| The Expanse Osiris Reborn | |||
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| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Closed Beta Review |
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is Owlcat's newest action RPG based on the titular sci-fi novel and TV series. Learn more about the game’s plot, gameplay, release date, our review of the demo, and more.
Everything We Know About The Expanse Osiris Reborn
The Expanse Osiris Reborn Plot
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn places players in the role of a customizable Pinkwater Security mercenary. The narrative begins on Eros Station during a critical lockdown, an event that directly intersects with major occurrences from the initial seasons of The Expanse television series and early books.
There are political tensions and alliances brewing between the three major factions: Earthers, Martians, and Belters. As the story progresses, players become increasingly involved in the intricate political landscape, making choices that can align them with, or betray, these different groups. A pervasive alien element, the protomolecule, is a significant threat within this universe, and its implications are central to the unfolding events the player character experiences.
The Expanse Osiris Reborn Gameplay
Osiris Reborn is a third-person action RPG with squad-based combat. Players directly control a customizable captain—choosing Earther, Martian, or Belter origins—and engage in real-time battles that rely heavily on cover mechanics and grenades, complemented by a mix of weapons and special abilities. Combat typically involves two selected companions into the field, while additional squad members operate off-screen to sabotage enemy tech or draw fire.
Movement across environments pushes beyond the typical third-person shooter formula. The game introduces low-gravity and zero-G mechanics, enabled by mag-locked boots, which lets players navigate between surfaces and debris. Additionally, while most exploration and combat occur on foot, there will be ship-to-ship sequences.
Outside of combat, the game’s mechanics extend into managing the crew and ship, with the starship functioning as a mobile hub base. Players handle not only battlefield tactics but also crew dynamics. Each companion comes with their own backgrounds and motivations, and their loyalty shifts depending on the player’s leadership choices.
The Expanse Osiris Reborn Release Date
Releasing in Spring 2027
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is set to release in Spring 2027 for Steam, Epic Games, GOG, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Although eager players can now support the developers by purchasing various founder’s packs and a collector's edition on Owlcat's official website, the developers did not give the game a specific release date or time as of writing. In the meantime, you can explore more about The Expanse: Osiris’s gameplay and story.
We'll update this article with more information about the game's release, so stay tuned!
The Expanse Osiris Reborn Review (Closed Beta)
A Spiritual Sequel We’ve Waited For
If I had a nickel for every space-themed RPG that came from a big franchise that Owlcat either developed or is developing, then I’d have 3 right about now. It’s not much, but it’s definitely a weird coincidence to think about. One of those games is The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, based on the hit sci-fi novel and television series of the same name.
While Owlcat isn’t particularly new or untested in the RPG space, making a third-person action RPG is vastly different from a CRPG. But with the success of their previous titles like Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader and the Pathfinder series, Owlcat is definitely no slouch when it comes to giving players the agency in creating a player-driven narrative.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is the spiritual Mass Effect sequel we’ve been looking for since the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, for better or for worse. Primarily evident from the progression, the RPG decision trees, and, of course, the theme and aesthetic. But it’s definitely most obvious in its gameplay, especially the combat loop.
Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree
Let’s first start with the gameplay, as it definitely pulls a lot from what we’ve seen before. In this case, combat is almost one-to-one with the older Mass Effect titles. Third-person, over-the-shoulder camera, hero abilities, cover system, the works. Also, did I mention that the game has a tactical pause mechanic? Yeah, I definitely missed that mechanic for a long time now.
But if you consider how long it’s been since the release of the trilogy, then it definitely feels very dated in that regard. This also compounds the issue of how the game looks in motion, as it definitely looks off right now. Additionally, it’s also evident in the game’s progression systems, where level-ups simply award you with skill points with very straightforward skill trees. When it comes to abilities and equipment, it’s also a little similar. The provided abilities and gadgets that you get in the beta are something you’d expect from the trilogy, down to how you use them in combat.
Let me reiterate, though, that while it isn’t exactly bad to be inspired by something, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn just feels a little too familiar at the moment. It’s still very early in the game’s development cycle, and there still aren’t a lot of choices when it comes to weapons, skills, and gear, but I hope that the gameplay offers a lot more than what it currently has as it continues to be developed.
Of course, that isn’t to say that it doesn’t have anything different. Exploration and discovery are very much a core part of the gameplay, and this feels much more similar to their CRPG titles. Certain interactable items require you to pass stat checks, where in some cases, you need a sufficient Engineering stat to interact with a terminal or an Athletics stat to be able to move an obstacle out of the way.
It’s also rewarding to look in every corner, since there are chests, lockers, and even just random items that you’ll find tucked away in there. You’ll find a variety of usable items, equippable gadgets, and sometimes even weapons if you’re lucky. Also, one notable aspect of the exploration is that it takes advantage of the ability to explore a facility in zero gravity. You’ll be able to walk on certain walls and even find more secrets hidden by doing so.
It’s still very much a work-in-progress, but the foundation of its gameplay definitely feels a little too samey from what it’s supposed to be inspired by. To the point where some might argue that it’s more of an imitation rather than a homage. However, if the gameplay elements are eerily similar, the decision points and narrative aspects are the biggest game-changers.
Big Decisions Right From the Get Go
Without going too deep into the details of the premise and the beta’s story, you and your sibling basically stole a ship from another private military company to escape a planet where there’s a big politically related struggle going on. The problem is that you led these same people back to your headquarters, and they want their ship back.
Now, I know that Owlcat has a reputation for starting strong when it comes to first impressions, but I wasn’t ready for how much they were going to show in a beta. Since the beta was particularly short, I was able to try out different dialogue choices and routes just to see how different outcomes would be in what is seemingly part of the game’s prologue.
And, boy, it’s already pretty big.
One major decision point involves persuading your captain to either ask the people at headquarters to take up arms to help you or to let them stand down so that no one else gets hurt. This changes the tone of the whole area entirely.
Persuading your captain means everyone ends up fighting, resulting in a massacre. You’ll see your fellow officers’ corpses filling the corridors, while the other surviving ones are desperately trying their best to fight back against a much stronger force. In contrast, asking your captain to stand down would mean that everyone else either evacuated or is unharmed, meaning that there is no evidence of fighting around the space station.
Why this is important is that even the rewards of exploration change depending on the choice you make. In the latter decision, since your fellow officers didn’t fight, they didn’t need to access the armory, which, in turn, means that you can loot the armory in that route. It’s a gigantic game-changer to the gameplay dynamic that emphasizes exploration, since you might want to carefully consider what you’re losing and gaining with what you choose to do.
And I haven’t even gotten to the end of the beta, where that one decision with your captain leads to very different outcomes. Seeing all of this made me extremely excited about what’s to come for the game’s narrative. There was absolutely no warning about what was going to happen, and Owlcat definitely didn’t pull their punches when it came to consequences.
Classic Owlcat Performance Troubles
As someone who’s played through Owlcat’s recent games, I do have to say it’s to be expected that a new title from them will have early performance issues. Unfortunately, this is also present in the Osiris Reborn beta. Keep in mind that my rig isn’t particularly powerful with an RTX 3070, but it should be enough to play the game at mid-to-low settings with upscaling on.
But the reality is that it’s not smooth at all. The worst part is that it’s not exclusive to combat segments, as even just talking to an NPC in the game’s starting area already had framerate mishaps that really affected the experience negatively. I would even go so far as to say that it felt horrible to play when the instabilities start happening, and sometimes it becomes quite unplayable.
All things considered, Owlcat has always been consistent with improving their games’ performance as time goes by, so I wouldn’t exactly say that it’ll be this bad when they start patching things up. I do wish that it won’t take them months to optimize and polish the game’s performance, so that people can experience how good Owlcat RPGs are immediately without waiting for fixes.
A Promising Space RPG Worth Keeping an Eye On
So far, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn shows promise. Sure, it’s still not there when it comes to the combat loop, but that’s the point of a beta. I’m sincerely glad that Owlcat has continued to let their biggest supporters be able to try out their upcoming games with betas and playtests so that they can at least diagnose the flaws that their titles may have.
On the other hand, the potential of the game’s cause and effect scenarios is massive. Even if this is just part of the prologue stage, it’s already showing how heavy it can get when it comes to future plot points. Additionally, exploration is also a pretty big thing that also gets affected by your choices, which is something that you don’t see as much as you’d want to in most modern RPGs.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn has some clear flaws, but the universe is the limit with how they’re going to tackle interplanetary interactions, questlines, and, ultimately, just how the narrative shapes up with your decisions. I fully trust Owlcat’s ability in being able to create an action RPG, given their track record of great RPGs already, and I can’t wait to see what the vast expanse of space has to offer.
Game8 Reviews
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The Expanse Osiris Reborn Product Information
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| Title | THE EXPANSE: OSIRIS REBORN |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 2027 |
| Developer | Owlcat Games |
| Publisher | Owlcat Games |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic Games, GOG), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, RPG |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | The Expanse Osiris Reborn Official Website |
