PC Review Code Provided by TellTale Games
After a surprising short hiatus, TellTale Games returns and has officially launched their first title since, with the aid of developers Deck Nine. This game is a space-based story called The Expanse where the player gets to experience an intense exploration through the studios classic decision-making gameplay style.
Story
Players take on the role of Camina Drummer, the Executive Officer aboard the Artemis, a scavenging ship hunting for a big score in the outer regions of the Belt. Despite have a crew that doesn’t always see eye-to-eye, she leads them through the exploration along the dangerous edges of the Belt.
This journey leads them into encounters with various threats, including space pirates, questionable demands, a shaken crew, and more. But it is by overcoming this that the crew, or at least Drummer, can get away with the loot from scavaging lost ships in this zero-g environment.
Gameplay
Just as you would expect from a TellTale game, your gameplay mostly comprises of making choices that are often difficult to the situation. There are some light control moments in the game, which do differ from the type of free control moments they have presented before. This element alone changed up the experience a bit from the usual experience this team provides while adding a nice special touch to the fact that we are in space. If you have played any game from Telltale before, you would know that the gameplay is mostly decision making which greatly impacts the story and how events unfold.
Beware, some decisions do lead to an early ending, so play it smart and don’t just make any other decision. The life of the crew and yourself rest in your hands captain - are you up for this?
Audio and Visual
For the art style of this game, they went with a heavily shaded art style. This isn’t unlike TellTale, but with a game based in space, I was hoping that some of the characters and environment would have been drawn brighter. It is all very distinct at least, so you always know what you are looking at and overall the quality is very well done, so my only complaint here is more of a personal preference.
The audio work and voice work are both pretty well done. There are a few personal preferences I could point out here as well, but in all honesty, it is impressive work and very fitting to the atmosphere. From the silent moments to the drawn-out instrumentals that express the tone of a moment in the story, they definitely still know what they’re doing.
Replayability
If you want to see how things would pan out if you made some different choices, there is replayability. Other than that, you would already know the story and generally what is going to happen.
What It Could Have Done Better
There were a few voice actors I wasn’t a big fan of. They weren’t main characters at least, but I can’t imagine that was the actual voice they were hoping for when they thought up the character originally. Same with the art style, just some changes I would have liked to have seen. Of course, these issues may not be the same for others.
Verdict
The Expanse is a pretty intriguing space tale that I can see many players enjoying! Despite there only being a few episodes out so far, I think it is fair to say that this is an entertaining tale worth exploring if you haven’t yet. Unless they botch the ending, I am ready to say that TellTale has returned with a strong foot forward by making this their first game since their hiatus and I look forward to what they will make next.
