How long is the demo tested at Gamescom?

Thirty to forty minutes hands-on, built around a single infiltration mission of a Protogen base that escalates into intense combat.

How does the companion system work?

You choose one to physically accompany you and the others stay in communication to support you based on their skills. Positioning them poorly unnecessarily complicates your progression, according to the developers.

What is the main criticism of this demo?

The infiltration phase before combat is linear to the point of caricature, with a mandatory quest marker and zero meaningful choices. Moreover, the dialogue and narrative branches that were promised don't appear at all.

Is the Expanse atmosphere well captured?

Yes, Owlcat correctly captures that down-to-earth and pragmatic tone, far removed from space opera. The staging is polished and the scenario builds tension in crescendo.

Is combat really convincing?

The balance seems fair, neither too difficult nor too easy. The trigger feel works, sniper headshots are smooth, and the destructible level design constantly pushes you to move and find cover.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn - IGN France's first hands-on at Gamescom 2026 - Preview

Thirty to forty minutes with a controller in hand on a single mission, calibrated for the Gamescom demo: infiltration of a Protogen base, an exfiltration that turns to chaos, an unkillable mutant on your heels. That's the format the journalist from IGN France was able to test for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. The dominant feeling on leaving the booth: the combat system holds up, the rest still needs to be verified.

What works, first of all, is the feel of the triggers. You line up sniper headshots without forcing it, the controls respond well, and the level design pushes you to keep moving: sliding from one cover to another quickly becomes a reflex, especially since the scenery gets destroyed under fire and doesn't leave anyone hidden for long. Orders to companions seem to add a welcome tactical layer - positioning your sidekick who specializes in explosions, designating a target, using a drone or turret gadget. Nothing extraordinary on paper, but the execution is clean and the balancing seems fair: neither too hard nor too soft, the journalist tells us.

The The Expanse atmosphere comes through well too, that down-to-earth, almost grimy tone, where the infiltration feels more like a faction dispute than a glamorous spy mission. Owlcat captures that properly, with polished staging and a scenario that builds tension in a crescendo.

What's worrying: the infiltration phase before the combat is heavy-handed to the point of caricature, a quest marker to follow with no real room to maneuver, and IGN notes that it really started to drag on before the action took over. The journalist would also have liked to see the dialogues and narrative branch choices, totally absent from this slice of the game - indeed it's hard to judge the promised RPG side based solely on a firefight, however successful.

Provisional verdict: it's off to a good start on the gunplay and atmospheric writing side, but the entire role-playing aspect - dialogues, choices, consequences - remains a black box. To be confirmed over time, and on something other than a demo scripted down to the millimeter.