The Expanse: A Telltale Series Episode 1 Review: A Strong Start

Through the interval between Telltale Video games’ closure and rebirth underneath LCG Leisure, we’ve seen a couple of video games attempt to copy its signature model of journey sport with no actual success (just like the mediocre Tales from the Borderlands sequel). Fortunately, with assist from Life Is Unusual: True Colours developer Deck 9, Telltale is again with its first episodic journey sport since 2019’s The Strolling Useless: The Ultimate Season within the type of The Expanse: A Telltale Collection. It serves as a prequel to the hit Syfy and Prime Video tv collection and is a robust begin to a brand new period for the studio.

What’s most noticeable about The Expanse: A Telltale Collection Episode 1 is how instantly it looks like a correct Telltale Video games product. You’re shortly into the thick of issues enjoying as Carmina Drummer (as soon as once more voiced by Cara Gee), making dialogue selections, and attending to know your crew mates on a scavenger ship. What’s good is that Deck 9 doesn’t fall into the entice that many later Telltale Video games titles did, which was to really feel like they performed themselves. You even have to maneuver Carmina round from space to space to be able to transfer the plot ahead, and that offers you a correct likelihood to really feel such as you’re contained in the world and might discover at your personal leisure, which is definitely a thrill for followers of the sci-fi collection.

Being in house, this makes exploration all of the extra fascinating each inside and outdoors the ship’s partitions. You’re in a position to make the most of the shortage of gravity and really stroll up partitions, which is the place quite a lot of well-hidden salvage has been positioned. The primary episode has the participant looting a ship that was beforehand attacked by pirates, and the actual spotlight is the sense of exploration. Every room is crammed with transmissions, knowledge logs, and objects to be discovered. Like an old-school journey sport, you’ll get extra out of the expertise the extra thorough you might be with trying round. You may as well use thrusters to fly across the totally different components of the ship, which is a refreshing sense of mobility.

Being that The Expanse: A Telltale Collection is the studio’s first correct foray again, it’s solely becoming that you simply get to expertise the entire developer’s hallmarks. Large choices, full with reminders that your relationship has modified with a personality? In fact. Fast-time occasions to find out whether or not you get by way of a couple of motion scenes unhurt? You bought it. Effectively-written verbal exchanges and compelling characters? It’s all right here. It was very easy to be skeptical in regards to the Telltale branding being again, however The Expanse undoubtedly earns it. In case you don’t observe gaming information, you’ll by no means have guessed that a lot drama had occurred for the reason that studio’s heyday of placing out 3-4 video games a yr.

The primary episode, titled “Archer’s Paradox,” is a bit gradual to start out, but it surely is smart as an introduction. There’s not a lot motion right here till close to the tip of the episode, however the sense of hazard and dread you get from exploring the attacked ship principally makes up for it. Whereas I want there was extra by way of substantial selections to make (there are solely actually two of any significance), it can possible ramp up as episodes are launched each two weeks.

The Expanse: A Telltale Collection Episode 1 is a robust begin for the collection and this iteration of Telltale Video games. Followers of the present will get pleasure from attending to study extra about Drummer’s backstory, and Cara Gee delivers a robust efficiency that meets expectations. The next episodes will decide if the story is ready to repay on its promising begin, however the manufacturing high quality and polish are clearly an enchancment from Telltale’s previous titles.