The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Aims to Redefine Game Adaptations

Developer Owlcat Games is crafting what could become one of the most faithful video game adaptations ever made with The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, an upcoming third-person shooter that respects both the mechanics and philosophy of its source material.

The game takes place during the events of the show's first three seasons, following a custom player character and their identical twin through a story that intersects with major plot points without directly controlling the series' main cast. Rather than playing as James Holden and the Rocinante crew, players experience the universe from a different vantage point, encountering familiar characters and locations while pursuing their own objectives. The campaign runs approximately 30 hours depending on playstyle.

Combat borrows heavily from the original Mass Effect trilogy, featuring cover-based third-person shooting with tactical squad commands. A hands-on preview of a mid-game mission called "Beetle in the Anthill" revealed that despite its mechanical similarities to BioWare's classic series, Osiris Reborn distinguishes itself through environmental design and level structure. The mission, set at Ganymede station and occurring after the destruction of Eros Station, tasks players with gathering intelligence on the paramilitary organization Protogen while working for a rival group called Pinkwater.

What sets the experience apart is its emphasis on non-lethal problem-solving. Rather than encouraging direct confrontation, the game frequently rewards creative approaches to obstacles. In one sequence, accessing a storage container required obtaining an invoice, which necessitated hacking a computer to retrieve a template, which in turn required scanning the container's serial number from a specific vantage point. This layered approach creates an immersive simulation experience reminiscent of Hitman, prioritizing player agency and environmental interaction over gunplay. The combat itself proves responsive and tactically demanding when it does occur, maintaining tension through both strategic planning and dynamic repositioning.

The game's environmental design demonstrates meticulous attention to source material. Ganymede's agricultural domes, massive spherical greenhouses central to a catastrophic event in the show's second season, appear rendered with impressive detail. Notably, the developers exercise restraint in their references, avoiding heavy-handed dialogue that explicitly acknowledges callbacks. For longtime fans, these details function as knowing winks toward future plot developments, while newcomers simply encounter compelling world-building.

This design philosophy extends to seemingly minor details. The game features no jumping mechanic, a choice that aligns with both the original Mass Effect games and The Expanse's internal logic, where characters typically wear magnetized boots to maintain traction in variable-gravity environments. Such considerations suggest developers understand the universe at a fundamental level rather than simply applying surface-level aesthetics.

The preview concluded with an encounter against a Hybrid, a human transformed into a bulletproof creature through exposure to the Protomolecule, forcing players to manage multiple objectives simultaneously while evacuating civilians. The sequence featured branching choices with promised long-term consequences similar to Mass Effect's decision system.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn releases in spring 2027 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game faces the inherent challenge of launching five years after the television series concluded, though its mechanical excellence and narrative integration suggest it could succeed where many licensed games falter, potentially attracting both devoted fans seeking deeper engagement with the universe and newcomers discovering the franchise through interactive media.