The Expanse: A Telltale Series picks up proper the place the primary episode left off. Issues had been in a little bit of disarray, so the opening moments of The Expanse: A Telltale Series Episode 2 are a bit hectic. Nevertheless, Camina Drummer is now the captain of The Artemis, which implies our decisions ought to now matter greater than ever. Although we’re technically nonetheless within the first half of the sequence, by the tip of the episode I actually really feel like issues are shifting ahead.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series – Episode 2 (PC [Reviewed], PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)Developer: Deck NinePublisher: TelltaleReleased: August 10, 2023MSRP: $39.99
A acquainted gameplay loop
I’ve to confess, Episode 2 is similar to Episode 1. We begin out onboard the Artemis, earlier than encountering a ship particles area. We navigate the wreckage, discover a number of hidden gadgets, then end out the episode again on the Artemis. Don’t get me improper, the narrative moved ahead in Episode 2. However with every of those episodes solely lasting about an hour and a half to date, I’m beginning to fear a bit.
Pay attention, I perceive…that is The Expanse. It is smart that we’ve spent all of our time within the depths of area to date. However, that doesn’t make it a enjoyable gameplay loop. House seems to be simply as stunning because it did within the first episode, however navigating the derelict ship felt a bit an excessive amount of like I had simply accomplished the identical factor. It will be cool if we get to discover a station in some unspecified time in the future, and even possibly go to Earth, Mars, and even one other planet. Although that’s extremely unlikely given the overarching narrative of The Expanse, I do suppose it could be cool to do.
About midway by way of the episode, there’s a new gameplay ingredient wherein it’s important to navigate the wreckage whereas dodging the lasers from drones which are looking for you. It’s nothing game-changing, however it’s good to see Deck 9 attempting so as to add some new gameplay mechanics right into a narrative-focused title.
Decisions do appear to matter
Whereas I seemingly made some massive decisions within the first episode, I wasn’t positive in the event that they had been really going to finish up mattering or not. Moreover, I went out of my option to full some “aspect missions”, acquiring varied gadgets my crew had requested.
To my shock, the alternatives I made really appeared to influence what occurred all through this episode, which is nice. Additionally, it looks as if going out of my option to collect these further gadgets additionally made a distinction too. For instance, in Episode 1 our medic had requested a brand new laser crystal for our surgical gadget on the Artemis. I used to be capable of finding it and in Episode 2 somebody required a surgical process. The process was seemingly efficient particularly as a result of I discovered the laser crystal. I’m a bit inquisitive about what would have occurred had I not discovered it.
As a aspect observe to The Expanse followers, that is undoubtedly the Camina Drummer from the present. As I mentioned in my impressions of Episode 1, Cara Gee knocks it out of the park. I’m actually glad they had been capable of get her to reprise the voice of Drummer. There are a number of decisions it’s important to make all through this episode, and so they actually felt like Drummer choices. On the finish of the episode, we meet up with our crew on the Artemis. We actually get to see the consequences of Drummer being captain, which I’m positive is organising future episodes.
In two weeks we’ll check out Episode 3 at which level I feel we’ll have a good suggestion of the path The Expanse: A Telltale Series is taking.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher. We’re saving the score for the final episode to encompass the complete experience.]Steven Mills
Workers Author – Steven has been writing in some capability for over a decade now. He has a ardour for story centered RPG’s just like the Last Fantasy franchise and ARPG’s like Diablo and Path of Exile. However actually, he is keen to strive something.
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