The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 1 Review – Highly Enjoyable

When it comes to cinematic point-and-click games live The Expanse A Telltale Series, which offer riveting stories filled with twists and turns, nobody does it better than ‘Telltale Games‘ .

Although this isn’t the original team that brought us games like ‘The Walking Dead’ series and the ‘Batman’ series, this is (as branded on their website) ‘A studio reborn’. The new and improved ‘Telltale Games‘ (now owned by LGC Entertainment) starts off its new run with an adaptation of ‘The Expanse’ working with ‘Deck Nine’ who are known for ‘Life is Strange: Before The Storm.

Now for a little context, ‘The Expanse A Telltale Series‘ is a science fiction space saga set in the future where Earth has colonized Mars and various moons and asteroid belts expanding human civilization throughout the solar system. It is a book series by author James. A. Cory and starts with ‘Leviathan Wakes’ following the main characters of Jim Holden and Detective Miller. I’m currently reading through the first book now and I have to say, it’s a page turner.

‘The Expanse A Telltale Series‘ is more commonly recognised as the once Netflix/Syfy (before cancellation) then later saved by Amazon as an Original series based on the book series of the same name.

I’ve watched the series and it is damn good!

It’s unofficially hailed as the ‘Game of Thrones’ of science fiction shows (closely followed by the modern ‘Battlestar Galactica’ ).

The ‘Telltale’ series follows on from the show using a lot of the same designs, music styles and voice actors to make it authentic to the show.

‘The Expanse A Telltale Series’ is a prequel taking place prior to the events of season 1. You play as Camina Drummer, XO (executive officer) onboard the scavenger ship The Artemis.

*For fans of the show and book you will know that Drummer is a key character in relation to the events on Ceres and the character of Anderson Dawes and the OPA.

The game opens up on a hectic scene of the captain of The Artemis being dragged by two other crew members, lead by Drummer, to the airlock. This immediately draws you into the story. The game does the old ‘so many hours earlier’ trick to fill you in on the events leading up to this moment.

Now I will leave talking about the story here as it’s a truly great one to sink your teeth into and I don’t want to ruin it for you.

‘Telltale’ games in the past have been very point-and-click affairs with a cursor on the screen to help you navigate the frame to intractable moments.

It was a great and unique gameplay mechanic, however, as games have progressed over the years so too did this gameplay style.

When I say this is a ‘Telltale’ game like no other I truly mean it. It’s developed into a gameplay style that feels more fluid and less prone to missing key story elements due to miss handling the cursor.

The new style opts for something similar to ‘Life is Strange’ whereby the cursor style of movement is gone in favour of a more modern movement and camera system. The exploration of interactive objects and quick time events are back giving it an old but new feel, making the gameplay more polished and modernized to the modern-day gamer.

Another new feature unique to this ‘Telltale’ game is the Zero-G movement allowing you to float and glide your way through Zero Gravity environments like the inside of destroyed shipwrecks and the vastness of Space. It’s fun, unique and reminiscent of games like ‘Deliver us the Moon’ and ‘Adrift’.

‘Multiple Choice’ is also back which is a key gameplay feature of any ‘Telltale’ game. In The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 1 there are two big choices that you have to make which will impact your gameplay for future episodes. Again no spoilers on this, but they are really good.

Voice acting in ‘The Expanse A Telltale Series‘ is absolutely stellar using returning actors from the show to make the game feel an ever more authentic experience.

*For fans of the show the returning actors are Cara Gee as Drummer and Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasaralla. It would have been nice to hear Jared Harris back as Anderson Dawes however I’d imagine he’s been pretty busy of late on the ‘Foundation’ and all the many other projects he’s been appearing in lately. Although the voice actor for Dawes does a pretty decent job.

Overall The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 1: Archer’s Paradox is a highly enjoyable and truly great game to any fan of either the series or the books, but also new gamers and ‘Telltale’ fans alike.

I would highly recommend it and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the crew of the Artemis in The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 2 which will be releasing August 10th.