I honestly regret playing this game, and feel like giving it a 3 is way too generous!
I already don't really care for The Expanse universe that much. I appreciate the effort that went into the story from the writers of the book and all the efforts that went into making that show, but for the life of me, I can't really get into this universe and care much about what's happening in it or its characters.
And this game just made everything worse. Bland characters, the shortest episodes ever where practically nothing happens in them, the most useless dialogue options and choices, and the shallowest and most vapid story I've seen in a game. The only silver lining to this game is Cara Gee's return as Camina Drummer and her voice acting. But that alone can't carry a whole game.
What I can't understand, is that if there are so many books about this universe, how could they not find a story about Camina Drummer in them and make a game about them? Why didn't they ask the actual writer to maybe write them a new story or ask a professional writer who can actually come up with a real plot? How exactly did they think their nothingburger of a story is actually more interesting than literally anything else?
The episodes are so short that characters don't really develop past one dimension. The whole game is so short that when it ends you go "Wait, that was it?".
The illusion of choice still persists as one of the main problems with Telltale games. You basically have no choice in how the story goes or how someone may die or not, you just sit back and watch and occasionally click in the QTE. I wouldn't have much of a problem if the writing was actually good and wasn't this cringey, forced, and contrived where you roll your eyes whenever characters have to be dumb in order for the plot to happen. It's also really funny that an optional exploration mission where you have to find a tiny thing in literal space (that you have to look up on YouTube to find) can have bigger consequences than actual dialogue and action choices.
The gameplay is also outdated and apart from the walking simulation parts and space explorations that are only fun for the first five minutes, it's just pathetic QTEs. They didn't even bother adding a simple shooting mechanic.
There is also no skipping as always with these games which is more infuriating than the game itself. Couple that with the fact that there is also no save option, and some scenes and missions can go for over 10 minutes before an automatic save, and you have one of the most annoying games ever. I had to replay a part that went on for 10 minutes before saving because the game crashed 1 second before the next checkpoint. There is no skip cutscene, so I have to suffer through the whole thing again.
Telltale used to make great games like The Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us with great characters and storylines where you couldn't get up and wanted to finish all of it in a day. Now it makes these pathetic attempts at making this 3-hour game that took me a month to finish. It's just sad.
This game basically has nothing to offer and I won't wish this on my enemy. It has mobile game level of side character design, practically no story or characterization, outdated and pathetic "gameplay", no choice in how the story goes, and very boring to get through. The only reason you should play this is if you want more Cara Gee as Camina Drummer, but then again, I'd recommend just watching a full walkthrough of it on YouTube and not spending a penny on it.
