Telltales The Expanse (Top 5 Reasons To Be Excited)
Top 5 Reasons to Get Excited for Telltales The Expanse
When the Telltale brand was acquired post bankruptcy by LCG entertainment, many were skeptical with good reason, as the memory of the previous Telltale was fresh in memory. “We cannot right the wrongs of the former company…judge us by the work we do, not by a past over which we had no part” they said
The new Telltale looks to be avoiding a lot of the mistakes from the previous company, which will be a common theme on this list. Here are the top reasons to get excited for Telltale’s The Expanse.
First Game
The Expanse is one of the two games that have been announced by the studio and with a current release date of Summer 2023, it looks like it will be the first true product of the new Telltale. The Wolf Among Us 2 has also been announced but only has a tentative date of 2023, but likely with the minimal information we have heard, it will be later in the year.
The amount of scrutiny that will be on their first product will be much higher than many other studios debut titles, due to the baggage associated with the brand. Telltale has to be aware of this and wants to deliver the best possible first impression.
Deck Nine
One of the ways that the new Telltale wanted to avoid mistakes of the past company, is by not taking on more than they can handle, which would lead to bad business practices and products that feel rushed. That is likely why for The Wolf Among Us 2, they have partnered with Adhoc, a studio founded by former Telltale devs that left before the closure and why they have partnered with Deck Nine for The Expanse. Deck Nine brings a lot to the table with credibility and experience with narrative driven games. Deck Nine is known for their work on the Life is Strange series including Before the Storm, True Colors, and The Remastered Collection.
New Engine
The list is long of issues that plagued the previous Telltale, but outside of poor business practices, one of the biggest issues was the reliance on their in house engine called Telltale Tool, which quickly began showing its age as the industry moved forward. One of the smartest decisions LCG have made since acquiring the brand was to use Unreal Engine and move away from proprietary tech. The familiarity Unreal Engine provides to developers goes a long way in speeding up development and reducing bugs.
Source Material
The Expanse was a great IP to choose for a few reasons. The first is that the Expanse already has brand cache thanks to the SYFY turned Amazon series that has a cult following and just recently wrapped up its sixth and final season, leaving fans hungry for more content. The second reason is because there is so much material to pull from when creating the narrative thanks to the nine novels that already exist full of lore and storylines. According to Stephan Frost, Game Director at Deck Nine “The Expanse is one of those universes that has a ton of opportunity to tell great stories”
Movement
Another issue that hindered the previous Telltale is that their games felt extremely limited to their genre of narrative driven adventures as the most action that you encountered were a few QTE’s. From what we have seen in the trailer there are some Zero G sections that has the developers excited “how can we evolve the genre that will make players excited to be a part of this universe that makes them feel like they are engaging in something rather than being a passive audience member” It’s these words and what the trailers have shown that lead to The Expanse looking like an immersive step in the right direction.