When it was first revealed earlier this 12 months, we mentioned that The Expanse: Osiris Reborn “seems to be quite a bit like a brand new Mass Impact.” Now, after having watched nearly an hour of it in motion at gamescom 2025, developer Owlcat Video games has completed nothing to vary my thoughts. That’s, after all, a really welcome factor – it’s been eight years for the reason that final Mass Impact (13 for the reason that final good one), and the upcoming, undated sequel is each distant and has quite a bit to show following BioWare’s latest chain of underwhelming releases. Owlcat stepping up with its personal 3D, space-faring journey is one thing of a reduction, then – lastly, after so a few years of ready, we’re getting a “new” Mass Impact from a studio that’s actually confirmed its RPG skills with the likes of Pathfinder and Rogue Dealer. However whereas Osiris Reborn is definitely comfortingly acquainted, the arduous sci-fi nature of The Expanse is new territory for this format, versus BioWare’s Star Wars and Trek influences. That enables it to neatly circumnavigate any “we have now Mass Impact at residence” jokes, however does run the danger of being a colder cousin to Commander Shepard’s so simply likable odyssey.
Osiris Reborn takes place in parallel to The Expanse’s core story – the primary two books, for those who’re a reader, and the early TV seasons for those who’re a watcher. You’ll really feel the influence of necessary occasions ripple via your journey; the mission I watched artistic director Alexander Mishulin play befell within the wake of the Eros Incident, and a number of other minutes within the information of the Canterbury being attacked was spreading amongst a panicked house station. If all meaning nothing to you, I don’t suppose there’s something to fret about – I’m solely an off-the-cuff fan of The Expanse myself, with a fading reminiscence of these early episodes, and every part appeared to fit into place. I think about Owlcat is making efforts for this authentic story to be a gateway into the universe.
Whereas acquainted faces will finally flip up, Osiris Reborn charts the journey of a player-created protagonist and a group of authentic characters. Amongst your crew of Pinkwater Safety mercenaries is J, our companion for this demo mission in addition to your sibling (they’re modelled after your customized character to make sure household resemblance, a pleasant contact meaning everybody will get their very own model of them.) Owlcat goals to make each companion really feel current and alive, and as we discover the mercenary station J wanders off to speak with NPCs, offering the sense that he’s his personal individual and never only a pawn to direct in battle.
As we push on and gossip with a vendor and a technician, I discover that the writing doesn’t hit the highs of both Mass Impact or Owlcat’s personal isometric RPGs. It’s considerably flat and missing in character-defining thrives, and consequently I’m not but satisfied these companions shall be as charming or partaking as these within the sequence Osiris Rising is so clearly constructed upon. However don’t take that as me writing them off – The Expanse has some wonderful, advanced characters that reward a sluggish burn, and so there’s each probability your crew will get the place they should be over the course of the 30-ish hour marketing campaign.
The siblings beforehand escaped the disastrous Eros Incident by stealing a spaceship from the shadowy Protogen company, and the repercussions of which can be the place the demo kicks into motion: Protogen has adopted us again residence to demand justice. It’s right here we’re introduced with a traditional RPG alternative: we will ask our Pinkwater Safety colleagues to withstand and canopy our escape, or just attempt to slip away unaided. One persuasion examine later, the station’s senior officer has agreed to have his mercenaries maintain the road whereas we make our exit. Mishulin guarantees there shall be repercussions for this, each quick and delayed. As we crawl via the station’s vents, the roar of battle echoes as our allies maintain the road in opposition to Protogen. Later, we see the price of that alternative: useless our bodies strewn via the corridors. After unlocking the station’s armoury in quest of new tools, we discover it utterly stripped of weapons – each rifle taken in an try and safe our security. These are maybe considerably surface-level penalties, and I think the choice route wouldn’t have been considerably totally different (Protogen later introduced that they’d have handled us fairly peacefully, so definitely there’d be fewer our bodies.) The actual query is how our selections ripple throughout the marketing campaign. Maybe by resisting and shedding so many mercenaries, we’ve set ourselves up for extra vital failure afterward down the street.
Whereas the station’s employees have been doing lots to struggle off Protogen, there have been a number of alternatives for us to deal out our personal punishment. Like Mass Impact, fight is a core a part of The Expanse, and is equally a cover-based taking pictures affair augmented by skills. The rocket grenades are maybe probably the most enjoyable – thrown explosives with their very own steerage thrusters that zoom throughout the world like fireworks. There’s a lore purpose for such extravagant properties: thrown explosives do not are inclined to go the place you need when there’s little-to-no gravity, and half the battle sequences proven within the demo have been in such areas. Anchored to the aspect of the station by mag-lock boots, these fights didn’t appear considerably totally different to these waged inside, regardless of a bespoke system that adjusts the best way motion feels and handles, however have been made placing by the best way our bodies and particles float throughout the world. Destructible environments splinter and shatter beneath heavy gunfire, which does often remove the enemy’s cowl, however principally appears there to attain cool factors relatively than be a big tactical benefit. And it actually does look cool, particularly when explosions tear total wall panels aside.
My important concern in terms of fight is the menace that there shall be few choices past weapons. The Expanse’s arduous sci-fi nature means there’s not likely the chance for house wizards or aliens with weird skills, and so it might be that the whole fight expertise is delivered by way of the muzzle of a gun. Mishulin assures me there’s all kinds of firearms that present a variety of experiences even inside weapon classifications (there are three assault rifles and all of them have considerably totally different properties, he explains), plus the excellence between a sniper-focused marksman and the extra typical run-and-gun class. However that’s all very Name of Obligation, and my hope is that Owlcat has a sensible, extra RPG-style method past that. Hopefully, there shall be technical characters equivalent to hackers that present a extra specialised, ability-driven method.
I can’t say I’ve immediately fallen in love with anybody single a part of Osiris Reborn, and I’ll have to see at the least a number of extra hours to know if I’ll really join with its characters – arguably crucial a part of an RPG. However what I’ve seen seems to be precisely the form of foundations I’ve been in search of since I took Shepard on their ultimate mission. It’s combat-forward, however conversation-heavy. It’s in regards to the group, however with not one of the micromanagement of extra conventional laptop RPGs. And The Expanse itself is a promising ore vein to be mined – it might be a colder, extra grounded universe that places arduous restrictions on a number of RPG staples, nevertheless it’s additionally a world rife with advanced politics that hopefully will result in conflicts which can be deeper and extra nuanced than the standard bleeding coronary heart leftie vs tyrannical fascist situations so frequent on this style.
This isn’t precisely the primary time Owlcat has “completed a BioWare.” Because the demo got here to a detailed, Mishulin in contrast the studio’s Pathfinder video games to Baldur’s Gate 2. This challenge sees the developer take inspiration from a later period of BioWare – and so Owlcat should additionally tread the identical path as its muse, shifting from isometric to cinematic. Nevertheless it is aware of it might’t simply comply with in these precise footsteps. “We’re constructing on that legacy and increasing what gamers anticipate from this expertise,” mentioned recreation design producer Yuliya Chernenko when The Expanse: Osiris Reborn was introduced. I wouldn’t say I noticed a lot proof of that growth on this demo, however I hope that it exists and shall be revealed in time. However even when it falls in need of these ambitions and is just a tough sci-fi model of Mass Impact, I believe I’d nonetheless fortunately accept that.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Government Editor of Options.