Remember when role-playing games were about more than just collecting loot and grinding levels? Back when your choices had weight, your companions felt like real people, and the story wasn’t a linear march toward an inevitable conclusion? It feels like forever ago. In the modern landscape, every new RPG release seems to be chasing the ghost of The Witcher 3 or attempting to emulate Dark Souls, leaving fans of classic, narrative-driven experiences feeling adrift. Where have all the great story-focused RPGs gone?
And just when all hope seems lost, a new contender enters the ring | The Expanse | Osiris Reborn. Is this the long-awaited return to form for the genre? Or is it just another flash-in-the-pan title that will collapse under the weight of its own ambition?
More Than Just a Name
You might recall that this isn’t the first time the acclaimed Expanse universe has been translated into a game. The Expanse | A Telltale Series, developed by Telltale Games in collaboration with Deck Nine (the creators of Life Is Strange | True Colors), offered a brief, choice-driven narrative experience. But make no mistake, Osiris Reborn is something else entirely. The developers are promising a full-fledged RPG with all the trimmings | robust non-linearity, a branching plot, and fully-realized characters who are more than just walking quest markers. For fans of the books and television series, this is a chance to truly inhabit the world of The Expanse in a way that has been long overdue.
After a series of high-profile disappointments from established studios, players have every right to be skeptical. We’ve seen so many ambitious projects promise a world of gold, only to deliver a buggy, hollow mess. But Osiris Reborn is different. The Expanse franchise itself has already proven its depth and quality through its critically acclaimed books and TV show. Now, it has a chance to make a name for itself in the gaming world on a scale never before attempted.
The Promises of the Old Gods
The game’s creators have been vocal about their design philosophy, promising a deep plot, non-linearity, meaningful consequences of choices, and living, breathing characters. This all sounds familiar, of course. These are the very elements that once made BioWare the gold standard of the genre. But what truly sets Osiris Reborn apart is its potential to deliver a world where your decisions affect more than just the fate of your character. Imagine a game where your actions could shift the balance of power between entire factions, with ripple effects that impact the entire solar system. That’s the kind of ambition that gets old-school RPG fans excited.
It’s easy to make grand promises. It’s far more difficult to deliver on them. Will Osiris Reborn be able to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued so many other ambitious but ultimately empty RPGs? Can the developers create a world that feels like a real universe, one that genuinely reacts to your presence and your actions, rather than just serving as a static backdrop?
The Unforgiving World of The Expanse | Osiris Reborn
One of the most intriguing details to emerge from the recent Gamescom 2025 demo is that The Expanse | Osiris Reborn will not hold your hand. According to a preview published by DBLTAP, creative director Alexander Mishulin confirmed that the game will not warn the player about the consequences of their actions with a pop-up or a clarifying line of dialogue, a common trope in many modern RPGs. This means you’ll have to think twice before every major decision, as the repercussions will be a genuine surprise.
Mishulin also touched on the game’s companion system, noting that relationships extend beyond simple romances to include the possibility of betrayal. This suggests a deeply reactive world where trust is a valuable commodity that can be broken. While the game will feature actors from the television series, the creative director clarified that the characters’ stories will stand on their own and not be overshadowed by the events of the show.
Other details from the Gamescom demo, as reported by Polygon, are equally promising. The game’s character creation allows players to choose appearance, origin, and starting equipment, with a class-less leveling system that encourages diverse builds. The demo itself, a prologue, showcases the protagonist’s escape from Eros Station. The close ties to the show are evident, with a message from James Holden, the series’ protagonist, playing during a key moment. The game also features destructible environments, with bullet marks and debris adding to the post-battle atmosphere. In zero gravity, Owlcat’s attention to detail shines through, with muted sounds and slower animations. One particularly intense moment in the demo revealed the immediate, and severe, consequences of a single choice, leading to the death of nearly all of the protagonist’s colleagues.
Visually, the game, built on Unreal Engine 5, is stunningly detailed, although some dialogue animations still require polish—a likely reason the demo remains a press-only experience for now. The developers also confirmed that the main campaign will take a respectable 20-30 hours to complete, making it the shortest game from Owlcat, a studio with a reputation for epic, sprawling titles. The team working on the project is substantial, with 180 people in-house and another hundred outsourced, including former developers from Cyberpunk 2077 and Halo.
While Owlcat has not yet shared an official release date, they have stated that they have a rough idea but want to leave “room for maneuver.” This cautious approach is a welcome sign, suggesting the studio is prioritizing a polished, complete experience over hitting an arbitrary deadline.
The Power of Setting and the Weight of Hope
The Expanse universe is so much more than just a setting with spaceships and blasters. It’s a complex web of politics, social conflicts, and moral dilemmas. If the developers can successfully capture this rich atmosphere and layer it with the kind of depth found in classic RPGs, we could be on the verge of something truly special.
The risks are obvious. The project could easily turn into a marketing gimmick, coasting on the strength of its brand name alone. But right now, Osiris Reborn looks like the best chance we’ve had in a long time to return to a style of RPG where every single decision truly matters. It’s a chance worth taking. Because when it comes to a genre you love, hope is the last thing to fade.
