The Expanse: Episode 3 – How to Save Maya

The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a new episodic adventure series from a reformed version of Telltale Games and Deck Nine (the team behind Life is Strange: Before the Storm and True Colors). Like the Telltale series of old this one largely focuses on story and player choice, which also means consequences, including characters dying. That said, with the right choices, you can largely avoid bad results for your team.

Note: The following article includes SPOILERS for The Expanse: A Telltale Series Episode 3.

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So, depending on your choices, The Expanse Episode 3 may culminate in the death of Maya Castillo, one of the more likable characters on the ship (and a possible love interest for protagonist Camina Drummer). Toward the end of the episode, you end up caught up in a dispute with twin crewmates Arlen and Rayen, and if you play things wrong, Camina and Maya will both be sent out an airlock with only one space helmet between them, resulting in Maya’s death. Thankfully, there’s a couple of ways to avoid this – one easy, one a bit more complicated.

Saving Maya – The Easy Action-y Way

• Step 1 – During the final scenes of Episode 3, Rayen will ask you to trust him. Don’t do it. Choose “Fight Him” instead to get into a firefight with Rayen and Arlen.

• Step 2 – You’ll have to successfully execute all the subsequent quick-time actions in order to save Maya. If you fail the quick-time sequence early, you’ll just die. That said, you can hit almost all the button presses, but miss the last couple and still continue. Unfortunately, Maya won’t survive if you do this. Basically, you have shoot Arlen in both shoulders, not just one.
• Step 3 – If you’ve done the above successfully, Maya will later ram Arlen’s injured left shoulder into a shelf, preventing him from throwing her into the air lock with you before the door closes. So, you’re still stranded, but Maya seemingly lives on for now.

Saving Maya – The Less Violent, Trusting Way

So, maybe you’re not the action type? Well, there is another way to save Maya.

• Step 1 – When Rayen asks you to trust him, do so.
• Step 2 – From here, the results largely seem dependent on choices you’ve made earlier in the game. It’s hard to know with 100 percent certainty everything that factors in, but based on my testing, it seems like being generally “nice” to Rayen in earlier chapters will result in Maya surviving. The three key things you have to do to get on Rayen’s good side are…

• Episode 1 – When Arlen is bullying Rayen, tell them to break up their rough-housing.

• Episode 1 – When the game asks you to choose between saving Rayen’s leg and securing the vault, save Rayen’s leg.
• Episode 2 – Complete Rayen’s request to find medicine for Arlen. This is a whole sidequest, which we’ve detailed in a separate guide.
• Step 3 – Okay, so if you’ve done those three things in previous episodes, Rayen should actually stand up to Arlen when he tries to sacrifice Maya along with Camina. Once again, you’ll be stranded, but Maya will be spared for now.

So, basically, if you’ve been nice to Rayen throughout the series so far, go ahead and take the non-violent route. But if you’ve been a jerk to Rayen and still want to keep Maya breathing, you can go the violent route and still save her. Of course, if you don’t like Maya, feel free to let her go out the airlock.

The Expanse: A Telltale Series is being released on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. Episodes 1, 2, and 3 have been released thus far – Episode 4 arrives on September 7. You can check out Wccftech's other The Expanse guides here.

Written by Nathan Birch