The Expanse, Episode 2 | Game Review
Spoilers included below
*SPOILERS FOR THE EXPANSE BELOW
After throwing Cox in the brig and being thrown into the fire as captain, Drummer must evade the eminent capture of Touissant and Europa’s Bane as they drift through space on dwindling supplies and the strain of over 6 G’s of force. Despite their efforts, the pirates are hot on the Artemis’ tail and yet the slow burn of episode two leaves me to wonder what the peak of the action will be.
Just as in the first episode, the large majority of the action comes in wandering through zero gravity, frustratingly asked to find supplies as the player waits for the action unfold. However, these items, that you may or may not find (myself of the latter), reveal their importance through the reveal of the decision at the end and ultimately later in the series.
Curiosity reigned supreme as I often ignored the primary objective to collect what trinkets of information I could find, none of which played a larger part in the story. I missed the cigar for Khan and the medicine for Arlen but did find mushroom powder. Crawling through the dark with only a flashlight for over an hour felt particularly and meticulously unrewarding. Exploration feels very finite despite the vastness of space staring you in the face as the movement feels limiting and disorienting all in the same breath.
This revelation became all too apparent as Europa’s Bane stage righted through the middle of the scene. Drones, capable of disintegrating bodies, littered the ship Drummer was looting and the mechanics trying to evade them was nauseating. yet frustratingly heart-racing. I was spinning and turning and boosting and running to the best of my ability like a newborn giraffe touching earth.
But Touissant still feels very distant, even as she fired close range missiles to eliminate Drummer (and the coordinates to “treasure” with them). To no avail, her impact was minimal, eventually fading away to allow perhaps the most personal development to take center stage - Maya and Drummer’s relationship.
The peak of their intimacy comes when listening to a Martian song Maya recalls from her childhood. After shifting the topic and some playful banter, their “helmet-clicking” (no doubt an innuendo) became a topic of debate - one that ends in Maya inviting Drummer to her room that night. See, I’m all for romance, so this major decision was an easy one.
The episode ends with an alarmed Khan waking the sleeping Drummer to reveal they are in the orbit of the “treasure” they sought which was only a set of coordinates until now. A shiny streak on an asteroid or a planet with no known settlements stands out on the grainy screen and the episode ends. I could make any number of predictions but the ones that stand out the most according to the possible outcomes of decisions made throughout episode two would be that Arlen dies because I couldn’t get the medicine, Virgil is not to be trusted, and team chemistry takes a hit with Drummer and Maya a thing, their relationship eventually becoming an obstacle, likely at the hands of Touissant.
This game is episodic and will release the next episode every two weeks. I will be playing and keeping up with the episodes as they release so be sure to stay tuned! I will be listing my important decisions at the very end of these reviews to show how I played the game. I will include the percentage which signifies the percentage of players that made the same decision and star the “major” decisions.
Choices // Hunting Grounds
Khan’s Surgery - Drummer didn’t find the laser crystal (50%)
Virgil’s Trust Level - Drummer told Arlen and Rayen that she trusts Virgil (62%)
Maya’s Surgery Story - Drummer heard the whole story of Khan’s surgery from Maya (60%)
Khan’s Bao Story - Drummer didn’t find a cigar (22%)
Arlen’s Medication - Drummer didn’t find medication (66%)
Virgil’s Mushrooms - Drummer gave mushroom powder to Virgil (83%)
Virgil’s Past - Drummer didn’t discover anything about Virgil’s past (47%)
Maya’s Song - Drummer listened to Maya’s music with her (87%)
Scotch for Cox - Drummer didn’t give Cox anything (23%)
**Relationship with Maya - Drummer spent the night with Maya (87%)