{
  "id": 1716160,
  "title": "Can the Upcoming ‘Expanse’ Game Avoid ‘Mass Effect’s’ Biggest Mistake?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/can-the-upcoming-expanse-game-avoid-mass-effects-biggest-mistake",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-18T13:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Wired",
    "slug": "wired",
    "url": "https://www.wired.com/story/the-upcoming-expanse-game-has-to-make-some-hard-choices/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Owlcat Games, the developer behind the upcoming Expanse: Osiris Reborn, has set the bar high with their slogan \"Can the Upcoming ‘Expanse’ Game Avoid ‘Mass Effect’s’ Biggest Mistake?\" The game, slated for a spring 2027 release, is a third-person shooter and role-playing experience that places players in the role of a spaceship captain leading a crew of misfits across the far-future solar system. Based on the hard-science setting of The Expanse books and show, the game features dialog options and choice trees that allow players to shape the narrative and alter its outcomes.\n\nWhile many have compared the game to the Mass Effect series, Owlcat Games emphasizes that this will be their first foray into a third-person shooter, a departure from their top-down role-playing game expertise. The company has faced criticism for releasing a beta version of the game in April, with some players praising the combat and visuals but finding the story and voice acting lacking. However, Owlcat is addressing these issues and aims to introduce meaningful choices that will ripple through the game's universe.\n\nOne challenge for the developers is adapting the complex Expanse property, as Osiris Reborn takes place during the same time period as the first two books of a nine-book series. Owlcat has outlined their plans for implementing story choices, which include deciding on a character's backstory and appearance, as well as how they interact with the spaceship's crew and mentor them to advance their skills. The game features three competing factions (Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt's Belters) that players can work to befriend.\n\nWith multiple endings planned, Owlcat aims to create a choice system that gives players a sense of making a significant impact on the universe. However, they acknowledge the risk of replicating Mass Effect's ending controversy, where the player's choices were bundled into three basic outcomes. Owlcat is confident they will \"find ways for some of the player's choices to feel meaningful on the scale of the wider universe and potentially shape consequences that extend years beyond the immediate events of our story.\"",
  "summary": "The universe may never tell you if your choices mattered. Owlcat’s Osiris Reborn might not either.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}