Owlcat's adaptation of The Expanse, Osiris Reborn, shows signs of ambition but delivers a surprisingly flat first impression. After an hour with a closed beta build, the game reads like a limp imitation of Mass Effect and a leaden interpretation of a much-loved television property.

The third-person RPG positions itself alongside the events of the show’s first season. Moments from the televised arc — the Canterbury's destruction and the mysterious occurrences on Eros — arrive via newscasts while navigating the beta's single playable area: Pinkwater, a wheel-shaped mercenary base orbiting Jupiter. The setting captures the franchise's broad strokes, but the finer details that make the TV series compelling are largely absent.

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Design and structure lean heavily on familiar narrative-RPG beats. Conversations, companion interactions and mission hubs recall BioWare's template, yet the execution lacks the energy and personality that elevated those games. Characters feel turgid rather than eccentric, and the ensemble chemistry that defines the TV cast is not effectively translated to the game. Even attempts at strained charm or sexual tension fall flat, leaving relationships feeling perfunctory.

Combat and systems in the beta provide a functional baseline but little flair. Encounters are serviceable and readable, though insufficient to distract from the game's most glaring shortcoming: the writing. Dialogue often settles into exposition or blunt character descriptors instead of the lived-in, eccentric voices of the show's inhabitants. The result is a version of The Expanse that resembles its source visually and structurally but struggles to convey its social texture.

Contextual caveats apply. The build on show was an early beta, so content, polish and depth remain works in progress. Nevertheless, the first hour suggests Owlcat faces a difficult task: translating a TV ensemble renowned for nuanced performances into a game where players expect both narrative weight and engaging companionship. Present signs indicate the studio has not yet resolved that challenge.

Expectations should be tempered until a fuller build is available for assessment. For now, Osiris Reborn appears competent in places and disappointingly inert in others, trading the TV show's oddball charisma for a flatter, more formulaic RPG approach.