Mass Effect indicates that it isn't some generic Sci-Fi. Its Mass Effect. Sure, Dead Space did do door icons but Dead Space's reason for this was to ensure a diegetic HUD. What is Owlcat's reason to add these visual designs that go against the established world? The charitable interpretation is that door icons is an easy way to show what area's are interactable and the "omni-tool" is better to animate than a character pulling out a terminal from their pocket to scan something, or to hack. The drone likewise is there for that reason. But I can't help but feel this is a direct reference to Mass Effect. Because they look to obvious not to be. Its not a big deal I know but its something that I do think indicates something about Owlcat. That a lot of the design choices will be surficial comparisons to Mass Effect and not really doing it for the same reason Mass Effect did it. But moving on from that the gameplay itself is also where so much effort was put in. Comparing to Mass Effect its a better ME2 but not better than ME3. ME3's cover shooting mechanics and enemies were just more engaging and interesting. From the variety of weapons, powers, and enemy types. Osiris Reborn being more realistic does mean its enemies, weapons and powers are limited. But even then there are some things lacking. For one, the game feel just isn't the same. ME3's game feel is just so good that it is on par with the game feel of Gears of War. For two, the game has a shield and melee enemy to flush you out of cover yet they still send guys shooting at you like it is ME1. Awkwardly shuffling themselves over into gun fire. Not reacting at all. And the damage fall off is insane, for some weapons. Using the assault rifle on an enemy that is like 10 meters away will trigger so much reduced fall off. But if I close that gap just a bit and now I am killing him quickly. And I assume the purpose of this is to encourage players to swap to the correct weapon. Which is the pistol and sniper. Which is fine but it is still weird and not indicated at all. It feels much better to just let the player use what weapon they want and for the controlling factors to be accuracy, recoil and fire rate. Snipers are better long range because of those factors. But those same factors make it terrible in short range. But that can be easily fixed. So, with that in mind the gameplay really is stand out and its the Mass Effect connection is the strongest. Because it does feel very much like Mass Effect 2. If this Beta shows anything its that the visuals and gameplay of this game will be outstanding. Clearly a lot of effort was put into this game's design language and combat. After landing the ship on the station we get to meet our character. You and J. For some reason Owlcat isn't giving the player character a name and they just are referred to as "You" in the subtitles. And when Gemini is used its referring to the twins. I don't know why they don't give the twins names. Like Owlcat this is a voiced protagonist. They are by their nature not the players. We are co-authoring them. Just leaving it up to the player isn't enough for these kinds of games. Especially when the name given to our main characters is literally "You" and J. I suspect in the full game the protagonist will just be referred to Gemini. But can you imagine a Mass Effect where Shepard isn't called Shepard? And is some generic name like "You"? Its missing a very key opportunity because the name Shepard invokes a lot of imagery and what their role in the story is. Shepard is the... Shepard for the galaxy. Guiding them from danger and into safety. And the analogy to Christianity makes thinking about Shepard as a messiah like figure easier to understand. Its just odd and I hope they change it. This first interaction with Zafer shows me that this really is Owlcat's first cinematic RPG. And that does feel a bit concerning because even Kotor 1 had a much stronger showing of its cinematics. But what stands out here the most is the dialogue and the voice acting. Both male and female "You" and J are a bit poor. J's in particular is wild. Both J's first words are the most weirdest atonally dialogue I have heard. Not even Andromeda had this issue because it was largely intentionally. The MEA team wanted to have a CW show like tone. It can be argued that was an issue and a mistake but it can't be denied that at least owning up to that is better than accidently doing it. Or, it seems at least with Expanse: Osiris Reborn. Because the more light-hearted quippy tone of the Beta doesn't seem like its an accident and is more intentionally. Which is even weirder because I swear I remember Owlcat addressing the tone issue of this game long before the Beta and saying that after the Eros Incident the tone will change. And I can't see how this is the case. Its seems like a deliberate choice on their part that this game will be more of an adventure. Which makes sense considering this game is quite literally a side game. Owlcat has said we aren't going to take part in the main story the same way Holden did. At the very least the player might be present but we aren't going to do anything about it. And since this is the case why did they chose the story that they did? Because if it is meant to be a light-hearted adventure why did they chose the story that they did? Why have our characters experience the Eros Incident? Which in both the book and show changed Holden and Miller. Miller descended further into darkness and Holden was shaken to his core. In both show and book he had PTSD because it. With this context J giving the most line reading dialogue "Zafer my man." feels out of place. Like? Okay. And I don't think its because J's voice actor is poor. Its the line deliver. I can see what Owlcat wanted for this line. For J to sound exhausted and spend. They went through something so few survived. But it doesn't sound like that at all. It comes across very poor. And later in the Beta it does show that they can deliver lines better. I think the fault lies in how Owlcat has directed the voice actor. But, again, maybe they want this. Because while their are more serious moments in the Beta that have the dialogue and line deliver to back it up (mostly with Zafer) most of it is pretty light-hearted. And its safe to say that the dialogue is not Mass Effect at all. Mass Effect kept a very tight hold on the tone it want. Which was a very serious Space Opera that took its setting and itself very seriously. I imagine if something is to be like Mass Effect taking its tone is a must. But something that I feel isn't intentionally is the cinematics. For one, there are small but noticeable pauses in between dialogue lines spoken. J gives their deliver than a pause happens and Zafer responds. The cinematics are attempting to do more than BioWare's old shot, reverse shot and using the same few generic canned animations. The game tries to inject a lot more bespoke animations that don't get reused. But the problem with this is its not going far enough. BioWare's technique came across well because it was simple, straightforward and the generic canned animations worked nicely for a variety of tones and different contexts. Its what Larian did. If you pay attention the cinematics will reuse the same few animations over and over again but those few are of such a high quality and can be used in so many ways, that it isn't really noticeable. But Owlcat is attempting more than that. And since this is their first time doing this kind of game it comes across weird. Luciana is the worst in this case because they give the player random close ups of J and her. Like why? The deliver of these lines (and the response to the dialogue itself) make the close ups unwarranted. Even though the dialogue line itself does. "You" asks, after a series of persuasion checks, what is the piece of gossip that keeps Luciana up at night. And that is the Captain "You" and J serve under is in bed with Martian politicians and has a silver spoon background. Okay. That's interesting but then J just goes on and say "I knew that already. Also I don't believe the silver spoon backstory." Like? Okay? What is with the close up then? If J, and presumably our character, know this why is this being framed as a BIG moment. This is the last persuasion check out of three checks. And when you have that many the assumption is that this one contains something really substantive. But all it is, is telling the player about the protagonists backstory. Which is an odd thing to do. Having Luciana serve as exposition for our characters backstory. Which makes some sense. Because this does really fit within Owlcat's style of protagonists and other matters. To start first though, Owlcat's style of openings is to have some kind of cold opening. Which is fine. Blood, violence and explosions is one way to engage the player but that has rarely been BioWare's style. And when it is done its done with the understanding that the prior game(s) established the world. ME2 is not as effective without the context that ME1 provided. It does work well enough on its own but it does better when in conversation with ME1. The same applies even more to ME3. BioWare's trilogy is in context and conversation with one another. The opening does take ques from ME2 in the sense that it starts with a cold opening and a station is involved, and is attacked by an outside force. But this has always been Owlcat's style for all of its games. And I think if a game were to be a Mass Effect like it would have to attempt to open itself like it to some degree. In ME1 it took a lot pains to give the player the context required to understand its setting. Its shorter than BioWare's other prologues but it still gives the context needed. The Normandy is an advanced stealth ship co-build by the turians and humans. It is a great step towards cooperation considering the First Contact War. But something is amiss. This is just a simple milk run to the safest colony in the Alliance. To simply demonstrate the ships capabilities. Yet the entire ship is staffed fully, one of the most decorated officers in the Alliance is on board, and a Specter is here. It gives the player an understanding of what they are doing, what might happen, and the gravity of the situation. So, when you finally confront Nihlus (my beloved) you understand what is happening. And what is so great about this is BioWare delivers all of this natural through characters. Just speaking their minds about what is going on. Joker thinks this is more than it is. Kaiden thinks it makes sense. The Council invested in this project. They need to know if it bears fruit. And even if this tension is short lived having the character act like this makes total sense and established the verisimilitude of the setting and characters. But that isn't Owlcat's style. Owlcat's style is more akin to slowly giving the player information. It expects the player to eventually connect the dots themselves, and give meaning to these words. And this style of is valid and interesting. Its worked well for other games and Owlcat. But this doesn't make it Mass Effect like, or BioWare like. One of Veilguard's issues is that it doesn't really do this. Its starts cold and stays that way. It relies too much on prior context in a setting that needed to establish new context. Because a lot has changed. 10 years past between DAI and DAV. Luciana being used this way is good when considering Owlcat's style. It is executed a lot more poorly in regards to the protagonist. And this probably comes from the fact that they aren't used to a set character backstory, with a set personality and a set moral alignment (but I will get back to this later). So, I can understand why the player doesn't learn stuff like how the Earther twins were kicked out of Earth because someone snitched on them. It doesn't make it better thought. Because why am I, the player, learning about it like this? If this is meant to be Mass Effect like than shouldn't I know my backstory already? This isn't me saying that the world building will be bad though. Owlcat has done very well in using its companions to establish the world. BioWare has done this as well but it seems Owlcat focuses on that more exclusively. Its the main way the player learns about the setting. Which, again, has worked well for them. And now finally "You" our character. Its quite safe to say that neither male nor female "You" have the presence that Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale have. What they brought to the role was so iconic that it seems any time Jennifer Hale get's a voice acting gig it seems like all they want is the Shepard voice. As evidence by Ashe from Overwatch who just sounds like southern female Shepard. Again, if this is meant to be like Mass Effect than the voice actor for "You" fails at this. They don't even have much of a personality. And this is another example of this being Owlcat's first time using a voiced protagonist. While Shepard did belong to the player they were a character in of themselves. Who had limits on what they would do. All voiced protagonists are like this. But Owlcat seems to want the player to inject personality into "You" for them. Which is fine if that is what they are going for. But again that isn't Mass Effect. Even with BioWare's silent protagonist their is a personality there that isn't present here. And the range of who "You" can be is very different from Shepard. If anything the BioWare protagonist that "You" is closest to is Ryder. The player can't be as evil as Shepard was. Bending and breaking rules that got in their way even if it ended in people's death. The closest "You" got was saying to O'Connell that they don't need him to believe them. Shepard had more variety on who they could be and how they could act. And again this just leads me to believing that this is intentional by Owlcat. Owlcat doesn't want Shepard they want a character whose range is affable to firm. Whose morality is very lawful good. And that is fine. Ryder is a fine protagonist but if this is meant for people who want the OT Mass Effect than this fails. And finally we get to the choice of this demo. And I must say I do like it quite a bit. You can either choose for the station to lay down its arms or to fight against Protogen. If the station surrendered no one dies. But if the station fights back everyone dies and the station is blown up. Quite a different outcome either way and seeing the bodies everywhere, or the empty halls is quite cool. But I have an issue with this. Comparing to Mass Effect when presented with a choice BioWare ensured context was provide so that the choice was made meaningful and informed. There might be some downsides to the choice but the player understood this as well. The Rachni chose was very much like this. The Rachni were a plague on the galaxy and keeping them extinct would prevent this from every happening. But the Rachni didn't chose to attack the galaxy. It was the Reapers who forced them too. So, considering this the Rachni might not attack the galaxy again and it would be a crime to just kill another sapient being because of what might happen. But it might happen. So, why not just kill them? The follow through to this choice was poor. And I accept that. But it can't be denied on how compelling that choice is and how much thought was put into it. So, much of BioWare's choices are like this. It gives the right amount of information to both sides to have the player pause and go "wait I need to think about this for a moment" even if there is a obviously correct choice in some cases. What this game does is not really that. The game itself puts a lot of effort into saying that Protogen will just kill everyone. That if O'Connell surrenders that they will be lambs lead to the slaughter. And you know what? Fair. Up until this point the game has framed Protogen as blood thirsty company especially considering the Brute. So, it makes sense that they will just kill everyone on the station because Gemini could have told them what happened and how they were involved. They infected Eros with an alien virus. Millions of people are dead. This is just one station with at most a few hundred people. Yet if the player choses the peaceful path that doesn't happen. The end cutscene is literally O'Connell being a bit smug about the situation. They didn't get the ship. They didn't get Gemini. All they got were servers and a lot of their own men dead. But the Brute doesn't kill them. She just says they'll find them and they leave. Okay? They choice presented here is so odd to me because the game says everything we know about them is wrong. Which is fine if that is what they wanted to do. Make the violent option the bad option. Sort of building on top of the themes of Expanse and that violence just leads to more violence. But a crucial part of Expanse is that you shouldn't lie down and accept violence upon you. If the aggressor is just gonna kill you regardless you shouldn't let that happen. And the entire choice is framed as Protogen is going to kill everyone regardless. And again that is a claim well backed in this game alone. What I suspect happened is that Owlcat knew Protogen would find Gemini at Pinkwater Station 4 and come attack. So, they thought a choice here should be asking O'Connell to just let them escape or to get him to fight with them. Which is fine on the surface level but thematically and logically it doesn't make much sense. You can't make good arguments that are backed by evidence on why Protogen, and especially the Brute, would kill you all. Expanse has shown many times characters who gain power becoming murders. Seeing how the choice plays out is great but the context to this choice makes its weird. And the Brute is such a weird antagonist. Yes, I understand not having a helmet so you can see the face emoting but it takes away from this serious killer she is portrayed as. And the ending sequence is just ridiculous. For one, even though the demo does say that they weren't after the ship but Gemini, which is an assumption on J's part. It could be both, why didn't they assault or try to take the ship? Or, I don't know. blow it up? The Protogen ship was already in flight. Couldn't the Brute just ask them to attack them? The drive signature will be visible to them and they have the more advanced ship. The Roci was only able to fight against them because they had more experience with it and a competent crew who knew how to fly a ship. The Brute should at the very least know that her ship is better and has a more experienced crew. I know there will be some flying in this game. Is that the next mission? Trying to escape from them? For two, why doesn't she have a gun? She jumping onto the debris yelling "Fire! Fire! Fire!" doesn't make sense with who she is said to be. And she is our antagonist? Again, comparing to Mass Effect she is no Saren. Saren's design, voice and presence is made him an instant threat. The Brute looks like and Outer World's character. Which isn't a diss on Outer Worlds and more on how she doesn't look like she fits in this setting. From what I can speculate she will be dogging the player until some kind of final confrontation where we take her out. But I don't feel really threatened by her. Especially after her comical jump. I think its quite obvious that Expanse: Osiris Reborn isn't really like Mass Effect beyond the obvious elements. It is a cinematic Sci-Fi RPG with companions. But beyond that it is mostly its own thing. Even when comparing Expanse, the IP, itself to Mass Effect it is more "They are in the same genre and sometimes inspired by the same material." Its the same with Star Wars and Star Trek. If you want you can find similarities. Both are Sci-Fi that have a wide variety of aliens and are at their heart dramatic stories. But that is just surface level. Saying ME and the Expanse are similar is the same. Case in point Expanse existed alongside ME when it was being developed. It was released in 2011 but it was being created well before than. Being an MMO, then a TTRPG, and then it became a book. Damning of all is that Ty (one of the authors of the Expanse) has gone on record and said that Alien had the single largest influence on the Expanse. From its visuals, to how people operate and even Expanse's own aliens to some degree. Mass Effect's inspirations are all over the place. It takes it from Syd Mead Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and a lot of others. Expanse and Mass Effect tread on similar ground but ultimately take different paths. For some Expanse: Osiris Reborn being mostly its own thing with a few Mass Effect elements is enough. Because they don't want another Mass Effect. They want something that scratches that same spot. But does different things. And I think that is the best way to enjoy this game. This isn't Mass Effect with a different coat of paint. This isn't 80% Mass Effect and 20% something else. It at least 90% Owlcat's game and 10% Mass Effect. And that 10% is just surface level. It is Sci-Fi. Yeah, it has cinematics. Yes, it has companions. And it contains a third person cover shooter gameplay. But none of those are the domains of Mass Effect. Mass Effect made it popular sure but having those elements don't make it Mass Effect. But a lot of the purpose of this is to tell those who think this is Mass Effect in a large way that no. This isn't going to be like Mass Effect. It doesn't have a gritty, serious, action hero protagonist. It has a young person who knows who they are but still is beginning their journey. It doesn't have a lengthy prologue which establishes the setting, characters and conflict ahead. It starts with calm and goes quickly into blood, violence and explosions. And then slowly introduces itself over the course of the game. And when taking it as is. On its own terms the game is really enjoyable. Its a visual fest. Bringing to life an actual hard Sci-Fi. Having pretty great combat for a studios first outing at this type of gameplay. And even the dialogue and cinematics start to make sense. This isn't a game where the fate of the solar system is at play. Its about trying to survive in a fairly low stakes way. Not a lot is at risk. And so the tone makes sense. The cinematics are trying to punch above its weight. It is attempting at a lot of bespoke animations and the bespoke cinematics that the game does do it does very well. Sure there are issues. The dialogue is off at times and the cinematics just look like they have no clear direction or understanding of what they want to do. But it is interesting and I look forward to playing it. Expanse: Osiris Reborn has Mass Effect elements but isn't really like Mass Effect. And I think that is what people should expect. Will Owlcat do this? Probably not. Because their is a market for people who want something like Mass Effect and despite this game not really being like Mass Effect they will act like that is what they are doing for the marketing. Which I think will cause issues in the long run. Being honest with what a game is causes it to be received better. Dragon Age 2 would have been received better if the marketing was more honest on what it is. Its not a Dragon Age: Origins. Its a game set in Dragon Age. End Notes: Some quick things to mention that I couldn't really find a spot. The dialogue interface is okay. If a bit inelegant. When talking to Luciana the dialogue just spills over to the other side. Comparing to Mass Effect the dialogue wheel is immediately understandable, readable and clear on what it means. Left side is for questions and when those questions lead to more questions it goes into a separate dialogue wheel. Instead of what Osiris Reborn does and just have it spill in with the rest of the dialogue lines. Right side is to continue the conversation and from the top to bottom it is the different ways to characterize. Again this game's dialogue interface is okay. Owlcat wanted to make their own dialogue interface that is different but the result is okay at best and confusing at worst. The general UI is okay as well. Its generic as many UI's are these days but it serves its function well enough. The only expectation is when you open the in game menu. That looks fine. Also to mention some more design breaks with the Expanse art style and general technological level. The laser guns are weird and while I do like Protogen's heavy armor it is a bit weird. Looks a bit too much like Outer Worlds. And there seems to be energy shields in combat which is fine I guess. Its not in lore and is just a gameplay concern. Still weird they didn't try to incorporate no shields that into the gameplay. The music of the game is pretty cool but again comparing to Mass Effect nothing has topped Vigil's theme, the Suicide Mission Theme, or Leaving Earth. I can hear and feel hints towards Mass Effect but it isn't done as masterful nor is it enough like Mass Effect. Expanse already has its own music and I think it would be better to focus on capturing and refining that than copying a soundtrack made for a different kind of Sci-Fi. Something I was curious about going into this game is whether or not this game would follow show canon or book canon. Owlcat didn't really confirm which it is and just said something to the effect of "both". Which is quite impossible to do because while the show does follow the events of the book it changes things. Such as how the Eros Incident plays out. In the books everyone knows what happened because its basically being livestreamed. Yet in the show there is more of a mystery to it. All that is known is an outbreak occurred but not really what it looks like. This gave rise to some conflict that Holden had to respond. Keep this secret or do what he has done up until this point and reveal this secret. The game is following show canon. Which is fine but I do prefer the books because they are so much more detailed and the way it plays out the events are just more interesting. And that is it. The TLDR of it all is that Osiris Reborn is too much of an Owlcat game to be like Mass Effect. The protagonist isn't like Shepard. The tone isn't like Mass Effect and the world building isn't like Mass Effect. To expand on that last one; Owlcat likes to slowly give the player information over time while BioWare does a lot of it upfront. And that is okay. This game has a lot of similarities to Mass Effect (mostly the gameplay and that it is a cinematic RPG) but it is quite literally set in a different setting that is in no way like Mass Effect beyond genre conventions. It would be weird if this game was Mass Effect beyond the surface level. Because this should be an Expanse video game first and Mass Effect distant second.

Are we still riding on the hopium that they'll even adapt them at all? Every day that passes without *some* word makes that adaptation less likely as literally *everyone* involved with the series is busy as hell on something else. Osiris Reborn will need to be a genuinely *expansive* success, critically and commercially, for The Expanse to enter the general zeitgeist once more, since that's the biggest thing happening with the IP for the moment.

**GEM Capital** is a Ciprus based investment firm founded by **Anatoliy Paliy**, who previously worked as an executive, supporting the Russian petrol industry. GEM Capital is the main financer for the 25 game developer studios in their portfolio. Due to the local law, they don't pay much taxes in Cyprus. Remotely employed people and shareholders pay taxes in their own countries. Oligarchs pay for what they want. GEM Capital also has assets in the Russian chemical industry, supporting manufacturing for the Russian military: [https://trap.org.ua/en/publications/games-for-adults-how-a-games-developer-works-for-the-russian-defence/](https://trap.org.ua/en/publications/games-for-adults-how-a-games-developer-works-for-the-russian-defence/) Mundfish and Owlcat Games are two big pieces of GEM Capital's portfolio, who are large enough to operate entirely on their own. **Mundfish** - ​Atomic Heart (2023) - ​Atomic Heart 2 (Announced) - The CUBE (Announced) - ​ILL (Announced) **Owlcat Games** - ​Pathfinder: Kingmaker (2018) - ​Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (2021) - ​Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (2023) - ​Rue Valley (November 11, 2025) - ​The Expanse: Osiris Reborn (Beta April 2026) - ​Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy (Announced): Nova Assembly is a holding company formed in April 2026 by five mid sized studios within the GEM Capital portfolio. It functions as a cooperative guild. They are working together to establish financial independence, resource sharing, self publishing and redistributing work force. #Games and studios of Nova Assembly: **Unfrozen** - Iratus: Lord of the Dead (2020) - ​Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era (2026) **Weappy** - This Is the Police (2016) - ​This Is the Police 2 (2018) - ​Rebel Cops (2019) - ​Hollywood Animal (2025) - ​The Eternal Life of Goldman (2026) **Sad Cat Studios** - ​REPLACED (2026) **VEA Games** - ​Nikoderiko (2024) **Game Garden** - Farmdale (2014) - ​Global City (2020) - ​Enginefall: (2026/2027) #Other studios from GEM Capital's portfolio: **Placeholder**. I may continue listing out their studios. Unfrozen Studio received investment from GEM Capital in 2021: [https://steamcommunity.com/groups/unfrozen/announcements/detail/5328307984833822624](https://steamcommunity.com/groups/unfrozen/announcements/detail/5328307984833822624) **Unfrozen studios** was founded in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2016 and moved to Limassol, Cyprus in 2021. Allegedly only the 8 founding members are Russian. They also employ people from Uzbekistan, Serbia and Latvia. There are major overlaps between where these Cyprus based developer studios employ people from. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization of former Soviet republics in Eurasia. It includes the counties of: - Armenia - Azerbaijan - Belarus - Kazakhstan - Kyrgyzstan - Moldova - Russia - Tajikistan - Uzbekistan I'm having a dilemma about games funded by ex-Gazprom agents Vs the rest of the capitalist exploitation in the gaming industry. The Ukraine war is temporary. It's fine to be hesitant of purchasing any game. We can slow down the adaptation rate. Same post at the other sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/HoMM/s/x3Aetu7WHh

**Crimson Desert** *Crimson Desert* is the kind of game that you need a high tolerance for jank to really appreciate. I could probably make a really long list of all of my annoyances and nitpicks and things that made me yell at the screen, but it swallowed me whole and nearly 300 hours later I've emerged from the other side not regretting a thing. Not many games have had me this obsessed, not since games like *Dragon's Dogma*, *Elden Ring* or *Skyrim*. At any one time I wanted to go in five different directions because there was so much I wanted to do. It rewards exploration because there is always something to find. My storage is filled with pretty armours I may never use because it scratches that RPG hoarding itch. It's the kind of game where hundreds of hours later you still find something new. It's absolutely gorgeous and it's hard not to stop and just admire the absolute magic the developers have woven to get such incredible level of detail over such long distances. No other game has been quite so huge in all directions and actually felt it. --- **The Expanse: Osiris Reborn BETA** This was unfortunately a short BETA and apparently there won't be any other content added before launch so I probably won't revisit it. Overall I'm still looking forward to release but some things were disappointing. The voice acting and the general tone set by characters against the situation they were in didn't match and it was a little jarring. And a little too much felt like it was copying Holden and friends' rather than coming up with its own original story with its original characters. That's my main concern because those things aren't easily fixed. Bugs and other small cosmetic things aren't any real problems this far out. Didn't hear much Belter creole though. Other than that, combat felt good and the tactical pause to issue commands to your team felt like a modern version of real time with pause. The classes felt a bit indistinct as well but it's hard to tell much from a short early game Beta how these will develop by the end of a game. I guess I'm still giving it the benefit of the doubt here. *Rogue Trader* was damn near perfect but *Osiris Reborn* is a whole different type of game.

> I thought there would be so many copycats after Mirror's Edge came out, but it really stands largely alone in a lot of ways. Same with other games. Despite how big Red Dead 1 and 2 were, almost no one else has bothered with Westerns. There is that The Legend of California that got announced a bit ago. Black Flag was a hit, but almost no one has bothered with really making a pirate game since. We got the mess that was Skull & Bones and the Windrose game that just came out. Same with Mass Effect were we are only now getting Mass Effect likes in Exodus 2 and Expanse: Osiris Reborn.

[Exercise is good](https://dan-marius.ro/en/is-exercise-only-thing-human-needs.html), [sedentarism](https://dan-marius.ro/en/game-expanse-osiris-reborn.html) is bad, but in both cases you can damage your spinal cord if you don't use it in the right way. Watch the video and learn a few good things about the spinal cord, what damages and what you can do to [protect](https://dan-marius.ro/en/within-temptation-howling.html) it.

Ok. As I pointed out, not saying one is good, the other is bad, or, in fact, not listing wrting issues in either Rogue Trader (or their other cRPGs) vs Oisiris Reborn. Just was answering to OP saying "aha, similar issues with Rogue Trader", while, in fact, comparison is invalid, and **we should approach criticism of Osiris Reborn dialogue writing with understanding that writing for cinematics and text box are two completely different types of writing**, different skills, because dialogue and characterization were specificially pointed out in OPs post. Not worldbuilding, miscallenous writing, story writing, or any other subsection of RPG writing, including narrative design,

This post will contain spoilers of the Osiris Reborn Beta, as well as The Expanse show up to and including Season 2 episode 6 (Paradigm Shift) To preface this, I had some overall very positive first impressions of the Beta, and feel like the team at Owlcat is doing their best to live up to the very high expectations placed on the game. There are a lot of subtle details that make me confident they will do their best to respect the source material. That being said, I believe its important to point out the flaws that do remain early, especially when its something this fundamental. The game is unfinished, so I know problems can and will be addressed. I really hope to see this game succeed and can't wait to play on release. Mind you, I am not against adding to the existing canon, quite the opposite, as long as it is done without breaking said canon outright and without violating the internal logic of the known plot. TLDR.: The Beta breaks established canon by having the Protogen assailants that we face directly announce themselves and their identity as Protogen for no apparent reason, at a time (just after Eros was infected) where this was the most closely guarded secret in the Solar system, the early reveal of which would have had devastating consequences. Lets begin with a recap of the Beta: We arrive at a large Pinkwater Security station, in a stolen (conventional) Protogen vessel, seeming to be roughly comparable in tech to martian military ships. We had just escaped the beginning of the Eros infection, which we had witnessed first hand and are convinced it is an intentional spread of a bio-weapon. We say as much to one of our companions-to-be, Zafar. After arriving at the station, News already speak of an "infection" on Eros, and quarantine beacons having been put up. Right as we inform our boss about the truth of the Eros situation, the stations comms are suddenly hacked and taken over by a previously unseen ship fast approaching. An Amun-Ra class, at this point in time either the very last one, Osiris, later to be destroyed in the battle for Toth station, or the last one of presumably two if they added another ship to the canon. (It is most likely Osiris, as their armors have very bold "Osiris" branding) So far so good, perhaps it has come to kill our MC so as to leave no witnesses to the true nature of the Eros infection. Unfortunately not, we instead see a station wide broadcast by the "Brute", their ground forces' leader, who announces they are Protogen Corporation, here to take custody of the MC and our twin, aswell as to take back their stolen ship. The rest of the mission consists largely of fighting a horde of Protogen goons in various levels of barebones equipment, but, importantly, all wearing the same or similar purple uniforms with the Protogen logo prominently displayed. We even see some in power armor, with the aformentioned Osiris branding above the Protogen logo. This power armor almost seems to be employing protomolecule technology to heal and absorb fire, which would raise even further questions, but I will omit these here since I cannot say for certain. Finally, we manage to free our stolen ship, and escape together with Zafar. If we chose to ask our boss to only hide us, and didn't convince him to fight, the pinkwater station will be seen intact in the ending cutscene as opposed to getting destroyed if we asked our boss to fight. The Brute vows to find us eventually. I'm sure many will have already winced at several of the events described, but to summarize the issues and put them into context with the known timeline: This takes place right after Eros had been infected, a time where Protogens involvement in either Eros or rest of the events of the system are unknown to all but the show protagonists, and even to the game protagonists, as they too are surprised at Protogens initial message and reveal to Pinkwater station. Protogens goal is to proceed with the Eros experiment undetected, keeping people from interfering with fake quarantine beacons. Their directive, above all, is to remain anonymous. To this end, they employed nameless troops wiped from all records years prior, in unbranded black suits, and committed the majority of their fleet to destroying the Donnager not too long before. To further provoke a conflict, no doubt, but also to make sure none of the Canterbury survivors could recant their statement or defuse tensions by taking the blame away from Mars again. We even see one of the Protogen attackers explicitly refuse to give up his identity when questioned, even has he is sure to die in the fight. Protogen used the same masked and nameless apparently elite troops for the Eros infection mission itself, hiring unrelated and disposable goons from Ceres to do the dirty work. Them announcing themselves plainly as Protogen (Avasarala directly calls them a "Biotech-research company" in S2E4, implying that is what they are known for) to all of the personnel on Pinkwater station, while also choosing to wear very aggressively Protogen branded gear, and docking at the station with their last remaining stealth ship, is in direct contradiction to their modus operandi thus far, and mere hours prior. It is also deeply illogical at this point in the lore, and I cannot think of a good reason for them to have chosen to do so. Said stealth ships mere presence directly links them to the faction responsible for the destruction of the Donnager, and perhaps even the Canterbury, evident to all Pinkwater personel whose had even a passing glance at the news over the last in universe days. It also ensures our MC knows the stealths are connected to the infection of Eros, and that they are behind everything. Them identifying themselves by name is just icing on the cake, and would demand that they ensure the death of everyone on the station with no room for error. In doing either of those things, they take an incalculable risk of exposing their secret, thus severely harming the chances of the Eros experiment proceeding as planned, and putting the entirety of Mao-Kwikowski in jeopardy. We see the consequences of exposure in the show, when Avasarala has the wreckage of the Osiris pushed into patrol routes post battle for Toth, with even that indirect evidence sufficing to cause all of Protogens assets to be frozen, and J.P.Mao ending up under intense scrutiny, later to lose access to his entire empires wealth post Eros incident. The only reason the incident could play out regardless of Toth being hit and Protogen being found out was that it was unstoppable from the moment the infection started, but nobody in Protogen would have known that would be the outcome or operated under that assumption at the time. Lastly, as mentioned before, there is a path where the station survives the ordeal, and we can presume that they do not go through with killing the personel, as our boss is shot in final cutscene if they do destroy the station, and seen left alive if they don't. This is again a violation of known lore and Protogen operating principles, and our boss now knows that Protogen intentionally spread a bio-weapon on Eros, and is responsible for the destruction of the Donnager, probably also the Cant. The feeling I got is that they tried to have a recognizable big bad for us to fight, a sort of 'aha moment' for show enthusiasts, but to me personally it felt very immersion breaking to have this just laid bare to our ingame characters not in the know, and makes me (hopefully needlessly) worried about the rest of the games plot potentially messing up and retconning key events from the show. I would be happy to hear if anyone else noticed this discrepancy, or if you think there are good explanations for this behaviour that I missed

But that's the direction the writers were given. Someone tells the writers what the tone, story, lore, and stakes are going to be, and then they go away and write that. They're not responsible for any of that dissonance. When you're a contract writer, someone gives you a brief, and you go away and write to that brief. Then you get edits from the person who commissioned you and make changes accordingly. Osiris reborn so far has very similar direction. The writers were obviously given a brief for lighthearted, quippy humour. But from a craft perspective, the result of what both sets of writers did with very similar briefs is night and day (and Veilguard comes out on top).

>Can you share some examples of writing as bad in bg3 as in the beta? For the record I don't think the writing in beta is that bad. It's not good either, just whatever and doesn't fit with the stakes. As for BG3, well last time I did a playthrough was a year ago, I'll try my best. Companion dialogues for shadowheart and Gale were really bad, ther stories in general too. Shadowheart doing her angsty teen empression while saying that she would comit genocides for her goddes, and Gale saying something clever evrytime he opens his mouth. The thing that carries BG3 is animations and really great voice acting performances, but I would've dropped it if it was a book almost immediately. Bg3 still really good game and honestly I think that Osiris Reborn will be great too. But I don't really play games for the stories there are better mediums for that.

There's been a lot of discussion about the Beta's script ranging from positives to negatives. To make it easier, I've decided to rewatch my playthrough...very slowly and write down all the (primary) voicelines that have played as they were presented in the subtitles. This took way longer than I was expecting so I do not recommend doing this in the future lol. [The Expanse: Osiris Reborn BETA Script](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTBb88XQx7QE9IrmooTCsaXlcRD5icSzmmr1caKiYHnPEgF8i1Q5JHPfizPHPOYHYtj7aAnh-2jTTDP/pubhtml) I suppose this is also an invitation for people to share their thoughts on the script here as well, but this time you can pinpoint exact areas you like/have issues with making it easier for everyone to discuss (I hope). There are a few things worth mentioning: * This only covers my playthrough from the pespective of a earther hacker and only the choices I made. * MC stands for Main Character. * I've isolated choices where I've made them so you can clearly see where they come into play. * I've also added a "Type" column which basically separates the direct chats (usually when interacting with an NPC directly or during a "cinematic") from the ones that play out during gameplay. Also, not that it matters, but here is a graph of the line distribution: https://preview.redd.it/luvp6zk515xg1.png?width=1029&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4fbfbb6dd05896d33f6bbf29f604804f6544806

Let's be real here. Halo 2 was probably considered the best Halo out of the franchise gameplay wise (I still think Reach had the best story). That was 2004. When Modern Warfare 2 came out in 2009 Halo was already in decline. Halo hasn't defined console FPS since Halo 2 which was 21.5 years ago. As far as shoving Halo into other genre's Halo already had the: RTS series with Halo Wars and Halo Wars 2 Twin-stick series with Halo Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike. We've seen a Gear's Tactics, I wouldn't mind a Halo Tactics style game. Shoving non-RPG games into the RPG category by adding loot quality tiers and levels is terrible. Ubishit has been doing it for years an it has never come away being better than the franchise was before their RPG-enshitification push. If it was something akin to Mass Effect 1 or The Expanse: Osiris Reborn with toned down RPG mechanics and a push on "choices matter" it could be interesting. The biggest thing Halo needs is a satisfying story. Halo 4 wasn't it and I didn't touch Halo Infinite so idk what it's story even began to look like. Halo can honestly just die quietly instead of getting beaten to death by lackluster releases. Microsoft owns tons of IP that hasn't been touched in console generations that would be more deserving of a new game than Halo.

After my positive trial using my RTX 5090 FE I decided to give a try with my RX 9070 XT, paired this time, with my R7 9800 X3D, with a TDP limited to 65W. The outcome is pretty convincing. The R7 9800 X3D allows to push to the RX 9070 XT to its limit, in contrary of the i5 12600K. Frame Generation is not working apparently. Anyway FSR 4 Performance is working like a charm on this game! It is a very good experience! Here is the setup Case : FormD T1 2.5 CPU : AMD R7 9800 X3D (CO -14), PPT 65W RAM : Corsair Vengeance 2x16Go DDR5 6000 MTS CL30 (XMP I profile) CPU Cooler : ID-Cooling IS-47XT + Noctua NFA9-14 (2200rpm Model) SSD #1 : ADATA SX8200 Pro 2To (2 Partitions, 1 Bazzite + 1 CachyOS KDE) SSD #2 : Samsung 950 Pro 512 Go (Windows 11 25H2) ASUS RX 9070 XT Prime : Quiet Bios + Specific fan curve (LACT, Target 76°C, max RPM 1650) Top Fans : 2xCorsair RS120 Max (exhaust \~300-1400rpm) managed by either by Cooling Control (Linux) Fan Grids : Noctua NA-FG1-12 Sx2 with offseted mount Custom fan curve : CPU / GPU - Exhaust Fan VRM Fan : forced to 0rpm Ambient temperature : 24°C Linux Setup : CachyOS KDE Plasma : 6.6.4 KDE Frameworks : 6.25.0 Qt : 6.11.0 Kernel : 7.0.1-1-cachyos (64bit) Graphic platform : Wayland Proton : CachyOS 10.0-202600409-slr AMD Driver : Mesa 26.0.5-arch2.4 Capture Software : OBS Studio Game Capture - mode Video Codec : AMD AV1, 60mbps Image interval : 2s Build Log Thread on SFF Network : [https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/formd-t1-meets-minisforum-bd790i-build-log-benchmarks.19483/post-295921](https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/formd-t1-meets-minisforum-bd790i-build-log-benchmarks.19483/post-295921)

I compiled a list of what's missing from The Expanse Osiris Reborn Beta compared to the full game. Hope this helps answers some questions. (I don't work for owlcat, was just asked a ton of questions so I figured this would be helpful to some) 1. Full Character Creator The beta gives you four pre selected characters. The full game includes a complete character creation system: \- Full face customization (jaw, nose, eyes, brow, etc.) \- Body type adjustments \- Hairstyles, facial hair, scars, and cosmetic details \- Identity options \- Background/origin selection \- Origin‑based perks that affect dialogue and gameplay 2. Mars Origin Path The beta only allows Earth‑born male or Belt‑born female presets. The full game adds: \- \*\*Mars‑born origin\*\* \- Mars‑specific dialogue \- Unique faction reactions \- Different social dynamics with Belters, Earthers, and Martians 3. Additional Specializations The beta only includes: \- Officer \- Hacker The full game adds more specializations, each with: \- Unique perks \- Distinct combat tools \- Different mission approaches \- Specialized gadgets 4. Full Companion Roster The beta only features: \- J (your twin) \- Zafar The full game has \- Personal quests \- Loyalty paths \- Expanded dialogue \- Combat roles \- Story consequences tied to your choices 5. Expanded Exploration The beta is limited to a single station (Pinkwater). The full game includes: \- Multiple stations across the system \- Surface locations on planets and moons \- Ship interiors \- Open hubs with side paths \- Optional exploration areas \- Hidden lore and environmental storytelling 6. Full Story Campaign The full game includes: \- A complete narrative campaign \- Branching storylines \- Faction‑driven arcs \- Protogen‑related plotlines \- High‑stakes late‑game missions \- Multiple endings based on your choices 7. Expanded Combat System\*\* The beta offers a basic combat slice. The full game adds: \- More enemy types \- Advanced AI behaviors \- Tactical tools \- Environmental interactions \- Combat gadgets \- Full upgrade trees for abilities and gear 8. Full Arsenal & Ability Set The beta includes: \- 8 firearms \- 9 abilities (only if you find the gadgets) The full game has \- Additional weapon classes \- More firearms \- More abilities \- Weapon mods \- Crafting and upgrading systems \- Specialized gadgets 9. Gear, Armor, and Customization The beta has no real gear system. The full game includes: \- Armor sets \- Stat‑based gear \- Cosmetic customization \- Utility gear \- Craftable upgrades \- Loadout building 10. Additional Factions & Enemy Types The beta only features early Pinkwater security. The full game includes: \- Protogen‑related enemies \- Black‑ops units \- Criminal factions \- Independent groups \- Late‑game threats 11. Space Travel & Ship Sequences The beta is entirely station‑bound. The full game includes: \- Ship‑to‑ship travel \- Interior ship sequences \- Mission transitions involving ships \- Narrative events aboard vessels 12. Side Missions & Progression Systems The beta has zero side content. The full game includes: \- Side quests \- Companion missions \- Exploration rewards \- Optional objectives \- Progression systems tied to your specialization \- Unlockable perks and upgrades 13. World‑Building & Lore The beta offers only a small. Micro sized peice of the game The full game includes: \- Lore entries \- Environmental storytelling \- Faction histories \- Character backstories \- Universe‑building details 14. Late‑Game Systems The beta ends before any advanced systems appear. The full game includes: \- High‑tier gear \- Late‑game enemies \- Advanced mission types \- Endgame narrative branches \- Final confrontation sequences Ofcourse things can change between now and the 2027 release, if I missed anything let me know and add it down below. Screenshots taken during live beta gameplay

One frustrating thing that I noticed immediately in the telltale game that I don't know how osiris reborn will handle is the layouts of the ships. The layout of drummers ship and the salvages you run into don't really make sense for the towered deck designs the ships need to have for thrust gravity. Though the rocinantes interior in the show also wouldn't really fit inside it's exterior either but that's because you can't film if the space is too small

If you're a fan of Mass Effect and haven't read/watched The Expanse, then trust me, you need to go and check it out. It was sold to me as "hard sci-fi Mass Effect," which is kinda a gross oversimplification of a pretty unique sci-fi IP... but also isn't entirely untrue. Can't really say much else without spoiling things, and you should absolutely experience this story unspoiled. I recommend starting with the novels if you're a reader, but seeing as a 9-book series can be a bit of a daunting prospect to some newcomers, the show is also a perfectly great place to start. Also, you can rest assured that the tone of Osiris Reborn's current dialogue does not match how the books and show are written, which is part of the reason why its become one of the main points of contention surrounding the beta.

As always, let me know if i missed anything # 2026: \****May***\*: • Mixtape (7th) • Call of the Elder Gods (12th) • Subnautica 2 (14th) • Forza Horizon 6 (19th) • Beastro (21st) • Luna Abyss (21st) • Echo Generation 2 (27th) • Crashout Crew (28th) • Rv There Yet (TBA) \****June***\*: • Denshattack (17th) • Frog Sqwad (TBA) • Vapor World (TBA) \****July***\*: • Ascend to Zero (13th) • Mistfall Hunter (TBA) • Speedrunners 2 (TBA) \****August***\*: • Beast of Reincarnation (4th) • Grave Seasons (14th) # TBA 2026: • Halo Campaign Evolved • Fable • Gears of War: E-Day • Minecraft Dungeons 2 • Abyssus • Witchbrook • Snap and Grab • Resonance: plagues tale • There Are No Ghosts at the Grand • At Fates End • Outbound • Freestyle Football 2 • Tropico 7 • Wildekin • Erosion • Armatus • Tanuki: Pon's Summer • Buckshot Roulette • Vaunted (PC) • Bluey Happy Snaps • Eternal Life of Goldman • Forever Ago • Escape Academy 2 • Deep Dish Dungeon # TBA: • Clockwork Revolution • OD • Blade • Elder Scrolls 6 • State of Decay 3 • Persona 4 Revival • Ark Il • Nirvana Noir • Way to the Woods • Harmonium The Musical • Bushiden • Marauders • She Dreams Elsewhere • Echo Weaver • Awaysis • Dayz Badlands • Raji: Kaliyuga • Crowsworn • Fallout 5 • Echo Weaver • Sleight of Hand • Moosa • Alien Deathstorm • Expanse: Osiris Reborn • Starseeker • Tears of Metal • Screenbound • Stranger Than Heaven EA access games added 6-12 months after release. Ubisoft plus 12+ months after release And heres everything xbox (the company) is working on [https://www.reddit.com/r/xbox/s/TIyg03N67a](https://www.reddit.com/r/xbox/s/TIyg03N67a)

I was gonna say. That was pretty much the next third-person shooter I followed from announcement to release after Outriders. Right now I'm getting similarly fixated on The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. Obviously it's more of a Mass Effect-style RPG, but I think it's got some similarities that would appeal to Outriders fans, in terms of the sci-fi universe and third-person (albeit more realistic) gameplay. Too bad the voice acting in the closed beta right now is worryingly bad and does a poor job capturing the Belter dialect and accent from the show.

So what was your issue with Veilguard's writing? I have no idea if I should agree with you or not, since you did not specify a thing you disliked. Or were you able to evaluate the whole game's (Osiris reborn) writing from the one hour long combat focused beta? Writing is a very general term for us, losers who do not design games. So for us, who do not venture into professional game writing, what do you mean by writing? Dialogues? In game texts? Characters' writing? Narrative writing? Lore (document) writing? Quest writing? Quest briefings? I would like to agree or disagree with you so we can have a healthy and productive dialogue, and I assume the developers would like to have specific examples of what they did wrong in your opinion, but maybe I'm wrong and you professionals can just use general terms to understand each other perfectly.

It’s not happening *now*. From Daniel Abraham, eight days ago in an AMA over at r/TheCaptivesWar when asked if it was still a possibility: “I mean, I'm watching Futurama on Hulu these days, and that thing's been cancelled half a dizen times...” I suspect they’re going to try to finish The Captives War books and show, while Osiris Reborn and more comics set in the between years come out, and hope to resurrect the series a few years down the line when the pieces line back up. The biggest factor is getting someone to fund it. Basically everyone involved *wants* to see it through to its end, it’s just a question of when and how. Like some kind of ancient alien civilization waiting for the right bodies to reboot their consciousness in.

Hi folks! My name is Armia and I'm a big fan of the Expanse and Owlcat games! Owlcat was so kind as to provide me with a key to the beta, so we're gonna be taking an honest look at it today, see what's good, see what's bad, talk Expanse lore and generally nerd out! :D Feel free to drop by if that sounds like a good time! Starting in 30 minutes (2 PM CEST / 8 AM EST!) \>> [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/armiastars) << \>> [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/live/7fOLPnIgzxo?si=AItUkjO3T8BR_2Fo) <<

Yeni Mass Effect Geliyor mu? The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Kapalı Betası Hakkında Her Şey! Owlcat Games'in yeni aksiyon #RPG'si #TheExpanseOsirisReborn, kapalı beta sürecine girdi. Sadece belirli paket sahiplerinin erişebildiği beta, seçimlerin önemli olduğu bir görev sunarken, oyunun 2027 yılında çıkması bekleniyor. [https://oyunda.org/2026/04/yeni-mass-effect-geliyor-mu-the-expanse-osiris-reborn-kapali-betasi-hakkinda-her-sey.html](https://oyunda.org/2026/04/yeni-mass-effect-geliyor-mu-the-expanse-osiris-reborn-kapali-betasi-hakkinda-her-sey.html)

Hi all, I was pleasantly surprised that the Closed Beta of the Expanse : Osiris Reborn was working straight forward on Linux (270K+ & RTX 5090 UV) On top the 32:9 ratio is well supported during the cinematics! No crash during the gameplay! Linux Setup : CachyOS KDE Plasma : 6.6.4 KDE Frameworks : 6.25.0 Qt : 6.11.0 Kernel : 7.0.0-1-cachyos (64-bit) Graphic platform : Wayland Proton : CachyOS 10.0-20260409-slr Nvidia GPU Drivers : 595.58.03 (GPU0) Intel GPU Drivers : Mesa 26.0.5-arch2.4 (GPU1) Proton Setup : Environnent parameters : \-PROTON\_DLSS\_UPGRADE=1 \-PROTON\_DLSS\_INDICATOR=1 \-DXVK\_NVAPI\_DRS\_NGX\_DLSS\_SR\_OVERRIDE\_RENDER\_PRESET\_SELECTION=RENDER\_PRESET\_M \-MANGOHUD=1 \-OBS\_VKCAPTURE=1 Capture Software : OBS Studio Game Capture - mode Video Codec : Intel Arrow-Lake S AV1 60mbps Image interval : 2s

A closed beta for *The Expanse: Osiris Reborn* is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam. The test is limited to users who purchase specific founder editions and will remain active until the game’s full release, scheduled for spring 2027. The title is a story-driven third-person action RPG set in the *Expanse* universe, focusing on player choice, companions, and dynamic combat. Players assume the role of a mercenary surviving a major incident and must build a team to confront hostile forces. The beta allows limited character customization, exploration of a space station, interaction with NPCs, and early access to combat and upgrade systems. Additional options and content are planned for the full release. Developer Owlcat Games intends to use player feedback from the beta to refine gameplay and improve the final version. --- **▮[Source]**: *gematsu.com*

Graphics look excellent, the performance is surprisingly decent too, and I loved the choice and consequence aspect of the game, the dialogue was a bit cheesy and generic The beta was only about an hour long, but it was enough to instill confidence in the game Though the enemy AI is odd, UI is pretty cluttered, the animations in general looked really bad, kind of reminded me of Samson lol, the enemies are very tanky for some reason and every time you shoot an enemy, it's like they have no hit reaction, the voice acting was amateurish aswell but I suppose that is to be expected of a game that's more than a year out, hopefully they fix all of this before launch, but this is Owlcat we're talking about sooo yeah

I filled out the player survey and misread the first part of the player survey. I did the first page of multi-choice answers and saw the text box at the end that allowed for a custom response. I thought that was it and my brain misread 600 "characters" as "600 words"... So point is, those 600 words need to go somewhere. I'll probably throw them in the Discord as well, but it seems like Owlcat is looking here too: First, I want to highlight the Zero-G combat. This is clearly where your development resources have excelled, and it’s what will differentiate Osiris Reborn from titles like Mass Effect. The level design and terrain geometry effectively forced me to think in 360 degrees, making "up and down" relevant in a way that feels uniquely Expanse. The sound design here is masterclass; hearing the muffled vibrations of firearms through the magboots/hull rather than through a vacuum is a detail that "hard sci-fi" fans will notice and celebrate. My only "physics" nitpick is the sprinting animation where boots leave the floor; perhaps an explicit mention of RCS thrusters assisting that movement would bridge the immersion gap. I also hope to see even more verticality and variable geometry in later stages. However, the immersion built by the physics is currently being undermined by character presentation. The character models look great stationary, but the animations are immersion-breakingly stiff. The rigid eyebrows, awkward eye contact, and stilted body language during cutscenes make the world feel "uncanny" rather than lived-in. This extends to the voice acting and dialogue flow. Conversations often feel like a collection of isolated lines rather than a natural back-and-forth between people who know each other. Specifically, the player’s twin, J, feels out of place. While I appreciate a character who contrasts the brooding atmosphere of the Belt, J’s "bubbly" performance and constant one-liners feel excessive and jarring against the nihilistic grit of the setting. Furthermore, the Belter representation (or rather lack thereof) is currently the game’s biggest sin. Seeing a Belter character look, dress, and speak like a well-to-do Earther - and the lack of Lang Belta (creole/slang) even when playing as a Belter PC - is a major oversight. For fans of the books and show, the Belter tongue is the heartbeat of the worldbuilding. Without it, the "Belter" choice feels like a cosmetic skin rather than a cultural identity. On the mechanical side, the RPG skeleton is promising. Despite the short one-hour runtime, seeing several optional plot hooks in a single mainline level suggests a rewarding level of player agency. The squad-based tactical combat feels like a worthy spiritual successor to Mass Effect, though I hope to see more ability variance between the PC and J in the future. The Gemini’s fire support is a fantastic way to handle ship combat without requiring a separate flight sim engine; it makes the ship feel like a powerful, protective member of the team. Finally, the UI needs optimization. While the design and lore-heavy data pads are aesthetically pleasing, the menus are choppy and suffer from framerate drops. Most frustrating is the input lag during dialogue selection; hitting a key and waiting for the character to respond kills the narrative momentum. In summary: You have nailed the "High-G/Zero-G" atmosphere and the tactical potential is immense. If you can inject the Belter culture back into the writing, polish the stiff animations, and tone down the "Marvel-esque" quips of J to better fit the gritty reality of “The Churn”, this will be the adaptation fans have been waiting for.

I had trouble with both the voice and the dialogue.  I didn't enjoy sounding like a highschool kid, no issue with the voice actor I just don't think he was right for the role. And the tone of the writing for some of the dialogue didn't help with how, I don't know, is inoffensive the right word? I don't mean the dialogue should be edgy and mean and cynical, but it sounds the same as any given modern, HR-rep coached, committee approved, therapy speech that the AAA sector has feature for the last few years. It's like, aggressively inoffensive, if that makes sense. I was never a huge fan of the show. I think it was fine for what it was, but the books I thought were vastly superior. So I don't say this from a position of wanting exactly the time and dialogue from the show, but it doesn't seem like characters like Avasarala or Amos or Murtry or Duarte or Filip would have the same voices if they were written like some of the dialogue in Osiris Reborn. And it's weird because the last few CRPGs from owlcat don't have this playing-it-safe kind of tone. 

I have watch[ the series](https://dan-marius.ro/serial-expanse-sezonul-5.html), I am still preparing to read the book after finishing the Noble House (a long novel, the last one I have to end reading as a part of Jame Clavel's books), and [this video is telling](https://dan-marius.ro/serialul-the-expanse.html) me about the Expanse game. I haven't playes any Explanse games so far, but I am thinking in playing them.

> Is it? [Per Owlcat themselves, yes it is.](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheExpanseRPG/comments/1sst00y/expanse_osiris_reborn_belter_pcs_need_a_dialogue/ohoifhz/) &nbsp; We shouldn't be second-guessing the need for constructive feedback. This is exactly what the beta is for. And, there are ways to rectify dialogue issues without re-recording everything. They could make Belter PCs akin to Naomi Nagata, where he or she can code switch with other Belters. The majority of dialogue would still be relatively unchanged, but they would potentially add some more Belter themed dialogue for conversations with Belters.

Just finished the beta, which was of course quite short but gave a nice little preview of gameplay. I'm a huge Expanse fan and had a VERY high level of anticipation for the game. Really enjoyed several of Owlcat's RPG's in the past and found their dialogue and voice acting choices to be on point. I selected the Belter officer and thought she looked ok if not a little too clean cut for a Belter. However the dialogue and reads for the character are a huge miss and frankly a big blow to the overall atmosphere of the setting. Belter Patois is undoubtably a challenge for the Devs but the almost complete lack of Belter Slang, the lack of Belter cynicism, the overly cheery delivery of the VA's tone are in my opinion, awful. I wasn't expecting 1:1 quality with the TV series but this wasn't even close. It pains me to say it but this is a big misplay by Owlcat. Still lots of time to make the improvements needed. I hope they don't underestimate how much this impacts the overall connection to the Expanse universe. Not posting to slam, I REALLY REALLY want this game to succeed and am a huge supporter. I feel like Owlcat is one of the best Devs out there and obviously are working hard to capture the Expanse feel, was hoping to call attention to what I feel is a VERY important single flaw in the BETA. If more people feel the same way hopefully they'll address this and hit the mark.

As a big Mass Effect fan, I have 0 faith in BioWare and new ME after latests Dragon Age, I much more thrust Owlcat to deliver and scratch that itch, and knowing Owlcat so far all their games saw massive community driven improvements after players got their hands on them, and I bet this one won't be different, Owlcat are great at listening to player feedback and supporting their products, and they have a very good writing team. As to the gameplay of Osiris Reborn, I think it looks solid for an early version, there are few nitpicks like other mentioned stiff animations and imo, guns could sound and feel punchier. My personal issue, in Expanse there is barely any gravity on stations, hence the gravity torture of belter on earth at the beginnig of the show, people move around using magboots so when you kill them they shouldn't just drop dead, instead their upper body should just float stuck to the floor by the boots.

To access the Beta, you need to be a Founder and own either Miller’s Pack or the Collector’s Edition. Please log in to your account on the official site, go to your profile, and head to the Digital Download tab. There, you will see an option to choose a platform for Beta access. Click on the “Choose the platform” button and select Steam, Xbox, or PlayStation 5. Then copy the code, activate it on the selected platform, download the Beta, and start playing! If you experience any issues with your account, please email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), and we will be happy to assist.

Gaming needs a renaissance and I think Balder’s Gate 3 has proven that CRPGs from independent studios can be incredibly successful. The lower production quality of most AA studios can sometimes be a turn off for the general public, but if Osiris Reborn is a successful game, it could fund CRPGs with higher production value in the future. Looking forward to the day we have a few big studios like Larian and possibly Owlcat putting out high quality games with a larger production value.

That’s exactly what worries me. Juggling the Rogue Trader DLCs while simultaneously working on The Expanse: Osiris Reborn and Dark Heresy is a monstrous workload for a mid-sized studio. It honestly feels like they might be 'playing it safe' with the new companion (another Tech-Priest instead of a Xenos) just to save development resources for those bigger upcoming projects. It’s a shame, because Rogue Trader has so much untapped potential, but it seems their focus is already shifting elsewhere.

You just didn't pay attention, Sci Fi was never really went away, we had Mass Effect, Rogue Trader, Space Marine 2, Returnal etc. In fact one of the biggest games of 2020s was Cyberpunk 2077 The biggest games of next year are Expanse Osiris, Exodus 2, Intergalactic, Dark Heresy, all sci fi overall we get the same amount of Medieval and Sci Fi games what actually has seen a significant increase lately are the Chinese and Japanese themed games along with Wuxia and XianXia (Ghost of Tsushima/Yotei, Black Myth Wukong, Where Winds Meet, Phantom Blade 0, Nioh etc.)

Well, as a Bioware fan. I'd be remiss not to mention these two first. Lol 1. Dragon Age: Origins. Is a dark medeaval fantasy. It's got a lot of the same sort of elements as Mass Effect, but the tone is very much Game of Thrones (IIRC a few of the quests and Characters are actually direct referencrs to the novels). I love the series. Save for the most recent game. Which really dropped the ball in quality. 2. Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic Often cited as one of the best RPGs of all time. It's a bioware game from about 8 or 10 years before Mass Effect. It's one of the five or so games I played as a child that I think made me fall in love with video games. I still pick it up occasionally and do a playthrough. It's like a favorite book. It's a bit primitive compared to Mass Effect or Dragon Age, but if you're interested in the technical side of storytelling, you can see the bones of what will become both later games. 3-4. Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 While both are very different games from Mass Effect. In terms of rich stories and characters you will fall in love with, there is nothing like them. Red Dead Redemption 2 is widely considered to be the best game ever made. And it may well be. 5. Greedfall Takes heavy inspiration from the earlier bioware RPGs it's a little rough around the edges ala Mass Effect 1 on account that it was independently developed. But the world is damned interesting. Taking place in the early years of a fantasy world's early colonial era. You play as a young man or woman trying to find the cure to a plague ravaging Not!Europe as the imperial governor of a Not!American colony. 6. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader I'm gonna open this up with admitting it's a bit of a deep cut. But this is probably the single best roleplaying experience I have ever had. The developer, Owlcat, is widely considered to be one of the best RPG developers in modern gaming, and I agree. If you dig into games, Mass Effect popularized the concept of 'choice and consequence', and Owlcat has taken that idea and run with it. As a CRPG It's got a very different presentation than the games I've mentioned so far. (If you're interested, I'd recommend watching a bit of game play so it doesn't take you off guard.) Also! As an addendum. Owlcat is currently going into the final phase of development for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. I bring that up because the devs have openly stated that it's very much inspired by Mass Effect. And the recent gameplay trailer definitely backs that up. 7. Baldurs Gate 3 A modern stand-alone sequel to two of the foundational games in the RPG space. Baldurs Gate 3 from Larian Studios is... massive. Reactive and just damn good. This is also a CRPG, but it's got a blockbuster budget, so a lot of people interested in, but unfamiliar with, the subgenre usually play this first. Because the polish is so good, it allows you to figure out the gameplay style more comfortably than pretty much any other CRPG.

I’ve never beta-tested a game before and I’m really excited for my first experience next week(!!) with Osiris Reborn. I haven’t seen any updates from Owlcat and was wondering if anyone can share what the actual experience will be like next week. For example is it organized at all? Will we be finding bugs and reporting them (and how)? Will there be focus groups or anything, or will it be more like “here’s the game and it may be buggy but have fun!!” I’m hoping it’ll be an opportunity to provide feedback and interact (maybe a little) with game developers. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Да само существование таких вещей - это тупо. Если ты адекватный человек из России, то ты явно не ватный и не ненавидишь жителей соседней страны. Если ты адекватный человек из Украины, то ты так же не ненавидишь ВСЕХ жителей соседней страны, ненавидеть конкретно тех, кто хочет тебя убить, полагаю, нормально. В списке сообщества, скрин которого я кинул, есть No, I'm not a Human, разработчики которой не высказывали ватных позиций. И The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. У этих вообще разработчики давно покинули Россию. Хрен ли с них рваться-то.

There's a game by Telltale called "The Expanse: A telltale series" that's sort of a dialog heavy choose-your-own-adventure with some fun exploration and puzzle solving bits. Its a backstory for Camina Drummer and takes place before the tv series begins. There's also a bonus bottle episode with Crisjen Avasarala. Both characters are portrayed by their TV series actors, Gara Gee and Shohreh Aghdashloo. There's also an action RPS in the works by Owlcat Games called The Expansse: Osiris Reborn. No release date yet, but they've released a number of trailers, interviews and other media about the game.

I'm not super confident on Exodus 2. The studio founder and presumed game director on the project departing more than a year before the game's scheduled release is a pretty big red flag. The whole "former Mass Effect devs making a Mass Effect-like game" element of it is also kind of exaggerated. We know of 3 former Bioware folks confirmed to be involved (2 now after Ohlen's departure), and only one of them worked on Mass Effect at Bioware (Drew Karpyshyn). I'm not saying Exodus 2 is going to bad, but I'm definitely tempering my expectations. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, on the other hand, I am really high on. I think Owlcat is fantastic (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is one of my top 3 CRPGs), so I have a lot of confidence they're going to produce something great. In terms of the new Mass Effect, I don't honestly don't know what to think at this point. I don't feel like I can really make any kind of judgment or set any expectations until we see something of that actual game.

I don't play Bloodlines 2 because it's just watered down Dishonored game with nothing I loved in Bloodlines. (And If you want me to be more petty, I simply fucking loathe the name "Phyre.") The newest Hunter: The Reckoning game did caught my interest because it's an actual RPG with character creation plus with Romance. Anything with romance will always caught my interest more—just like how The Expanse: Osiris Reborn caught my interest more than The Outer Worlds 2.

The most annoying thing to me is how good starfield could have been... and without changing anything about the overall game. Like: imagine how cool it would have been if Myeong (from the Groundpounder quest) had a bunch more missions instead of just one crappy post-quest space encounter - you find her having been relegated to some shit duty on the outskirts of UC space, having been punished for her actions in the first questline, and end up helping her in an action that restores her rep... and so on. This sort of thing wouldn't just make you feel more connected to the game, but also would allow them to fill up some of those empty planets. Rinse and repeat for a lot of the cool quests that are out there. Companions are fine, but even your direct followers are fairly lifeless. There's many reasons why the original mass effect trilogy is so popular and it's because they really make the core members of your crew feel alive. Give them more personal quests (or even quests involving more than one of them), have some more scripted interactions between multiple constellation members, and it would immediately be better. They creates this pretty good framework for a really great RPG, but it's just so surface level outside of a few great moments (which end up being all too brief) and this goes for everything. Like instead of having a few dozen identical starborn temples, and a bunch of powers most of which you never really use, have fewer powers (ones that you upgrade) that have more oomph and have each temple (now there are fewer) be more unique (with different ways of activating each one). It's just so sad to me. Hopefully games like exodus 2, heretic prophet, and osiris reborn will do a better job.

I think the current situation is very different. The bunny girl incident was mostly unrelated to shipping, but it was mostly driven by tribalism against the west, where a mentally unstable person felt "cucked" because players in the west could see the girls in bunny suits while he couldn't. It was also a single, isolated incident (for example the Scaracat incident seems to be undocumented by reliable sources). What I'm trying to say is that, right now, the situation could allow romances with the main character to emerge in AAA gacha games. There are examples of games of lesser quality like Snowbreak, where the community is somewhat internally stable. There is still some infighting, but it remains within the usual limits for gacha communities. Then there's Nikke, LADS, and to some extent Azur Lane. So it is feasible for Kuro to take that route. In my opinion, it could also reduce character x character shipping, which is one of the main causes of conflict within the WuWa community. Tribalism in the form of "my waifu is better than yours" doesn't impact a game as much as situations like "Mortefi is stealing Lucilla." The Raymond incident, for example, was much bigger than a case where a waifu didn't get enough attention in her confession. However, I don't think it will happen. Kuro, like Hoyo (although to a much lesser extent) wants money from all demographics. Because of that, they try to keep shippers somewhat satisfied avoiding giving ML players proper confessions and still offering something to yuri fans, at least through frover. They also likely want to avoid the risk of alienating casual players or damaging their general reputation in the Chinese media space by introducing explicitly romantic interactions with the characters. As things stand, they already make more than enough money. Personally, my solution, as someone who is like an ML "extremist", is to stop playing gacha games and instead wait for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn as the next high-quality game with proper romance options for the main character. Maybe I'll try NTE, since they implemented an interesting dating system, even though also in NTE there isn't an actual romance option with the characters (like in LADS, SB, Nikke or AL), but it still seems fun.

The Venn diagram of sci-fi fans and fantasy fans isn't a circle. There's overlap, sure, but it's far from a circle, so the "in space" part does change the audience. What I've seen is that people who are or were interested in Starfield (including those disillusioned by it) are chasing the ultimate space game, and the competition for them ranges across No Man's Sky, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen (yuck), EVE Online, a bunch of others I'm not really familiar with at all, and with a lot of interest recently in the Expanse: Osiris Reborn. Skyrim fans I know tend to be fans of the Witcher 3 and Baldur's Gate 3, and of course Oblivion, but nothing really is competing with Skyrim still. Even for people who like both genres, I don't think Skyrim and Starfield are really in competition, because they're fundamentally different vibes that'll occupy different niches for people. I'm one of them: I'm always gonna' want a *space game*, and Starfield might get my attention or it might lose it to Osiris Reborn, but Skyrim or TES 6 is just... filling a different stomach.

One that scratches this itch the most for me and hasn't been recommended is Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. It's a bit difficult to get into and the combat may put you off of it (which is valid), but if you can get past that it has some of the funnest choices in gaming to me. If it doesn't seem like your cup of tea I'd keep an eye on The Expanse: Osiris, seems much more approachable and made by the same people.

The books make a whole thing about Earthers, Belters and Martians having totally different body shapes due to different exposure to gravity. Now understandably the show doesn't make use of this because they would have to cgi half their cast the whole time which they don't have the budget for, so they just gave Belters some tatoos to make them distinct from the 'inners'. A video game like Osiris Reborn doesn't have that budget problem so having different 'races' like you do in an Elder Scrolls game for example shouldn't be a problem. The fact that they skipped this entirely and just put the same tatoos on a regular Earther model for Belters gives me serious concerns about how easy they went on themselves with other aspects of the game.

Most of my concerns are going to be from the official concept art. There's quite a few designs that are concerning, like large earrings on a character Owlcat designated as the belter, which is strange for a belter to have as all jewelry will rip off your face under high G, a space jumpsuit which can only be described as an overcoat, UN powered armor that straight up looks like the blue and white helmets from the Cantabury, which is NOT the UN Reaver armor described in the books, and what looks like a protogen main antagonist picture with incredibly generic looking powered armor that doesn't look anything like the expanse, who also has glowing purple eyes. Why glowing? Who actually knows. https://www.eurogamer.net/owlcat-gen-ai-expanse-osiris-reborn I have other concerns, but they are too minor and would just come off as nitpicking.

Weirdly, Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West as far as great story with excellent pacing and, especially in the second game, great NPCs to share Aloy’s story. Not space opera, but I definitely got the same goose bumps and joy from it. Exodus 2 and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn look like they might be in the same vein as Mass Effect. Many ME alums are working on Exodus 2. And Casey Hudson’s studio is making Fate of the Old Republic, so that’s promising.

We've also had Risk of Rain 2 (peak gaming), Armored Core 6, both Daemon x Machinas, Splatoon 2 and 3, Gears 4 and 5, Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy, Ratchet & Clank remake and Rift Apart (they count), and Sunset Overdrive. Then there are games you can swap between first and third person in, like Peripeteia. I'm certain there are more, but these immediately came to mind. *edit* - Also we're about to get new Tomb Raiders, 007, and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn.

I played ME for the first time about 2 years ago now. While my enjoyment of games may differ from yours OP I enjoyed the following games of this list: MEA - best ME gameplay imo and while there are serious issues with the game, at its core it's still ME and it had huge potential imo. The biggest issue might be the personality of the MC which is VERY different to that of Shepard. I liked it all the more for it but others hate it. DA - I honestly really REALLY enjoyed this in a similar way to ME..though if I can provide some advice, I highly recommend against hard difficulties on DAI because rather than it feeling hard it just feels like you're attacking a target dummy for absurd durations. Also DAV is very hit or miss. I really really enjoyed it (even considering the issues it had) and thought it felt like the best iteration of DA. Others absolutely hated it. Cyberpunk 2077 - So the simplest thing I can say is that this is by far my favourite game followed by Clair Obscur and then ME. It's an absolute gem and it is 10000% worth playing. It wad great when it came out (I was lucky bcz I had no issues with bugs whatsoever) and since then it has seen an insane amount of improvements and not just that but the expansion is INSANELY good. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Very very different gameplay but the story is so incredible and it is honestly one of the best games ever. It is and should be something most gamers should experience (BLINDLY). Baldur's Gate 3 - I was kinda hesitant to get into this when I first saw it (when it came out)..but I decided to give it a shot anw and my god..the insane level of complexity and dedication the devs, the actors and honestly everyone involved have put into this game. Absolutely worth it. KCD 1 and 2 - These are actually my latest games played (still going through KCD2). They play out very differently imo to most other rpg games. They challenge you in ways most others games do not and they reward patience and commitment. It's something that will be fairly difficult to get into (not for everyone ofc)..but once you get into them you do not want them to end. Absolutely awesome experience. Now what I will also say is that what makes these games worth it..is not just the gameplay. Sometimes the gameplay is actually kinda meh...but the story? the characters? the relationships? They are what makes it all alive. There are ofc other well known games that are said to be good but I haven't player them (yet) myself so I cannot comment.. such as the Witcher series or RDR2. Edit: Also, while uncertain as of now, both Exodus 2 and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn are looking quite promising from a spiritual successor to ME pov. They are supposed to come out early next year I think?

With the release of starfield on PS5 I am conflicted. At first I wanted to buy starfield because I like space games and was willing to give starfield a try. But after I’ve watched some reviews on it I don’t know if I want to shell out 50 bucks to play a game I don’t know if I’d enjoy, I started looking at other games and the expanse Osiris reborn game looks pretty good. So my question is should I buy starfield now and see if I like it or should I wait for the expanse Osiris reborn demo to come out and get that instead.

Totally agree with the Osiris Reborn thoughts. I loved Mass Effect so it sounds awesome to me. As for Starfield I think honestly UC would be equivalent to Earth. I agree on Freestar being Freehold. Crimson Fleet is the Free Navy absolutely. Belters would have to kind of be created from scratch I think, though the spacers could be radicalized belter terrorists probably. I think that the new Terran Armada would fit the Laconians best. Ship building would have to be flipped from Horizontal to Vertical, and they'd need to remove shields and instead add maybe armor plating that gets damaged and you have to repair at a ship technician? And rework the existing critical hit mechanic to reflect bullets piercing the hull. Long Range combat probably wouldn't be possible with the systems we have currently. That would work better with a strategy rpg style game.

Absolutely man, The Expanse is probably my favorite piece of fiction, period. It's everything I want from a story. I'm pretty hyped for Osiris Reborn. But, it's a 3rd person ARPG in the spirit of Mass Effect. Which, I'm fine with. Tbh, I'm a very busy adult who works too much and has ADHD and has a hard time finishing games right now. A shorter, more direct and linear story set in The Expanse universe sounds refreshing. I'm halfway through book 8 right now, so please no spoilers haha. I am really curious to see what this new update to Starfield brings in terms of mod capabilities. I'd see a Expanse mod as having a few main components. But in general, given the current setup of the Starfield universe, I think the Expanse mod would have to take place after the events of the books, or in some alternate timeline. 1. Faction overhaul/reskins. UC = UN, but without Earth as a habitable planet, I guess UC becomes Laconia? Freestar becomes Freehold? Crimson Fleet becomes Belters or Free Navy? It'd take some rewriting of an alternate timeline to make this make sense. 2. Ship building logic overhaul and space travel overhaul. IYKYK. What I'd really be curious about here is how much inertia could play a role in closer range space combat, like what most of it is now. Long range combat would be a tricky one to tackle. Another interesting challenge would be replacing the current warp drive system with Ring Gates. 3. Main quest line plot and dialog reconciliations to be aligned with Protomolecule stuff.

Genuinely have no idea on a release date. I’m hoping for August to get in before the other Fall big hitters. But it is a Vampire game so idk if they’ll want to try to do October. So many unknown release dates for big games this year makes it hard to call at this point. Price I would guess is either $60 or $70. They’re crazy if they try $80 & $50 feels too low (but The Expanse Osiris Reborn is another AA RPG that’s selling for $50 so who knows).

Sort of but not really. Perhaps there are a few promising games on the horizon (particularly The Expanse: Osiris Reborn) but we'll see.  Baldur's Gate 1-3 are definitely the closest in my opinion, except fantasy rather than sci-fi. I'd say that bg3 has the most characteristics of what I loved most from the mass effect games (banter, love, jokes) but the original two are gaming masterpieces.  Expedition 33 as well, although it's much more of an emotional rollercoaster rather than a fun romp with your best friends. 

IMO there's nothing out there that quite compares to Mass Effect when it comes to sci-fi space-adventure RPGs, but we have *The Expanse: Osiris Reborn* and *Exodus 2* to look forward to sometime next year. Both are in a way spiritual successors to Mass Effect and judging by the trailers they look promising. If you're into top-down RPGs tho, there's also *Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader* but although it is a space-based RPG, its gameplay style is more akin to Baldur's Gate 3, with turn-based combat. Fantastic lore and worldbuilding, good story, and there's a spin-off coming soon.

As a huge Mass Effect fan I absolutely loved everything about Rogue Trader. The gameplay is very different of course but still fun. I absolutely love how similar the game is between missions, exploring your ship, talking to your companions, exploring space etc. The writing is a bit different, way darker, but on the same level of quality. Choice and consequence is arguably better than in Mass Effect and thus replayability as well. Its not nearly as cinematic though, but I do love the janky cutscenes that are there. It's amazing and the big reason why I think Expanse Osiris Reborn might be better at being Mass Effect than Mass Effect itself.

It's a lot different in terms of play, but the setting, writing and characters + choices are all fantastic in Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader. The end goal isn't as clear cut as mass effect, but it sure takes you on a Journey and make you decide outcomes of situations involving systems, planets, people and families. All morally hard to take a proper stance on as per 40k-standard Edit: playing this one game took me almost longer thn finishing the mass effect trilogy the first time. I'm looking forward to their next game aswell as The Expanse: Osiris Reborn.

Add? This is a weird and useless comment, I was first telling how I feel about the game, then noting what I am waiting for next. Would it had been better if I would have stated in the end "Now I can start to wait for Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival next." "Now I can start to wait for Windrose next" "Now I can start to wait for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn next" Would that been less "add" for your brains or...?

I'm looking forward heavily to The Expanse: Osiris Reborn; I'm fairly skeptical of Exodus 2. The setting of Exodus 2 just doesn't grab me like The Expanse does, and it feels a lot more 'science fantasy' than I'd prefer. I'm also skeptical of anything WOTC is involved with at this point. If Exodus 2 winds up being good, great - but I'm waiting on it before getting excited. Much too late to wait on getting excited about The Expanse.

Mass Effect Andromeda, while not as good as the original trilogy, was also better than many other games released at that time. By today's standards, better than a LOT of games. I won't say it isn't flawed, but it got way more hate than it deserved and probably effectively killed the franchise. (I don't have a whole lot of faith ME4 or 5 or whatever will be that good. Luckily, Exodus 2 and Expanse: Osiris seem to be carrying the torch just fine!)

I took a proper look at the Expanse game trailer, and honestly… I’m not convinced. Everything I’ve seen so far—especially in the latest trailer from last week’s Xbox Partner Preview—was disappointing. I was seriously hyped for this game since I’m a huge Expanse fan, but after watching that trailer, I’m genuinely let down. My confidence that this will turn into a top-tier game is pretty low right now… and that’s a shame, because The Expanse deserves better. Here’s my video with a full breakdown of the trailer and my take on the game… [https://youtu.be/t8tLwaLeBCU?si=u\_nq6cUHXK3abPrL](https://youtu.be/t8tLwaLeBCU?si=u_nq6cUHXK3abPrL)

Since the reveal of Osiris Reborn, one of the connections that I haven't seen many people talk about is the importance of the name Osiris in the first season of The Expanse and how it likely connects to the game. In the TV show, the Osiris was one of the Amun-Ra class stealth ships that destroyed the Canterbury/the Donnager and was specifically the stealth ship that transported the Protogen scientists back to Thoth Station, where it was subsequently destroyed by the Rocinante crew while trying to defend the station. Given the fact that the villains in the new trailer all have OSIRIS and Protogen labeling on their armor (similar to how Alex's suit says "TACHI" on it) and have noticeably glowing purple eyes, I think that there's a strong possibility that the plot of the game may quite literally center around Protogen experimenting with the Protomolecule by using it to resurrect the crew of the Osiris, hence the name "Osiris Reborn". While this all might sound crazy, we do know given the plot of the show/books and the appearance of a Project Caliban hybrid in the trailers that Protogen was experimenting on the effects of exposing humans to the Protomolecule, so it would stand to reason that they may have started with dead bodies (such as those of the Osiris crew) rather than living beings like we see in season 2/3 and Caliban's War. Furthermore, we know from both Xan and Amos being resurrected by the Laconian "strange dog" repair drones that Protomolecule-based technology can bring back/genetically alter dead bodies, so it wouldn't contradict any established lore. To take this all one step further, I think it may even be the case that the Protomolecule Hybrid(s) we see in the trailer isn't actually one of the ones Strickland created on Io, but might actually be one of the resurrected Osiris crew members given the fact that - assuming everything I've said up to this point is correct - they were resurrected with experimental Protomolecule samples rather than the controlled technology of the ancient Protomolecule drones on Laconia. Let me know what you all think about my theory. Do you think I'm just grasping at straws or do you think I might actually be onto something?

Next day. One of the sites I observe every day is Gizmodo. I've not seen an article there for some time to do directly with the theme of RPGs (role-playing games). The day after I posted this thread, this article was one of the first to appear there: https://gizmodo.com/2027-is-shaping-up-to-be-a-great-year-for-big-sci-fi-rpgs-2000739240 > **2027 Is Shaping Up to Be a Great Year for Big Sci-Fi RPGs** > Whether you're excited for '*Exodus 2*' or '*The Expanse: Osiris Reborn*,' it looks like RPG fans will be eating good next year. --- Obviously the article is focused on 'sci-fi' games and not mythical fantasy, but nonetheless. The headline does mention 'Osiris Reborn', and that ties it to ancient mythology and religion. I happen to currently be reading a book called *The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt* by Toby Wilkinson. I note that I made two other threads yesterday (before this article was published) at my other forums, and within [one of them](https://old.reddit.com/r/GeometersOfHistory/comments/1s66z9u/the_influence_academy/), I demonstrated the spell: > * *"Know"* = **1**000 latin-agrippa > * ... *"I Am Born"* = **1**000 squares > * .. ... . again. I've been talking much lately about the number 1461 (ie. Egyptian Sothic Cycle, one of the cycles named a 'Great Year'). * *"Great Year"* = **333** primes * ... ( *"The Number"* = **333** primes ) * .. .. [ *"The Year of the Numerologist"* = **2026** english-extended ] * .. .. [ *"The Year of the Numerologist"* = 1336 latin-agrippa ] * .. .. [ "**1** <-- *The Year of the Numerologist*" = **1337** latin-agrippa ] I note that Pharaoah Akhenaten died in 1336 BC, according to history. My thread yesterday began it's numerology section with a raft of spells summing to **1331**. * *"Big Sci-Fi RPG"* = **1331** squares * ... ( *"The Writings"* = **1331** triogonal ) Big Sci-Fi RPG ( ie. Life itself ) * *"The Sci-Fi Game"* = **303** primes * ... ( *"The Language"* = **303** primes ) Ponder what 'sci-fi' might really mean, aside from the mainstream layperson's understanding. I note also... * *"Textbook"* = **617** latin-agrippa * ... ( *"A Number"* = **617** trigonal ) * .. ( *"The Official Narrative"* = **617** primes ) * .. ( *"Science-Fiction Role-Playing Game"* = 1,**617** english-extended | 889 primes ) And noting ... * *"Numeral"* = **1300** squares * *"The Great Year for Big Sci-Fi RPGs"* = **1300** latin-agrippa ... and RPGs involve lots of numbers and statistics. To ... * *"The Watchers"* = **1300** latin-agrippa * ... *"I Send Thee Word"* = **1300** latin-agrippa --- * *"Know the Science-Fiction Role-Playing Game: 0"* = 2220 latin-agrippa * *"Know the Science-Fiction Role-Playing Game: 1"* = **2221** latin-agrippa * *"I Have Completed the Science-Fiction Role-Playing Game: 0"* = 2220 latin-agrippa * *"I Have Completed the Science-Fiction Role-Playing Game: 1"* = **2221** latin-agrippa The last line of the Bible is Revelation **22**:**21**. --- * *"Serious Matters"* = **1300** latin-agrippa * *"The Religious Scriptures"* = **1300** latin-agrippa ---

That is because usually such similar games launching roughly at the same time will mean that one of the two will be overshadowed by the other and potentially undeservingly killed. (And to be honest The Expanse seem to have the advantage now in terms of marketing, even the games names are similar and some people that aren’t informed could mistake Exodus 2 for a Rip-off of The Expanse). I feel like it would be a very good move by the teams if both games end up referencing eachother

[https://osirisreborn.owlcat.games/news/en/5](https://osirisreborn.owlcat.games/news/en/5) Founders who purchased [Miller’s Pack](https://osirisreborn.owlcat.games/preorder/en/compare) or the [Collector’s Edition](https://osirisreborn.owlcat.games/preorder/en/compare) will be able to participate in the upcoming Beta! The Beta will include a full mission from the beginning of the game, during which you will visit Pinkwater 4 station, meet some of its many residents, including Zafar, who will later join your crew, confront a powerful enemy, and earn yourself the title of captain. **The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Beta** will become available on **April 22, 2026**

Namely Osiris Reborn. This time the devs didn't want to suffer us as much as in Pathfinder WotR, so there are only 4 simple conditions: * Enter the final location on Feb 29 (real Feb 29, not in-game). One of the microSD cards scattered throughout the game contains a clue about it: "Only one of four has it". * Obtain, read and understand both halves of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Skill checks are replaced by a dialogue with AI simulacrum of Slavoy Žižek. The dialogue always unfolds in a unique way so you can't look up the correct choices at gaming sites. * During the dialogue with a certain named NPC choose a \[Martian\] option, then pass a DC 43 Perception check, then choose "You shouldn't have trusted your father", then click on the items in the following order: crib, kid's drawing, blaster. If you started the game with a blaster, the reply must be "You did right by trusting your father", and if you started the game with Design skill, you should click on kid's drawing first. * You may only obtain secret ending if you play on Honor mode difficulty. I'm personally very happy that finally all is plain and clear, and we'll no longer have to follow multipage guides and check variables in ToyBox. What about you?

An article was released yesterday on the Xbox news site with info on the Beta. Here's a link: [https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/03/26/the-expanse-osiris-reborn-xbox-partner-preview/](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/03/26/the-expanse-osiris-reborn-xbox-partner-preview/) **From the article:** *"The closed beta will run all the way up until release, so you have plenty of time to purchase either edition and jump in."* The way I am interpreting that is you can purchase the Miller pack (or the Collector's edition) and receive Beta access anytime before the full game release.

***For those who don't want to click the link, here is the meat of the article:*** # Prepare to Fight Back *The Expanse: Osiris Reborn* Closed beta will become available on Xbox Series X|S from **April 22, 2026**, for those who support the development of the game as Founders and purchase the [Miller’s Pack](https://osirisreborn.owlcat.games/preorder/en/compare) or the [Collector’s Edition](https://osirisreborn.owlcat.games/preorder/en/compare) on the game’s [official site](https://osirisreborn.owlcat.games/). The closed beta will run all the way up until release, so you have plenty of time to purchase either edition and jump in. As for what you’ll be playing when you get access, the beta will allow you to experience a full mission taken directly from the game. It starts as you and your twin return to your base, Pinkwater 4 station, on a mysterious ship you took by force to escape from Eros. The first person you meet is your old friend Zafar (voiced by Kerem Erdinc), who you might remember from our Announcement Trailer. He will later join your crew as a mechanic but, prior to that, he will play an important role in guiding you through the mission, even providing fire support when possible. This is one of the key features of *The Expanse: Osiris Reborn* — your crew members can and will offer assistance even if they are not a part of your current squad. In the beginning, it will just be Zafar, but as you recruit more members for your crew, they will be able to assist you in more complex ways. # Choices Have Consequences Each mission in *The Expanse: Osiris Reborn* presents you with a choice, one that may entail large long-lasting consequences, and Beta is no exception. I don’t want to spoil this one for you, but think carefully when making decisions that might affect the lives of others. It may be someone you barely know, or someone dear to you. But, as you already know, the universe never tells us if we did right or wrong, and you will have to decide for yourself, and, ultimately, face the consequences of your decisions and actions. # It’s Not Just About Bullets What will you do to defend yourself against a persistent enemy hounding your every move? In the Beta, you will be able to try different weapons: shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, and submachine guns. Use cover to avoid enemy fire, but don’t stay in the same place for too long — some cover can be destroyed, and enemies won’t shy away from peppering you with a grenade or two. You can respond in kind, though. Various gadgets will be at your disposal, unlocking different abilities when you equip them. Use a grenade equipped with a small engine for zero gravity combat, a tactical scanner to reveal where the enemies are hiding, or send a swarm of small drones after your enemies — these are just some of the many gadgets you will be able to try in Beta. On top of that, we have added an Exploit system. These are combat opportunities which your companions can utilize to eliminate an entire group of enemies in one go. Sometimes you will see certain areas your companion can interact with. Wait for a group of enemies to approach that area, and then command your companion to deal with them. Exploits can be a huge help in combat, so don’t miss these opportunities! # Gather Your Crew Before Venturing Forth During the Beta, only Zafar will be aiding you, but the trailer showcases some of your other potential crew members later in the game. One of them, the beautiful, mysterious and surprisingly well-connected Regina (voiced by Nola Klop), will be able to leverage her networking skills to help you to find allies against your common enemy. In combat, she will be far from dead weight, supporting you from afar with her excellent marksmanship. Another companion you can spot in the trailer is Teo, who will serve as a medic aboard your ship, the Gemini. Michael (voiced by Will de Renzy-Martin) is a fellow mercenary, albeit one working for a competitor. His combat experience and skills will no doubt become a valuable asset. And finally, there’s your dear twin JJ is your family and, even when they disagree with you, you know you can always rely on your sibling. J will always have your back. This is not the whole story, nor your whole crew, though, so stay tuned for more news from Owlcat Games.

Exodus 2 drops its first gameplay video a week ago. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn drops a gameplay trailer last night, and Exodus 2 drops a second gameplay video a day later. Both are releasing early 2027, and I’m praying for both to do really well on the critical front. Both have clear Mass Effect inspirations (Exodus 2 itself being developed by some Mass Effect vets). Also hoping Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic successfully materializes.

One feature that I really hope Owlcat considers implementing in the Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a fully voiced codex outlining technologies and common subjects or phrases related to the Expanse Universe. If anyone has played Mass Effect one of the biggest gateways for New players to get immersed into the story was the fully voiced main codex. This made people who were interested in learning the lore of the setting have a low bar for entry compared to long text only codex content, and drove people who wouldn't have read the codex content to then become interested enough in the world to read the supplemental nonvoiced codex entries. For example, having a codex entry breaking down common Belter slang and sign language, or describing the small but interesting developments in social relationships to technology like the way people interact with ship computers. I think getting new people invested in the setting and the world building is a great way to drive people to be more interested in both the books and the show, and be healthy for the fan community in general.

seems so > While Owlcat Games is a much bigger studio than Sandfall Interactive, the studio is split into a number of smaller teams working on their own projects, including the upcoming Mass Effect-like The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. https://frvr.com/blog/warhammer-40k-rogue-trader-dev-says-expedition-33s-success-proves-smaller-teams-have-clearer-creative-vision-and-gamers-value-risk-and-innovation/

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn just revealed new gameplay at Xbox Partner Preview. Closed beta starts April 22 for Collector’s Edition buyers, launches Spring 2027 on Game Pass Day One. [https://thegamerztheory.com/article/2026-03-27\_the-expanse-osiris-reborn-new-gameplay-revealed-closed-beta-april-22-game-pass-day-one](https://thegamerztheory.com/article/2026-03-27_the-expanse-osiris-reborn-new-gameplay-revealed-closed-beta-april-22-game-pass-day-one) \#TheExpanse #GamingNews #Beta

It’s also like what the fuck are they expecting? It’s the equivalent to an Indie World for Xbox. Go in, expect games to be Play Anywhere, maybe a few Game Pass announcements, and a couple of mid-level surprises, and you know what to expect. I got so much out of that show. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, Hades 2, and Stranger Than Heaven all announced for Game Pass. Dispatch finally coming to Xbox. I think the problem is that there’s a disconnect between Game Pass subscribers/Xbox players and people who largely get their games given to them for review purposes. It’s like… no shit you don’t find the concept of getting a game ostensibly for free exciting when you already do??

1. Get used to it, its only going to get more widely used from here on. 2. Judge the result, not the tools. A bad game is a bad game, always has been. 3. > "We don't use it to create any assets that will be in the game," PR manager Katharina Popp said, answering my question during a press briefing ahead of today's The Expanse: Osiris Reborn release and beta announcements. "We use it a lot for prototyping, trying things out, placeholders. They will all be replaced at the end. > "We use it basically for trying out things on a technical level,"

Buongiorno a tutti! Lurko il sub da un po', ma oggi ho deciso di scrivere per chiedervi un'opinione: nonostante il mio PC fisso di 10+ anni funzioni ancora ho deciso che è venuto il momento di provare a ~~svecchiarlo~~ cambiarlo (inb4: non è il momento migliore perché i prezzi sono gonfiati. Lo so, ma più avanti spiego) Dato che sono un videogiocatore appassionato (dovrei dire "ero", in realtà, dato che tra una settimana mi nascerà la seconda bimba e il mio tempo libero si azzererà... Ma voglio pensare positivo!) è indispensabile inserire nella build una scheda video dignitosa, e qui vorrei chiedere il vostro aiuto, dato che l'ultima volta che mi sono informato adeguatamente a riguardo è stato proprio 10 anni fa, quando optai per una AMD R9 390. Non sono un appassionato di giochi con una grafica spintissima (per darvi un'idea: negli ultimi mesi ho giocato a Timberborn, Endless Space 2, Grim Dawn) ma, occasionalmente, mi capita davanti qualcosa di più intensivo che mi prende particolarmente (ad es: Cyberpunk, The Alters e, tra poco, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn); in questi casi non ritengo necessario giocare a dettagli massimi, con gli effetti maxati, tutti i riflessi ecc, ma ci tengo ad avere una risoluzione alta (1080p+) e un framerate stabile di 60FPS. Cosa mi consigliereste? Grazie mille! EDIT: intanto grazie mille a tutti per le prime risposte! Mi rendo conto che ho omesso un buon chunk di quello che volevo dire (dormire poco mi sta uccidendo lentamente i neuroni T_T), vi scrivo qui sotto il resto: BUDGET: il motivo per cui devo svecchiare ora: il bonus docenti. Grazie alle magie della PA, tra ricorsi e inefficienze, ho ~1400€ che vanno spesi entro agosto, oppure li perdo (il che vuol dire: comprare in negozio e pagare montaggio e collaudo. Amen.). Vorrei metterci sopra al massimo altri 1000€ miei, monitor escluso, quindi complessivi 2400€, e diciamo che (stima a braccio) 500€ circa li lascerò al negozio per i suoi servizi: totale ~2000€ complessivi. Ha senso? Preferenza AMD/NVidia: dal punto di vista etico vorrei puntare su AMD, anche perché ho un monitor compatibile con Freesync e c'è la forte possibilità che sul PC giri anche Linux in dual boot con windows, ma non è un vincolo tassativo: se in questi 10 anni NVidia è andata molto oltre AMD con prezzi concorrenziali Resto della build: accetto suggerimenti :-) Io sono abituato ad andare su CPU Intel e, dalle mie esigenze, ritengo di potermi trovare bene anche con delle "semplici" DDR4, specialmente se la differenza di prezzo mi consente di montarne 24GB o 32GB... Ma, anche qui, sono ragionamenti basati su know-how vecchio di 10 anni, quindi se avete obiezioni le accetto volentieri!

As the title mentions I'm curious on what is the perception on The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, now that they announced the release date for it (spring 2027). Between the GTA 6 release this fall and The Expanse release next year, SQ42 can't seem to catch a break when it comes to bad timing. Do you think that SQ42 and The Expanse cater to the same player base? Could this postpone SQ42 even more, so they don't overlap with GTA 6 and The Expanse? What are your thoughts?

>Today, the newest gameplay trailer for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, an upcoming Sci-Fi Action RPG, has been revealed at the Xbox Partner Preview. >The beta test for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will begin in 4 weeks, on the 22nd of April 2026. Beta access will be available to Founders who purchased Miller’s Pack or the Collector’s Edition. The Beta will include a full mission from the beginning of the game, during which the players will visit Pinkwater 4 station, meet some of its many residents, including Zafar, who will later join their crew, confront a powerful enemy, and earn themselves the title of captain. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Beta will be available on PC (Steam), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Since this is Beta and the game is in the works, performance may vary depending on the hardware and does not reflect the final quality. On consoles, we recommend playing the Beta on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 for the smoothest experience. >The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will be released in spring 2027, on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and will also be available on Xbox Game Pass from Day 1. >Become a Founder to support the game’s development, gain a $10 discount on digital packs (the discount is already included in the price), and earn exclusive digital rewards.

Owlcat Games: "We don't use it to create any assets that will be in the game," PR manager Katharina Popp said, answering my question during a press briefing ahead of today's The Expanse: Osiris Reborn release and beta announcements. "We use it a lot for prototyping, trying things out, placeholders. They will all be replaced at the end. "We use it basically for trying out things on a technical level," Popp added. "For example, looking how a 2D image looks in 3D, or changing colours to what looks good. So it's basically for being able to iterate faster. But we don't use it to write, we don't use AI voice actors, so everything that will be in the final version will definitely 100 percent be human made."

Everyone will have to determine their own personal threshhold, but on an informational level, it should be noted that owlcat has copped to using generative AI during development for "[prototyping, trying things out, placeholders. They will all be replaced at the end](https://www.eurogamer.net/owlcat-gen-ai-expanse-osiris-reborn)." It should also be noted that at least two previous high-profile instances of generative AI discovered in the final products (*Expedition 33*, *Crimson Desert*), also made similar claims that their inclusion was accidental and also made pledges to remove them after they were discovered.

Ești gata pentru o nouă porție de noutăți din universul gaming-ului? Citiți mai departe [Xbox Partner Preview martie 2026: Tot ce a fost anunțat](https://need4games.ro/xbox-partner-preview-martie-26-tot-ce-a-fost-anuntat) Tot ce a fost anunțat: * Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish * Wuthering Waves * The Expanse: Osiris Reborn * Grave Seasons * The Eternal Life of Goldman * S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (DLC: *Cost of Hope*) * Moosa: Dirty Fate * Stranger Than Heaven * Super Meat Boy 3D * Serious Sam: Shatterverse * Forever Ago * Ascend to Zero * Alien Deathstorm * Frog Sqwad * Bluey’s Happy Snaps * Vaunted * Hades II * Dispatch * Artificial Detective

Ești gata pentru o nouă porție de noutăți din universul gaming-ului? Citiți mai departe [Xbox Partner Preview martie 2026: Tot ce a fost anunțat](https://need4games.ro/xbox-partner-preview-martie-26-tot-ce-a-fost-anuntat) Tot ce a fost anunțat: * Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish * Wuthering Waves * The Expanse: Osiris Reborn * Grave Seasons * The Eternal Life of Goldman * S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (DLC: *Cost of Hope*) * Moosa: Dirty Fate * Stranger Than Heaven * Super Meat Boy 3D * Serious Sam: Shatterverse * Forever Ago * Ascend to Zero * Alien Deathstorm * Frog Sqwad * Bluey’s Happy Snaps * Vaunted * Hades II * Dispatch * Artificial Detective

Ești gata pentru o nouă porție de noutăți din universul gaming-ului? Citiți mai departe [Xbox Partner Preview martie 2026: Tot ce a fost anunțat](https://need4games.ro/xbox-partner-preview-martie-26-tot-ce-a-fost-anuntat) Tot ce a fost anunțat: * Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish * Wuthering Waves * The Expanse: Osiris Reborn * Grave Seasons * The Eternal Life of Goldman * S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (DLC: *Cost of Hope*) * Moosa: Dirty Fate * Stranger Than Heaven * Super Meat Boy 3D * Serious Sam: Shatterverse * Forever Ago * Ascend to Zero * Alien Deathstorm * Frog Sqwad * Bluey’s Happy Snaps * Vaunted * Hades II * Dispatch * Artificial Detective