The Expanse: Osiris Reborn
A lockdown on the asteroid Eros ends a mercenary's shore leave and starts a conspiracy that reaches across the solar system. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is the single-player action RPG built around that mercenary: third-person gunfights fought from cover, and a crew of specialists whose loyalty depends on the player's choices.
The protagonist is a customizable captain who begins as a Pinkwater Security mercenary. The plot is original rather than a retelling of the novels or the TV series. Owlcat Games develops and publishes the game.
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Choices that can cost a life
Owlcat has confirmed that some characters can die permanently as a result of the player's decisions, with no way to reverse it. In the developers' words: “The Expanse universe is cruel and some characters might die because of your choices.” Design director Leonid Rastorguev says choices center on competing perspectives and trade-offs, which led the team away from a traditional alignment system.
Gunfights without gravity
Zero-gravity sections began as a side feature and grew into a core part of the game. Free flight in three dimensions proved too uncomfortable for players, so movement relies on magnetic boots, and the camera went through several rounds of iteration. Rastorguev called disorientation and motion sickness the two problems the team had to overcome.
A Belter origin that speaks Belter
Lang Belta, the creole developed for the TV series by linguist Nick Farmer, is spoken in the game. A Belter captain can use it to unlock dialogue options, follow conversations that outsiders cannot, and win concessions more easily from Belter characters. Earther and Martian captains have to work harder for the same trust. Motion-capture specialist Roberto Campanella advised on Belter body language.
Story and Lore
The 24th century of The Expanse is a solar system settled but not unified. Earth, Mars and the Belt each hold their own territory, interests and grievances, and the novels by James S. A. Corey and the TV series built on them follow what happens when an alien technology, the protomolecule, lands in the middle of that standoff.
Osiris Reborn tells its own story inside that frame. The developers place it in parallel with the early events of the source material, roughly the span of the first two novels, Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War, so the Rocinante crew's adventures happen elsewhere while the player's plot unfolds.
The game opens during the protomolecule outbreak on Eros, the station where, in the books and the show, Protogen carried out its experiments. The captain survives the massacre and escapes on a stolen Protogen ship to Pinkwater 4, a remote mercenary station. Background news broadcasts there mention the destruction of the ice hauler Canterbury, an event from the first novel. The people behind the Eros attack catch up with the crew later in the story.
From there the Gemini becomes the crew's base. The player takes command of a ship the game describes as the most advanced in the solar system, and the story travels between Ganymede, Ceres, Mars and Luna. Locations range from ruined habitats to political strongholds, and what the player does in them changes how the plot develops.
Gameplay and Mechanics
Combat
Fights play out as a third-person cover shooter with pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles. Cover can be destroyed, and enemies use grenades to force the player out of position. Rastorguev describes the encounters as “short, brutal” and says that standing out of cover is “extremely risky”, with a deliberately low time-to-kill.
Squad orders and Exploits
Two companions join the captain in the field. The rest of the crew helps from a distance, disabling systems or pulling enemy attention. Orders are given in real time rather than through a pause menu. Each companion also has an Exploit, a special action that can eliminate a whole group of enemies at specific spots in the environment: the player waits for enemies to approach, then gives the order. Four types exist.
Precision targets vulnerable points such as explosives or unstable structures, Demolition removes terrain and enemy cover, Malfunction sends electrical systems haywire (sometimes lethally), and Cyber-attack takes over a system and turns it against the enemy.
Progression
There are no fixed classes. A specialization chosen at the start sets the initial skills and gear, after which the captain can pull from four skill trees in any combination: Marksmanship, Gadgets, Survivalist and Leader. Equipment carries much of the build. Weapons and gadgets are upgraded at a workbench along branching paths, where each tier offers a choice of two or three options and the final tier grants a strong perk. The number of tiers depends on the item's quality, and rare upgrades can add entirely new abilities. Respeccing is possible for a fee that rises each time.
Crew members have skill trees and gadgets of their own. Zafar's deployable turret, for example, can be upgraded to intercept enemy projectiles or fire explosive rounds.
Structure
The first couple of hours are linear and include a mission on the Pinkwater station. After that the player chooses where to go next across the solar system, with side content running alongside the main story.
Characters and Factions
The captain
The captain is built from one of three origins: Earther, Martian or Belter. The choice sets where the character comes from, opens or closes some dialogue options, and ties into faction standing.
Companions
- J: the captain's twin and executive officer, impulsive but loyal.
- Teo: the ship's doctor, a loud combat medic who lost his Earth medical license before taking the oath and fights on experimental stimulants.
- Michael: the gunner, a former UN soldier who moved into private security and then became a mercenary. Principled, haunted by a past tragedy, and armed with a shield and a shoulder-mounted autocannon.
- Zafar: a calm, sometimes poetic mechanical engineer who disables enemy equipment with turrets and EMF devices.
- Regina: the liaison officer. She finds allies through her contacts and doubles as the squad's sniper, scout and infiltrator. Guarded, with a hidden past and a quest of her own.
- Aleesha: an electronic warfare specialist, a former corporate worker turned free agent who goes looking for complicated puzzles. Drones are her tool of choice.
- Polly: the “shipgirl”, a young and chatty Belter out to prove herself, who covers mid-range with a submachine gun and can take a hit.
Each companion has sidequests of their own, and relationships shift depending on the player's decisions.
Factions
The origin choice maps onto the three power blocs of the series. In the source material Earth is governed by the United Nations, Mars by the Martian Congressional Republic and its navy, and the Belt by no single authority at all: its habitats are held together by loose coalitions, the Outer Planets Alliance being the best known.
Two organizations belong to the game's own plot. Pinkwater Security is the private military company that employs the protagonist. Protogen is the corporation whose experiments the crew fights back against.
Editions
The founder editions stack on top of each other, with every tier containing everything from the one below it. Miller's Pack and Collector's Edition are sold through Owlcat's official website.
- Standard: the base game, a cabin decoration for the captain's quarters and a founder role on the official Discord.
- Deluxe: adds a name in the game's credits, Miller's OPA Heavy Armor and a UN Spec Ops Assault Rifle.
- Miller's Pack: adds Miller's revolver and casual outfit, a digital artbook, a digital soundtrack, a name in the Hall of Fame and closed beta access.
- Collector's Edition: the Miller's Pack plus physical items: a model of the Gemini, a metal Gemini medallion, a printed artbook, three embroidered patches and a set of premium stickers.
PC System Requirements
Besides the operating system, no specifics have been published.