The Expanse: A Telltale Series Episode 3 & 4 Review

Reviewed On: PlayStation 5
Also Available On: PC, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One
Price: $39.99 USD – Standard Edition or $44.99 USD – Deluxe Edition ~ (Both are Digital Only)
Developer: Deck Nine Games
Publisher: Telltale
Episode 3 Release Date: August 24, 2023
Episode 4 Release Date: September 7, 2023

Please Note: A review code was provided by Telltale but does not influence the opinions in this review.

There is a lot to discuss since this review will be encompassing two different episodes. I would have reviewed Episode 3 earlier and separate; however, I could not get into Episode 3 for over two weeks. I submitted two help tickets with Telltale but it didn’t get resolved until late last week. I eventually got in thanks to a new code provided by Telltale and it finally worked. This was definitely annoying and something that I feel shouldn’t have happened at all. Due to this issue, I have decided to deduct a half point in my review for Episode 3 only since this is where the issue was. I decided to only deducted half a point due to the issue regarding the blockade of the issue. I originally was gonna deduct more, but thought this was fair since they provided a new code.

In Episode 3, Maya and Drummer both explore the Mausoleum that they came across in order to find the MK Core. This was thought to be a big treasure, but it isn’t what they thought it would be. However; there is a lot more to that which they learn throughout exploring this space. The Mausoleum is an abandoned station with people that have died due to a pandemic that hit the group of belters that were there. Normally, belters recycle their dead bodies; however, all of them are buried here with “The First Ones” that are also there. Who are they? Well I am gonna let you play the game to find out. The two, Maya and Drummer, eventually find the MK Core but it is not a treasure, rather it is a weapon that is something that would be too powerful in the wrong hands. Drummer decides to destroy it but something goes sideways.

Since Episode 3 has been out for over two weeks, I can spoil what happens at the end and where the MK Core is… right? WRONG. I am not going to say specifically what occurs but lets just say that Captain Drummer no longer has a ship or has the title of Captain. I am not saying, because people might be waiting for the full game to release before they play so I don’t want to spoil the game. Let us just say that someone decides to boot her out of the airlock. This actually came to me as a somewhat surprise as I thought this person got along with our Captain. I was wrong about who would revolt, but I thought someone would at some point in the story. Drummer isn’t dead but in Episode 4 she is running out of oxygen and needs to send a distress signal for help. In order to send a message, she needs to go into the mines and get to a transmitter.

When Drummer goes through the mining tunnel on the space rock, she starts to have past memories come back and hallucinations due to the lack of oxygen. She begins to hear Dawes, who is a critical part of Drummer’s backstory with the OPA. She has to confront him and her past of what she has done when she was part of the OPA. Most of Episode 4 was there to showcase who Drummer use to be before she became a Belter. I am starting to grow closer to her compared to the beginning of the game. I didn’t love how they didn’t discuss who she was or why she was were with Cox and the rest of the Artemis crew.

She also hears voices from her former crew members but are these real voices of what they thought or is this Dawes trying to get in her head in some way? Eventually, she does send the transmission and gets rescued but… is it really a rescue or is it a big problem? She is then confronted by a mysterious person who knows Dawes but I am not sure where this goes for the story as it hasn’t had an impact as of now. After this, she is taken to meet the captain of the ship by TOR and she agrees to work with the captain. Drummer agrees to work with the captain, who she thinks is a pirate, in order to go after the Artemis.

The gameplay has been the same throughout the adventure in these episodes. Choices that will affect the overall story; including a death of a character in Episode 3 that could occur if you choose wrong. There are puzzles, collectables, and QTEs that are in a classic Telltale game. Nothing much has changed compared for the gameplay since the beginning, but I don’t think it should change. The art and music are also basically the exact same as previous episodes which I already reviewed. If you haven’t seen my Episode 1 or Episode 2 reviews, feel free to check them out. I feel like Episode 4 added a bit of a different art style due to the concept that they want you to also feel like you are running out of air. Saying this though, the rest of the art direction is the same.

All in all, both of these episodes have a gripping story that shows a lot more about the Drummer and some of the other members, but they were both pretty short in terms of the length. I think that the final episode and the bonus episode are both going to be good, but I really hope that they are longer than both of these (about 1-1.25 hours long each). Out of the episodes released thus far, I would say that the second one has been my favorite since we could connect with most of the characters and team after the exploration part. I think Episode 5 is going to be an absolute amazing experience with a summarization of everything that has come to pass in the game thus far, but I am keeping my expectations in check right now. I am excited for September 21 when the final one comes out where she is going to go after her old team with the “help” of TOR. Hopefully, all of my questions will be answered after September 21st.