Oye, tumang! The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is one of my most anticipated games of early 2027, and recently I got to check out an early Beta for the game. Look for my thoughts on that in the near future, but developer Owlcat shared a bunch of stats on how our visit to seteshang Pinkwater went, as well as a new blog on some of the planned improvements headed to the game before next year. Let's get into it.
Currently, the beta has attracted more than 21,000 players who have accrued an estimated 2.5 years of playtime, with 125 days of them spent in open space. The preferred specialization was officer, with more than 60% of players choosing this over hacker. Players were also very generous with their bullets, more than 60 million of them — with about 2.8 million successful headshots. This also led to more than 380,000 bodies now floating in space…
That's a lot of dead full o' imbobo, ke? Well, you all had more than bullets to share about the beta, and Owlcat has always been good about listening to their community. There are a lot of examples in the recent blog on Steam, but here's the short (but not all-inclusive) list pulled local:
Players and press expressed their love for the atmosphere, the third person shooter mechanics, and the spectacular space combat. However, there are also aspects identified as needing improvement: for example, players were not happy with the male protagonist and his brother’s voice, so now the team is looking for a new voice for both of them. Updates include changes to combat, animations, tone, and more, with the full details listed here.
The general reception of the Beta has been great. We received a lot of praise for the visuals, EVA, combat, Larry’s and Zafar’s heroics, music, and the general atmosphere of Pinkwater 4 station. Of course we also got some criticism and a huge volume of advice on how we can improve. We're still combing through every piece of feedback very carefully, hosting discussions among our teams, and determining what needs to be addressed and to what extent. We’ve noted some of the key points below (based on your feedback), and what actions we’ve already taken and plan to take down the road:
- While the voice actor for the male protagonist and J put in a lot of good work, they felt less expressive than we wanted. Because of this, we are changing the voices of the male protagonist and J.
- Our dev team is also working on the overall character animations, including both facial animation and body movement, to make them feel more natural and polished.
- We know J's battle cries got a bit repetitive. The “ask” system was still very much a work in progress during the Beta, and a full rework has been on our roadmap all along. Still, thank you for pointing it out and sharing your thoughts.
- Though the overall narrative tone of the game is a deliberate creative direction, the player feedback helped us identify the moments where certain interactions felt too inconsistent or out of place. As a result, some conversations in the game will be adjusted to make character reactions feel more natural, responsive, and grounded.
- We are working on the cover system to make your interactions with cover easier and more intuitive. We will keep improving this aspect of the game until the release.
There were over 7000 players that included their feedback on the beta, but if you wanted to add your voice to the chorus, you can experience it for yourself by picking up Miller’s Pack or the Collector's Edition on the website. The beta will stay open until launch.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will launch on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG, and on console via Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. Fans can wishlist the game now, but stick around here at GamingTrend because I'll be keeping you up to date on this all the way through to launch!
