Fans of Telltale Games and the Prime Video series, The Expanse had reason to celebrate at the 2021 Game Awards. Not only is Telltale back, thanks to its new parent company, LCG Entertainment, but its first new game series announcement was The Expanse: A Telltale Series. Serving as a prequel to the Prime series, which recently aired its sixth and final season, the game looks to be a faithful adaptation of the universe and characters from the show, which are in turn based on those from the novels by James S. A. Corey.
Telltale Games has a long and storied history of adapting high-profile, licensed properties into episodic video games. Its previous releases include original stories based on such franchises as Batman, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy and the company's mainstay license, The Walking Dead. However, due to financial troubles, the company closed its doors in 2018, canceling many of its ongoing projects. The Expanse is the first sign of new life from the developer, and if its trailer is any indication, Telltale's still got the goods. Here's everything we know so far about the game.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series' Trailer
Unveiled along with the game's announcement during The Game Awards 2021, The Expanse's first trailer is only a minute long and doesn't reveal much about its plot. It begins with a raspy male voiceover speaking to someone about what he's heard regarding them. Among the things he mentions throughout the trailer is that the person is a rockhopper, has worked the docks on Ceres (a space station on an asteroid), and was an "attack dog" for Dawes, probably referring to Anderson Dawes, who was the leader of the OPA (Outer Planet Alliance) on The Expanse TV series.
The Belter Scavenger ship, the Artemis, is shown flying near Jupiter. A pair of magnetic boots touch down on a metal catwalk, and the mysterious figure walks toward a closed airlock holding a man pounding desperately on the window. The offscreen voice continues, saying "So, you don't have any problem killing Inners or Belters who disagree with the OBA."
There are shots of dead bodies floating through the corridor in zero gravity, their helmet faceplates smashed in. The person walking along the catwalk catches a floating bullet in their hand, and the trailer reveals them to be fan-favorite character Camina Drummer. The man speaking then notes that he has difficulty knowing if everything he's heard about her is true, and Drummer replies, "Truth is truth. How you deal with it is up to you, Bosmang." She then hits the airlock release button, sending the trapped individual into the coldness of space.
A new trailer for the game dropped during Gamescom 2022 Opening Night Live featuring fresh plot details and some gameplay footage. A scuffle breaks out aboard The Artemis between Drummer, a man threatening her with a gun, and a couple of other crew mates. Drummer is also shown tending to an injured man with a ripped spacesuit. Cara Gee, who voices Drummer speaks about how players will get to see the character's more vulnerable sides, as "by the time we meet her in the series, they've been cauterized," a comment on the character's thorny demeanor.
The developers also speak during the video, talking about such features as floating through Zero-G environments and exploring exploded ship parts in space. Drummer is seen navigating through ship corridors and amongst some wreckage in a spacesuit. She comes upon a derelict ship of full dead crew members floating about. Zak Garris, V.P. of Story Development for Telltale, describes the experience as Drummer being "among their ghosts," as encountering dead bodies is pretty common in the world of scavenging. At the end of the trailer, Drummer finds a room full of floating decapitated heads, which is a strong hint that there is a dangerous menace on the horizon.
What Is The Expanse: A Telltale Series About?
Telltales' The Expanse will be a prequel to the Prime Video series of the same name. It's set in a sci-fi future where mankind has accomplished travel throughout the solar system and has formed three warring factions: those who call Earth home, the people who have colonized and are living on Mars, and the Belters, who work and live in and around the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Drummer, played by Cara Gee on the show, is a proud and fierce Belter, and a leader to her people in many capacities.
Drummer's younger self looks to be the XO on the Artemis in Telltale's game. According to the official synopsis, a mutiny breaks out aboard the ship, and it is up to the player, in the boots of Drummer, to quell the violence and decide the fate of the Artemis and her crew. This is very much in line with past Telltale titles, where the player's choices were key to the storyline and affected everything that happened thereafter.
As mentioned, Cara Gee will be reprising her role as Drummer for the game. Jeff Litchford, COO of Deck Nine, which is working in tandem with Telltale on the game, stated, "We wanted to pick a character and story that hadn't already been told -- one that players could really influence but that also stayed true to the books and series for the fans." Alcon Entertainment, producers of The Expanse TV series are also collaborating on the game.
With the release of the Gamescom footage, a few more details about the plot were revealed. It turns out the man that Drummer shot out of the airlock in the previous trailer had tried to hijack control of the Artemis in order to go after "the greatest score any scavenger has ever come across." This indicates at least a subplot involving a major scavenging opportunity to pursue. Additionally, the decapitated heads that Drummer discovers could point to a psychotic big bad or even some sort of creature that must be defeated.
When Does The Expanse: A Telltale Series Release?
The Gamescom trailer revealed that The Expanse will release in summer 2023. It should also be noted that, as a Telltale series, fans should expect the game to release episodically, with single episodes dropping periodically over a number of months, as has been the company's method in the past.