The Expanse: Osiris Reborn turns your origin story into more than a character sheet – thankfully

It is impossible to look at The Expanse: Osiris Reborn without immediately thinking of Mass Effect. Owlcat Games has never attempted to hide that influence, but its latest developer blog offers a better idea of where this particular sci-fi RPG intends to forge its own path.

Osiris Reborn will place considerable weight on player choice, beginning before we have fired a weapon or upset one of our future crewmates. During character creation, we will choose whether our captain comes from Earth, Mars, or the Belt, and this origin will affect far more than a handful of dialogue options.

Each background comes with a separate personal history that will gradually come to light as the story progresses. Your origin will also unlock faction-specific missions and determine how people across the solar system react to you.

This could make arriving somewhere such as Ceres a very different experience depending on where you were born. Owlcat creative director Alexander Mishulin has previously explained that an Earther or Martian will not receive the warmest welcome there following the destruction of the Canterbury. A Belter, meanwhile, may be granted access to additional locations and side quests.

That is precisely the sort of consequence I want from an RPG origin, especially one set in this diverse universe. It should not be something you select during character creation, reference twice in the opening hour, and then effectively forget until the day you die. If Osiris Reborn follows through, picking a different home could meaningfully alter the shape of a second playthrough.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn companions will change alongside you

Owlcat says decisions will range from apparently insignificant conversations to choices capable of determining somebody’s fate. Quests will not always be divided into an obvious good response and a moustache-twirling evil one, either. Players might act with empathy, pursue the most practical outcome, or decide that keeping themselves alive is the only thing that matters.

The studio has used Polly, the youngest member of the Gemini’s crew, as an example of how this works.

Polly is a resourceful Belter teenager who wants to help her people while finding a future of her own. Previously released character details revealed that she runs a video blog about life in the Belt and dreams of doing something genuinely important for it.

Over the course of Osiris Reborn, our smaller interactions will shape our relationship with her. Eventually, however, we will be asked to choose a mentor for Polly. That decision will steer her development in a particular direction and unlock a unique non-combat skill line.

It is a fascinating idea because it turns companion progression into part of the narrative. We are not simply opening a menu and spending points to give Polly an extra five percent bonus to something. The person we encourage her to learn from will apparently determine what she becomes capable of doing.

The blog also suggests that companions have individual story arcs and can undergo changes to their behaviour and ultimate fate. Our decisions will accumulate rather than existing as isolated morality checks, gradually creating a version of the captain defined by what we have actually done.

Owlcat has plenty of experience in this area through Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. If there is one studio I would trust to fill a space RPG with overlapping decisions, companion drama, and consequences that return dozens of hours later, it is probably this one.

I fell for it a bit with Starfield, and that never turned out to be what I expected in my head. I am hoping that here my alignments match more closely.

Choices will not always announce their consequences

One of the more encouraging aspects is Owlcat’s insistence that the universe will not simply tell players whether they made the correct decision. That feels particularly appropriate for The Expanse, a series built around competing interests, political tension, limited resources, and people making impossible choices without knowing what happens next.

Some consequences may affect somebody the captain barely knows. Others could fall upon close friends or family, including the player character’s twin, J. Crew members who are not currently accompanying the captain on the ground can still provide assistance from the Gemini, meaning their survival, loyalty, and development may have practical consequences as well as emotional ones.

That naturally introduces considerable replay value. A Martian captain who takes a hard utilitarian approach could have a substantially different journey from an empathetic Belter, even before different companions and quest outcomes are considered.

The Mass Effect comparison is never going away, especially when Osiris Reborn gives us a custom captain, two active squadmates, a spaceship full of companions, and a solar system to explore. However, Owlcat’s promise of deeper origins and less binary decision-making might give it an identity beyond being “Mass Effect, but, well, The Expanse.”

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn launches in spring 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox. It will also be available through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from day one. Owlcat’s official site contains further information, while the origin system has been explored in a separate developer post.

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