Review of the series “Space: Control Episode”

After the first episode of Telltale and Deck Nine’s The Expanse, it wasn’t entirely clear what direction the game would take in future installments. Will prim research and environmental storytelling play a role? Will the writers be able to intervene in the plot and cutscenes and resolve the action with the obligatory quick events? Which of the two collaborating studios will add more of its own style to the title? We’ll answer some of the questions in the next review; the rest of the developers’ intentions remain a mystery to me even after I’ve played all five episodes.

• Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, X1, XSX (review version) and S
• Publication date: 09.21.2023 (last episode)
• Developer: Ninth Deck, Telltale Games
• Publisher: Test games
• Genre: story adventure
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Download data: 8 GB
• Game time: 10 hours
• Price: 1150 CZK (Xbox)

In a separate piece dedicated to the first episode, I praised the atmosphere emanating from the template to which it is very faithful. The game serves as a prequel and I can report that in addition to the main character Kamina Drummer, who, like in the series, is played by actress Kara G, we will meet other familiar faces in more or less cameo roles. Fans of the television series “The Expanse” will also be familiar with the scenery and, above all, the music, which is absolutely authentic and simply magnificent.

At this point, a pertinent question arises: will The Expanse appeal to a player who doesn’t know the original? Paradoxically, the starting position of such a person will not be so different from the usual viewer. The game’s plot references the realities of the world, mainly three factions competing with each other, but at the end tells the intimate story of a small team and several usually abandoned places. So a newcomer to The Expanse universe won’t necessarily get lost, but given that the setting is the game’s biggest strength, one has to wonder what the title will ultimately earn it.

In the previously mentioned preview, I contrasted pleasant surprises in the form of choices that can have a real impact, and underdeveloped plot and characters, which, on the contrary, can very effectively weaken the player’s involvement in the action on the screen. The strange contrast persists for four episodes out of five, and the fifth, despite all efforts, does not change the overall impression.

The last episode really tried to emphasize to me that I am the one responsible for the death or survival of this or that.

At first glance, you can see in the operation of the options the system of the developers from Deck Nine, who are behind the vast majority of the game. They don’t present the player with a seemingly fatal decision, only to skew the outcome and kill off characters who “shouldn’t” have survived. Yes, I’m referring to Telltale’s earlier work. Instead, they put a series of minor choices in the path of the main character, which in the very end can decide the fate of many characters.

If this method, used by the authors of the Ninth Deck, for example in Life is Strange: True Colors, suits you, I will leave it to your discretion. But there’s a catch to The Expanse. Over the course of five episodes, each of which lasts from one and a half to three hours, you will spend a minimum of time in real dialogue with the characters. Most of your time is spent “actually playing.” This resulted in me not being able to build good relationships with the team, and in the end I didn’t care how things turned out with the individual members. This is despite the fact that the final episode took great pains to emphasize to me that I am responsible for the death or survival of this or that.

At the same time, the story itself does not fundamentally fail. Although it does not tell a heroic epic, it does not take the universe of The Expanse anywhere, but at the same time puts into it a very decent plot that meets most of the requirements to maintain the interest of the player. Only, unlike Telltale games like The Wolf Among Us or The Walking Dead, it’s not all that exciting. The decision to release the game sporadically can also be discussed. It’s not that it’s harmful, but unlike the games mentioned above, I didn’t find any particular justification in the script. Don’t expect cliffhangers at the end of the episodes.

Not only Telltale’s story-adventure games, but also other similar representatives of the genre are often criticized for the fact that they reduce the gameplay to a minimum and turn into walking simulatoror even an interactive movie. Some developers respond to criticism by completely getting rid of gameplay and admitting that they call their works interactive films. Telltale, in partnership with Deck Nine, decided to go in the opposite direction and bank on the gameplay of The Expanse’s success. And even at the cost of sacrificing a number of cutscenes that could properly tell the above story. kick.

The vast majority of gameplay in the first three episodes consists of exploring sunken ships or abandoned bases. With the exception of exceptional passages, which will be discussed later, no natural actions await you. However, simply flying in a state of weightlessness is quite pleasant. Movement is fun and storytelling through the environment is famous. environmental story, in principle it works. However, after a certain time, exploration becomes quite tedious and can even become boring.

It can be said that fortunately developers dilute exploration with activities or puzzles. But Unfortunately There’s a hell of a lot of both, and both only have one option. By action we mean dodging scout drones (only twice in the game), by puzzles it is very easy to connect some circuits (the number can be counted on the fingers of one hand). None of the activities are difficult. The situation is similar to the quick time events that developers use to resolve combat. But in this case, I don’t consider the lack of a hint a mistake, and in general I would have done without them.

Especially in the fourth episode, I then regretted the time that I could have spent with the characters, but for some reason I was crawling along completely linear corridors and struggling with my own hallucinations. If it weren’t for the oppressive atmosphere, sound effects and ending of the story, I would have considered the entire part completely unnecessary.

If there’s one thing the developers have been working on since the release of a couple of episodes, it’s the technical side. I complained about unprecedented texture bouncing and unusually long loading times. I didn’t see any in the second half of the game either. The first mentioned problem disappeared completely, loading was noticeably faster.

I would like to emphasize that despite all the criticism, in the case of The Expanse it is still an above average experience. A certain degree of disappointment arises mainly from knowledge of the work of both Deck Nine and Telltale, who appear here primarily in the role of publisher. Where once the focus was on building relationships, The Expanse focuses on creating atmosphere and exploration, which takes some of the weight off decisions that would otherwise definitely have an impact.

At least both teams outperform their own shadow, at least in the audio-visual presentation department. I already wrote about sound, or rather music, the same goes for voice acting; authors don’t need to be ashamed of graphics either. Perhaps only True Colors’ facial expressions could bear such comparison, but throughout, despite the distinct stylization, this is the highest quality we’ve seen from Deck Nine or Telltale.