The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 2 Review

Here we are again for a quick review of episode 2 of ‘The Expanse A Telltale Series‘. So let’s dive right into the second episode of the series, titled ‘Hunting Grounds’ .

The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 2 starts off right where things were left in The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 1. The crew of the Artemis have just gone through a rather dramatic change of captain and are now on the run from pirates led by the notorious Captain Toussaint.

The episode starts off with a tense cat-and-mouse chase that ends with the crew of the Artemis hiding out in a spaceship graveyard filled with the derelict remains of both UNN, MCRN and Belter ships. The idea is to hide the Artemis within the debris while Toussaint’s ship passes right on by.

A bit reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon hiding out in an asteroid field in ‘Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back’. However, there are no massive space worms trying to eat us this time around. Once the ship is safely hidden it’s time for Drummer to go out into the void for some more Zero G exploration.

This time around you get to explore not one, not two, but three ships both inside and out. You really become immersed in this wide open space as you seamlessly move from ship to ship with no lag or drops in the frame rate.

While you search for the main objective of supplies you can also collect optional items that open up new lines of dialogue later on in the episode. I would advise doing this as some of the dialogue paths that open up from Items you find are really interesting in terms of character development. Speaking of character development, while searching the derelicts you get to hear what’s going on back on the Artemis via radio conversations with the crew.

The main conversation that is both funny and interesting to hear is by talking to Maya and hearing her trying her best to help in the amputation and replacement of Khan’s arm.

Along with these dialogue conversations with the crew, there are also plenty of logs and a few audio logs to collect to find out what happened during the battle between the 3 ships. It’s very interesting to read and discover, adding to a great bit of world-building.

A new feature of gameplay to come into play in this episode is both gun combat and stealth evasion.

During your Zero-G exploration of the derelicts, Toussaint’s ship will enter the graveyard and she will deploy some of her armed crew and heavily armored drones to search the wrecks for you.

Drummer must carefully navigate herself through the wreckage and back towards the Artemis without being detected. However, this being a Sci-fi action game the story decides for you to be seen by two of Toussaint’s crew. You must then take them out with Drummer’s pistol in traditional Telltale style quick time events which are both simplistic and satisfying.

Once past the guards and with the help of Maya activating one of the derelicts rail guns to take out incoming missiles and cripple Toussaint’s engines, you then high tail it back to the Artemis for a very tense thruster burn whilst being inside the airlock.

The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 2 definitely ups the ante in terms of action, however to me, ‘Hunting Grounds’ feels like a very character-driven episode.

Whereas The Expanse A Telltale Series episode 1 sets up the story and characters along with the main gameplay elements, The Expanse A Telltale Series episode 2 is all about character development.

You can have deep meaningful conversations with some of your crew and hear them open up about their past, making you care for them more.

And with this being a ‘Telltale’ game where choice always matters, you will start to see some of the choices you made during episode 1 come to fruition.

Spoiler for episode 1

I chose to keep Captain Cox alive and because of this, you can have a conversation with him during this episode. You can also find a bottle of whiskey while out on your Zero-G travels which you can then give to him to hear some unique dialogue.

One of the more charming aspects of this episode is the romantic relationship forming between Drummer and Maya. There’s a really nice scene once you’re back on board the Artemis where you can go and check on Maya and listen to some really cool and moving ‘Martian Music’.

The main impactful choice in this episode comes shortly after this scene. However, I will leave that for you to discover.

Now one thing that I love about Telltale games is the episodic game style. And with this game releasing episodes on a bi-weekly basis it really keeps you coming back for more. Especially when it ends on a massive cliffhanger like it did this episode. I now can’t wait for The Expanse A Telltale Series episode 3: ‘First Ones’ out on August 24th.

Overall The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 2 does a fantastic job of making sure that the impactful and little choices you make matter. But more importantly, it does really well at drawing you in more and more into the world of ‘The Expanse A Telltale Series‘ and making you really care about the crew of the Artemis through thoughtful and really well-written dialogue.

Let’s see what’s next!