Owlcat Games’ The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is a game based on a sci-fi series known for focusing more on realism, which means that space travel is going to be a long, arduous process. Speaking to IGN, game design director Leonid Rastorguev has revealed that players thankfully won’t have to deal with any time management during interplanetary travel. Rather, he revealed that players will get to see what is going on in their ship during these long journeys.
“The Expanse setting is very grounded and it’s very scientifically accurate. So that places a lot of restrictions on the developers in terms of creating new stuff,” explained Rastorguev. “For example, designing new gadgets, because we need to check every kind of idea against the modern depiction of physics, and sometimes even with scientific guys that consult us on the matter.”
Rastorguev went on to talk about how players will get to experience the passage of time aboard their ship, especially since it can often take days, weeks, and even months to travel between celestial bodies. Players will get cutscenes showing off how their crew members are living their lives and passing time.
“But talking about the passing of time on the ship, it is true that every journey in The Expanse universe takes days, even weeks, sometimes maybe months,” he said. “We won’t be doing a time management mechanic in the game. I think it is excessive. But we will be showing it in terms of atmosphere and the ship. There will be some short cutscenes showing the life on the ship, how people communicate, eat their dinners, work out, and so on and so on, just to give you the immersion, the feeling of passing time on the ship.”
“And there will be some other things that will actually explain to the player how the long journeys through space work in The Expanse.”
The studio has been revealing quite a few details about The Expanse: Osiris Reborn recently. Earlier this week, we got a glimpse at the companions that players can meet and befriend in their time with the game. We also got a brand new trailer, which revealed a Spring 2027 launch window. Along with this, Owlcat Games has also confirmed that a closed beta build of the RPG will be available from April 22nd onwards for those who buy the Miller’s Pack.
More recently, the studio’s PR manager, Katarina Popp, confirmed that generative AI was being used in the game’s development. However, she noted that it was only used in early stages, on things like prototyping and placeholder assets. All of these AI-generated assets are going to be replaced by human-created works by the time the game comes out.
“We use it basically for trying out things on a technical level,” she explained. “For example, looking at how a 2D image looks in 3D, or changing colors to what looks good. So it’s basically for being able to iterate faster. But we don’t use it to write, we don’t use AI voice actors, so everything that will be in the final version will definitely 100 percent be human made.”
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
