This Could Be The Next Mass Effect (The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Hands-On Preview)

TL;DR

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn's closed beta impresses with Mass Effect-style combat, rich world-building, and meaningful player choices, despite early technical issues.

Key Points

• 1.The beta is a strong early showing despite technical problems. Running on RTX 5090 laptops and 4090 desktops, the build still suffers stutters, texture pop-in, and severe frame rate dips — though a patch was planned for April 22nd, 2026, with full optimization targeting a 2027 launch.
• 2.Combat is directly Mass Effect-inspired and works well. Third-person cover shooting with tactical pause, squadmate commands, environmental hazards, and active gadget-based abilities make for a cinematic, strategic experience — though companion AI occasionally acts dumb or stands in the line of fire.
• 3.Active abilities are equipment-based, not class-locked. Gadgets — including grenade types, drone swarms, stun projectiles, and elemental-effect bullets — fill three ability slots and can be freely swapped, giving players a customizable loadout regardless of chosen class.
• 4.Class and race choices shape skill checks, not combat abilities. Two races (Earther/Belter) and two classes (Officer/Hacker) unlock distinct skill checks like cyber sabotage, persuasion, and engineering, while companions cover gaps — a more grounded approach than Mass Effect's strict class-ability locks.
• 5.Player choices carry genuine, branching consequences. A single key decision — whether to fight back against Protogen's invasion or comply — determines whether the space station survives or is destroyed, alters level design, changes available loot, and affects which scenes play out, with no obvious 'good' option flagged.
• 6.Writing and dialogue are the beta's weakest area. Stilted character lines, clumsy backstory dumps, and mismatched tonal banter undercut an otherwise impressive presentation; the developers acknowledged this and committed to refining it before the 2027 launch, which the reviewer flagged as critical for a narrative-heavy RPG.