The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Gamescom Hands-On Preview – New Allies and Enemies Turn up the Heat

Owlcat Games is known for its remarkable work on CRPGs like Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, so The Expanse: Osiris Reborn represents a huge shift for the studio. Following the original announcement and several trailers, the presence of Mass Effect DNA was obvious, but our hands-on time with it at this year’s Gamescom underlined its own voice.

This wasn’t the first time I’d played the ARPG based on the hit sci-fi TV show and novels. After another hands-on preview and several chats with the developers at Owlcat Games, I knew what I was walking into. This new preview build, however, was a bumpier one with a handful of surprises. Plus, the UI, mechanics, animations, voice work, and more had been improved across the board. All to be expected, as The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is still a ways off, with a Q2 2027 release window set at the time of writing. Work is still ongoing, and it’s been refreshing to see a big video game like this one evolve over time from my (limited) position.

Yuliya Chernenko, game design producer at Owlcat, guided me through the 45-ish minute demo, though I was told that I was mostly blasting through the build despite my obsession with looting every container I spotted. In any case, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a breezy RPG. Like the Mass Effect games before it, its missions – at least so far – don’t go on for too long, and dense systems and mechanics that slow down the action aren’t here.

Tasked with infiltrating an enemy base on Ganymede, the protagonist and J, their twin, do some scouting around the place, with a few close calls peppered throughout the mission. It keeps things focused, meaning dialogues don’t go on for too long, and much of the chatter is done as we walk through the base. All over the place, we see mercenaries testing weapons and unloading cargo. “If hell breaks loose, this will be a maze to navigate,” I thought before the team was forced to unload ammo on the mysterious evildoers.

There are opportunities to better prepare for the fights ahead, though. Crafting materials and weapon mods are scattered about, and could be used when I came across a crafting table in the middle of my investigation. It’s straightforward stuff, but there are more options available than in BioWare’s ARPGs. My loadout, which included a SMG and a punchy sniper rifle, was fine, so I didn’t spend much of my hands-on time toying with the customisation options. It just seems sturdy at a glance, and that’s enough.

This Ganymede-set chapter also underlined the importance of the companions we don’t take with us on missions. Via comms, they can still be quite useful depending on their skills and how we’ve developed them over time. Of course, I had no control over the progression in this vertical slice of the game, so I worked with what I was given. I have to wonder how it might evolve over time as a “side system” in this ambitious RPG, but at this point I can say it’s yet another way to separate Osiris Reborn from its biggest influences.

As revealed by the trimmed-down gameplay trailer released during Gamescom – which you can watch at the bottom of this article – a highly resilient humanoid creature is unleashed in the middle of the base when a third faction ruins the party. Like I’d already seen in the past, the cutscene direction work is stunning, injecting a tangible sense of danger and urgency into the scene. There’s no trying to replicate the highs of BioWare’s sci-fi series without a cinematic approach to key story beats, and doing away with static camera angles when the controls are taken from the player is a key part of recapturing that magic for a new, more technologically advanced RPG.

The forward-thinking overarching design becomes even more apparent during the shootouts, which are full of pieces of the level breaking apart, particle effects, and even environmental opportunities to turn the scenery against the enemies. You don’t need to worry about snipers if you bring down the balcony they’re on, for example. This isn’t a dynamic system that feels revolutionary. Instead, it’s more of an evolution of the “shoot the red barrel for extra damage” rule, but that alone – coupled with some fantastic art and underlying tech work – adds to the role of the scenery. It isn’t just a rigid place where things happen. Somehow, this is a rare thing to see even now in the double-A and triple-A space.

While on the “safe” side, the core shooter mechanics also work remarkably well. Dodges (including dashes) are reliable; sticking to the nearest cover feels snappy; and guns don’t miss most of their shots because you haven’t built the character in a certain way. The RPG mechanics add to the loop, of course, but being a good at shooting and measuring distances can get you far. In fact, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn allowed me to use the sniper rifle as a shotgun against advancing enemies who were close enough, even while shooting from my cover, as you can more or less calculate where a shot will go without using the sights. This made for some stylish kills that felt straight out of Gears of War.

The fast and brutal – I got melted two or three times by a particularly beefy, fire-shooting armoured merc – combat is what’s ultimately convinced me The Expanse: Osiris Reborn could be on the right path to become a mainstream hit. Yes, it’s an RPG and a lot of it hasn’t been unveiled. We still need to know how the character relationships actually shape the plot, or how progression has tangible effects on the action, but the shooting during movie-like bits, of which you’ll be doing a lot, just feels great. Moreover, Michael’s – he’s been heavily featured in official screenshots – intro as a companion in this demo was unexpected and had an instant hook.

More importantly, every preview I’ve seen or played has kept up the pace. In the age of many lumbering RPGs that go for slower and bigger, this is an instant win for Owlcat, a studio that’s plenty familiar with games of the other sort. It’s hard to predict how the whole thing will come together next year, but so far, I’m into everything this space adventure is doing to evolve and refine a familiar formula.