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The Expanse: Osiris Devs Talk Mass Effect's Influence, Giving Players More Choices

Owlcat Games' The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a space-set third-person action-RPG based on The Expanse TV series and the novels by James S. A. Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). When the trailer debuted earlier this summer, the comparisons to Mass Effect were almost immediate. Alexander Mishulin--the game's creative director--recently acknowledged that Mass Effect influenced the development of Osiris Reborn. But the team plans to go in its own direction rather than simply copying Mass Effects' approach.

"It's different [from Mass Effect] in many ways," Mishulin told Polygon. "First of all, we make our story a little bit differently. We're making more choices and consequences, and we want to make sure that this game still has a lot of them provided with a lot of agency."

As an example, Mishulin noted that players won't be locked into character paths like paragon or renegade. The player can decide whether their characters come from Earth, Mars, or the Belt. That choice will affect how NPC and companion characters react and relate to them during the game.

The game's story is set during the first two and a half seasons of The Expanse, and the player's character will be the captain of the most advanced ship in the galaxy. Regardless of the player's choices, the captain is also a twin, and both siblings are on board the ship. However, the twins may not always see eye-to-eye about the best course of action.

While there will be multiple romance options on the ship, Mishulin noted that Osiris Reborn will feature "a lot more convenient user interfaces [and] convenient approaches to the gameplay," rather than trying to replicate Mass Effects' gameplay.

Owlcat Games hasn't set a date for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn yet, but it will be available on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. The studio is also currently developing Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy.