The Expanse: A Telltale Series Review

Though absurdly unfamiliar with The Expanse television show, its praises have been sung multiple times by various members of my friend group. But shows are harder for me to dive into anymore, blame the thirst for binging or the mere fact that I’ve got too many games to play.

However, I’m familiar with Telltale Games, both their triumphs and struggles. The Walking Dead is a seminal gaming experience and perhaps one of the best interactive narratives ever. My experience with the first season took place shortly after I unceremoniously moved back to my hometown, purchasing the complete season on sale with the meager amount of money I had. The AMC series and the few years of comics were far in my rearview mirror. To me, Rick and Daryl didn’t come close to Lee and Clementine. Their desperate journey towards hope crushed my soul.

Playing The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a strange gift. In the years since Telltale threw every franchise at the wall and made an episodic series and then closed down, a few developers have worked to fill the gaps. Deck Nine Games, responsible for Life is Strange: True Colors, delivered the best entry in the franchise and its a good match to have them partner with Telltale for The Expanse.

Understandably, Telltale’s bread and butter has been the exploration of licenses. So it makes sense that its newest game would be based on a property that exists as both novels and a television show. Across these five episodes, do Telltale and Deck Nine recapture the magic and provide a worthwhile prequel to The Expanse?

There may be a hesitancy for players who haven’t watched the show to play The Expanse. I completely understand the notion but felt that it would be interesting to play through a story meant as a prequel to a property I had virtually no knowledge of. It helps that this series is a prequel to the show, technically requiring no knowledge of the story and its characters since these are incarnations that haven’t existed for several seasons and episodes.

Revolving around Camina Drummer–a main character from the later seasons of the show–Telltale’s The Expanse sees Drummer as the executive officer of a salvage spacecraft called the Artemis. The game kicks off with Drummer about to eject a crew member from the airlock before halting the action and going back in time to see what led to these events. The action over the course of the five episodes spins out from the Artemis’ decision to investigate a wreck outside of Jupiter that supposedly holds extremely valuable cargo.

Highlighting the entire series is actress Cara Gee reprising her role as Drummer. Her comfort in this universe is obvious and as the core of these five episodes, players instantly bond with her in whatever shape they decide to take the character. Drummer can be cold and ruthless or a compassionate member of her crew.

Deck Nine’s experience with a female lead shines through, their work with True Colors obviously paying off. In typical Telltale fashion, players will be notified when key decisions made are latched into the memories of characters involved. A large part of the captivation in The Expanse is wondering how an early decision may ripple into later threads, possibly all the way to the finale of the series. The character drama and infrequent action painted a truly compelling adventure that I felt invested in.

Being a science fiction series, there was also a sense of scale that previously wasn’t present in prior Telltale games. What made The Walking Dead work was its agonizing character moments, made more emotional by the fact that Clementine and Lee were original characters. With The Expanse, players can find themselves floating amongst the stars in a Solar System that holds unlimited potential. Smartly, though, Deck Nine and Telltale keep the important stuff focused in Drummer’s orbit and know when to blend suspenseful moments with long stretches of dialog.

One major aspect of The Expanse that I appreciated nearly instantly was its implementation of a new engine and a new perspective. Gone are the fixed angles of previous games. Replacing them are fully explorable 3D environments that don’t feel stilted to move around in. An added bonus is that The Expanse simply looks great. Character models are still very stylized and it isn’t a visual design that everyone will enjoy. But recognition should be given to erring on the side of realism as it grounds the universe more.

Much of Telltale’s prior work centered around properties rooted in comics or previously existing games. With the Game of Thrones series, the watercolor-like graphics were sufficient but decidedly removed a touch of maturity and realism that series desperately needed. Though Deck Nine or Telltale should commit themselves to overtly sophisticated graphics as a sacrifice to deeper writing, there’s a balance that can be struck so as not to be distracting.

That technological bump absolutely delivers when The Expanse widens its scope and covers the screen in a derelict spacecraft with a planet in the backdrop. These are some great skyboxes that are allowed to tell their own stories as well.

Despite the enjoyable storytelling at work, as a playable video game, The Expanse has its shortcomings. There’s a reliance on QTEs to push action forward, meaning that walking and dialog choices are the primary extravagances that players have when actually playing the game.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with a QTE-laden narrative adventure, it would have been interesting to see The Expanse push the boundaries of what this particular game is capable of. In True Colors, Deck Nine crafted a surprising chapter where the characters acted out a role playing fantasy. Unique outfits, visual spells, and a custom UI made this moment distinct and stand out through an emotional story.

In The Expanse I didn’t expect Deck Nine and Telltale to get weird but again, it would have been nice to have that one significant break near the halfway point that provided some variety. There are opportunities where Drummer goes on zero gravity explorations and is capable of collecting random cargo and collectibles. Personally, I found the concept of these zero-g moments cool but lacking in overall execution, frequently being a bit too slow and easy to lose track in.

A number of collectibles meant as ways to complete side quests or to expand the lore of The Expanse‘s universe can be found throughout the series. However, it’s not always obvious how these items have an impact on the story if at all. Respect should be given for The Expanse providing players with just enough non-story activities but I hope in something like The Wolf Among Us 2, big risks are taken.

Finally, I think its important to note that the five episode series of The Expanse is over relatively quickly. This complete journey ultimately takes less time than a season of the show. Yes, players can dive back in and replay it, making new choices and seeing where the story goes. But I often wonder what ideas are left in the writer’s room that could have allowed players more time with the characters and more ways to become invested in the story.

Are five episodes really all these narrative-based series can afford? There’s certainly been issues with releasing episodic games on a timely schedule but by the fourth episode, it feels like all the dominoes are forced to fall in place before the explosive finale. Thankfully The Expanse released at a generous cadence but what if the journey was stretched by two more episodes? Wishful thinking, likely, as more isn’t necessarily a positive. But one can dare to dream.

The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a wonderful return to form for a developer most thought long gone. With the help of Deck Nine games and their expertise at narrative-based games, The Expanse was given proper due. Whether you are a veteran fan of the series or completely in the dark, enough intrigue exists in this journey to justify exploring. Let’s just hope Telltale is back with a vengeance.