The Expanse: A Telltale Series Reviews

Don't get me wrong, this game is fine. It had moments I really enjoyed with some of the characters, but it's SO SHORT. I finished this game in 5.9 hours including restroom breaks and other distractions. And don't get me wrong, I didn't find everything, but I did find a lot. By far, the shortest Telltale game I've ever played. Moments that were supposed to be quite emotional were just...eh because there wasn't enough backstory or time with the other characters to get invested in them. I really hope the new Telltale learns a lot from this and does more to make each episode at LEAST two hours long. Other Telltale games notoriously had me crying. This one wasn't even close.

Disappointing, predictable, mediocre, and overall boring. Nothing really means anything. No twists, no turns, no depth, (except for Khan if you give her some smokes and Virgil was alright) no fun on this ride and has probably the most forced love interest I've ever seen in any media. 2/10 pretty bad wouldn't play again nor recommend.

A good side story for fans of the series to sink their teeth into, that made me make choices that had real consequences. Cara Gee nails her performance as Drummer as per. I don't think this should be anyone's introduction to The Expanse though, as it is a bit too "inside baseball".

IF you like the Expanse TV series and IF you are looking for what is basically a couple more episodes with some background story, then I recommend this. But it is very short. Bit over ~5 hours for the main game, ~1.5 hours for the DLC. And the gameplay is extremely simple and a bit clunky. Think of it more like an interactive TV show episode. But the storytelling is good, and I was fully engrossed in it all the way through. At full price the value doesn't add up. Get it on a considerably discounted sale and "play" it as part of watching the TV series.

If you are a fan of the series, the game is mandatory. You shouldn't expect much in terms of game mechanics, but the game delivers a nice little story and Drummer was a good choice as protagonist. It is a bit short, with about 6 hours for the main story. Overall a nice experience. I would suggest to use mouse and keyboard instead of the recommended gamepad. However, keep in mind, that you may have to increase your mouse sensitivity outside of the game and that moving your mouse too fast, results in very slow mouse movement.

It's a nice, but short spin-off for the TV show. I enjoyed it. The only remark: Drummer is much more hardcore than she is in this game.

So, The Expanse isn't bad... but it isn't particularly good. The story feels like something I've seen before. The decisions don't feel like they make a difference. The "game play" is more annoying than fun, although the "floating in zero-gee" can be fun. The "oh I failed now I get to spend a while watching cut scenes till I can try again" is not fun. I'm not familiar with "Expanse" lore, it sounds a lot like Larry Niven's "Gil the ARM" stories from the 70s. There are no surprises there either. In general, it's "ok" if you have nothing better to do.

This game was a very positive surprise for me, as a hardcore-gamer who does not really like narrative games. I loved the Expanse series - one of my all-time favorites among shows, and I watched hundreds of our of podcast of Ty & that guy - but I have not played any Telltales games so far. I am not a fan of the linear, story-driven type of games. But with this one I made an exception and I have to say this is really well done, I was really drawn into the story and characters, the exploration is fun, and I loved looking at all the 3d props. Drummer was an excellent pick to build a story around and introduce new stories for her, it blends into the Expanse lore neatly. She is also one of the coolest characters of the show and a great actress and voice actor. Good job! While I am not a big fan of the cartoonish proportions of the characters, I can look past that, and the other contents like the portrayed violent outcome of events or the dialogs are totally in line with the adult audience the original show targets. One notable downside of the game is that it will, at a few occasions, trigger a progression in the story as you enter a certain location or interact with an object, which you at that point cannot control. You will lose our on your ability to finish exploration, and you often won't see this coming. This is very annoying for me as a completionist and the lack of a proper save system (only autosave) means I couldnt return to an older load easily either and cutscenes are unskippable. This was definitely a game design fail if you ask me, they should make it clearer where the cut-offs are or ask you. Another problem I see is that this is really difficult to get into if you do not know Expanse already, I believe. Although it is its own story with mostly its own characters, there is a lot of politics involved that I would be confused by. I have seen the series, some episodes even multiple times, and I felt I understood almost everything that happened - that said the show is even harder to follow. I have seen a lot of people being confused by the game because they lack the connection to the series. Be sure to gather all special items for your crew members on the places you salvage, they unlock the most interesting dialogues and allow for crucial changes later on. Lastly, the game is a bit short, I would say. I finished it in several hours, including the DLC. But for a reduced price absolutely worth it. I really, really loved this game. I probably should have picked it up when it came out but as it stands it is more than a year later. Knowing what I know about the game now , I really would have regretted not playing it. Walking around the ships, exploring wreckages, stations and talking to crew members is great fun. To be honest I could have played around 3 times a smuch content without getting bored. I would buy the DLCs if there were any to give me 2 times more content but I would safely assume there won't be more content since it has been a year since the last DLC. Sad. I would pay a lot to learn more about the world and the characters. The one episode was a bit of a horror episode and I really enjoyed it. This was also one of the rarer games where I really wanted to save the characters. Overall I would definitely recommend it to any fan of the show and probably also to people who are into sci-fi in general, who like Telltale type of game. If you liked the setting and world but want more typical video game gameplay, you btw might also enjoy Prey (2017) a lot!

Felt more like a walking (and floating) simulator with some story than a classic Telltale game Also very short considering the amount of time lost exploring empty corridors

This game got a horrendous autosave system. While still in the early moments of the game, I was exploring a location and entered a room which triggered a cutscene forcing me to continue. I wasn't done exploring, and the game gave no option to return. The autosave had overwritten my previous save, so I can't go back to the place I was exploring unless I start all over again. Unfortunately, the game isn't interesting enough for me to do that. Especially as you can't skip cutscenes. I really wanted to like this game, but it managed to kill my interest in it within a couple of hours.