Hands On: The Expanse's PS5 RPG Has Serious Potential, But Its Protagonist Is a Big Problem

I've played a small chunk of The Expanse: Osiris Reborn on PS5 thanks to the game's closed beta demo, and one thing's already clear: this sci-fi RPG has loads of potential.

For those totally out of the loop, Osiris Reborn is based on The Expanse — a series of novels, and a subsequent TV show, both of which are widely lauded by genre enthusiasts.

Sadly I am not one such enthusiast, because I haven't read the books or watched the on-screen adaptation (although it does sound right up my street).

So I was going into this demo with next to no knowledge of the source material; my only expectation being that it's supposed to play like Mass Effect — a dialogue-driven RPG with third-person, cover-based shooting.

Was that expectation met? By and large, I'd say yes. There's blatant Mass Effect DNA here in terms of gameplay and structure, but I'd dare suggest that The Expanse's already well-established world building immediately distinguishes the experience.

This is what they call 'hard' sci-fi — the kind of sci-fi that's grounded in our current reality, just pushed forward a few hundred years. And that's already quite an interesting basis for a video game, because so many other sci-fi titles dive headfirst into more fantastical elements, like space magic and quirky alien species.

The demo's only about an hour-and-a-bit long, and to be completely honest, I don't think it's packing quite enough stuff to form any kind of longstanding opinion.

The demo's very combat-heavy, with only a few dialogue scenes to click through. Based purely on this early slice, it's almost impossible to judge the game's role-playing chops — all I really know is that the gunplay's got a oddly satisfying kick to it.

A weird choice of words, perhaps, but Osiris Reborn's hard sci-fi approach means that encounters are surprisingly brutal — especially when you're out in space.

Some quick framing: the demo plops you into what is apparently the game's second main mission. You and your twin brother or sister, J, return to your mercenary band's HQ to report a job gone horribly wrong.

Unfortunately, the heavily armoured psychos who presumably tried to kill you in the opening act have followed you back home, and they launch an attack on the space station. The beta sees you fight you way out through the invading forces.

On a mechanical level, the battles are pretty standard. You take cover to recharge your shields, and you pop out to pump various enemy types with lead.

There are also cooldown-based abilities, but again, they're relatively grounded. We're talking different kinds of grenades, an arm-mounted missile launcher, and concussive ammunition.

At a glance, these abilities may seem a tad boring — there's a reason why most sci-fi games lean into space magic, after all — but the spice is in how they impact your surroundings.

Osiris Reborn has some amazing environmental destruction. You might not think that blasting through the interior of a space station would yield such impressive results, but it feels like almost anything and everything can crack and splinter.

Wall panelling, windows, furniture, even the waist-high cover that you'll so desperately rely on — all of it can be blown to bits with sufficient force. The result is a gratifying visual cacophony of particle effects and physics, transforming even these early-game gunfights into a real spectacle.

The title even doubles down on its penchant for destruction, as you can order allies to exploit environmental hazards in a bid to reshape the battlefield. The mechanic feels a little bit gimmicky and maybe even scripted at first, but it comes into play much more often than you'd think.

Then there are the zero-gravity encounters, which, in my opinion, probably ended up being the most impressive thing about the demo.

Now, these aren't skirmishes where you're floating through space — they're fights where you're anchored to the outside of the space station via magnetic boots.

Mechanically, these battles don't differ too much from regular shootouts — you're still taking cover and spamming R2 at anything with a health bar — but it's the feel that resonates so well.

The lack of gravity means that environmental debris explodes and scatters across the scene in a rather beautiful way. Enemies just drift off into the void if they're killed or leveraged from the surface, and their spilled blood collects into slow-moving streaks.

Even the sound design brought a big stupid grin to my face. You can hear radio chatter just fine, but everything else is muffled by the vacuum of space. Gunshots make a low, underwater-like doomph sound instead of the crackles that you hear indoors, and it's a similar story with explosions.

This feels like proper space combat, and the developer deserves a lot of praise for nailing the aesthetics — something we haven't seen done so well since... Dead Space, perhaps? If you're a true sci-fi nerd, you're probably going to adore this level of dedication.

But as alluded, the action is just one part of the package, and much to my dismay, I've been left unconvinced by the beta's ability to portray likeable characters.

There are a mix of issues at work here, but chief among them is the voice acting. The protagonist, and by extension, their twin, are yours to create — but the demo only lets you play as preset leads. You're either male or female.

I played through the beta as both, and while the female voice was mostly fine, the male voice was genuinely bad enough to pull me out of the experience multiple times.

I don't know if it's just a case of crappy direction, but the male protagonist sounds completely out of place. This guy's supposed to be an all-action mercenary, but he sounds like an LA-based LARPer who's trying way too hard to convince his weekend friends that he's right for the role.

It's difficult to explain without hearing it for yourself. You never want to be mean to voice actors because you're rarely handed the full context — but all I know is that the male lead is distractingly poor.

And the worst part is that his twin suffers the same fate. In fact, he's probably even worse — higher pitched with a bafflingly jovial tone.

There's an optional conversation you can have on the station where J responds to a rumour about him decking some thugs — and it's simply impossible to believe that this Saturday morning cartoon character would ever even think about resorting to violence.

Frankly insane miscasts aside, I don't think the writing itself is all that. For the most part it's serviceable — and it doesn't bury you in exposition, which is always a plus — but it never comes across as particularly snappy or clever.

And again, it's the twins that drag things down. Unlike everyone else in the demo, our heroes can't help but blurt out quips as they explore or engage in combat — and some of them are rough.

For a studio that's always managed to write engaging characters, it feels like OwlCat Games has somehow dropped the ball — like it's gone from writing episodes of classic Star Trek to penning the most cookie-cutter of Marvel flicks.

But I suppose there's still plenty of time to tighten things up ahead of the game's 2027 release. OwlCat has said that it's open to any and all feedback, so I'm selfishly hoping someone from the writing team is reading this.

And of course, the beta doesn't necessarily reflect the full release. Again, this is just a sample of a much larger adventure — but then if I'm noticing these blemishes in what is essentially a handpicked part of the game, it does raise concerns around the rest of it.

Still, my headline doesn't lie: The Expanse: Osiris Reborn has serious potential, and if it even comes close to filling the Mass Effect-shaped hole in my gaming schedule, then I'll be over the moon.

Have you been keeping an eye on The Expanse: Osiris Reborn? Perhaps you've tried the beta for yourself? Get behind some cover in the comments section below.