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Telltale returns with a sci-fi bang - The Expanse: A Telltale Series Quick Review

2K View2023-07-27

The Expanse: A Telltale Series

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PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it, especially if you’re a fan of The Expanse or of Telltale’s beloved series of choice-based adventure games. The Expanse: A Telltale Series’ first episode has all the hallmarks of a great pilot: interesting characters, great performances, and a space salvage mission that goes very wrong, very fast. While newcomers to the series may feel a bit at sea initially with a lot of in-universe jargon, episode one is packed with treats for long-time fans, including a cameo by Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, who reprises her role as UN Secretary-General Chrisjen Avasarala.

TIME PLAYED

I played all the way through the first episode of The Expanse: A Telltale Series, which took just under an hour. The episode includes several weighty decisions, each of which represents a good reason to go back and see how things might have played out if I’d made a different choice. There’s some light exploration, most of which is dedicated to learning how to navigate in zero-G, as well as a few world-building interactions with the ragtag crew of your ship.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Telltale’s back, baby. When it shut down in 2018, it looked like curtains for Telltale Games, which had produced a string of hits starting with The Walking Dead in 2012. Newly reconstituted, Telltale is working on The Expanse with Deck Nine, one of the developers of the popular Life is Strange series. Even as someone who never quite got along with the “Telltale style” back in the day, The Expanse hooked me right away, largely thanks to the terrific production design and the impressive cast.

• Top-notch performances. Let’s talk about the cast for a moment, because they knock it out of the park in The Expanse: A Telltale Series. Cara Gee once again takes on the role of Camina Drummer, the central character in episode one. She’s tough, capable, and experienced, but is still haunted by her past on Ceres and is a newcomer aboard a crew of salvagers. All her interactions with the rest of the crew are well shot and superbly acted—I was struck most of all by the tense silences during conversations, as Drummer and another character took a moment to size each other up or take in what they had just heard. Hardly less impressive, though, is the fact that everyone manages to pull off the completely made-up “Belter” patois used by people who were born and raised in asteroid mining colonies.

• Shockingly good zero-G controls. I was definitely not expecting a Telltale game to give me complete freedom to explore a derelict spaceship in zero gravity, but apparently we’re in a new era now. Episode One: Archer’s Paradox has the crew board a devastated navy frigate to snag some valuable salvage, and I got to float across open space from one segment of the ship to another before boosting my way up through a vertical hallway and magnetizing my boots to the ground to proceed inside. As with most Telltale games, the important stuff mostly happens in conversations, but I was impressed with the amount of exploration I got to do at my own pace.

WHAT SUCKS

• Getting herded around. This game format is much closer to television series, so I wasn’t expecting the kind of freedom I get in the average open-world game or anything. Still, it’s annoying to have an exploration sequence cut short because I’ve stumbled across an invisible finish line. I never got the chance to look around for a special crystal to fix the laser in the med bay, and I have a sneaking suspicion that’s going to matter down the road.

• Now I have to wait for episode two. Archer’s Paradox naturally ends on a dramatic cliffhanger, and the tight runtime left me wanting more. Honestly, it’s a huge mark in the game’s favor that I’m so excited to play the next episode, but I’m still mad that I have to wait!

💬 Will you be joining Drummer and her crew for this new Expanse adventure, or is this a game you’re going to throw in the airlock? Let me know in the comments!