The crazy year of awesome releases continues. The Alters is yet another game that no one really expected much from, but it not only surprised everyone with its fresh gameplay, it literally blew our minds with a wild mix of science fiction, philosophy, drama, and... survival mechanics with resource gathering. Although, coming from the creators of This War of Mine and Frostpunk, we expected nothing less. 11 Bit Studios has once again reinvented the classic base management genre, but this time with some insanely emotional storytelling. In this review, we’ll explain what The Alters really is and why you absolutely must play it.
After spending my first dozen hours with The Alters, I couldn't get one thought out of my head: «Damn, this is genius!» Once again, I’m playing a survival game, gathering resources, building a base, and managing basic needs, but this time I’m not bored by the repetitive gameplay that, over the years, has become so tiresome that any new game with the «chop, mine, work, and waste precious time» formula immediately feels like a chore. The Alters offers much more than just a dopamine hit from finishing another building, which will inevitably be destroyed by some enemy a couple of hours later. New emotions and a reason to reflect on the meaning of life — that’s what makes the new game from 11 Bit Studios worth playing.
Despite the core gameplay loop of collecting stones, building a base, and crafting numerous items, The Alters is first and foremost a well-written adventure with non-linear storytelling and moral dilemmas that unfold throughout the game. The main character, Jan Dolski, regains consciousness on an uninhabitable planet after a crash landing. He discovers that the rest of the crew died under mysterious circumstances, and he needs to reach a mobile station as quickly as possible to prevent the local radiation from penetrating his suit. From the very first seconds, The Alters makes it clear that what lies ahead is not a fun resource-gathering romp like in Starfield, but a very eerie and isolating adventure.
In the first hours, the game barely explains what’s happening or what you’re supposed to do. After reaching a massive wheel-shaped structure, you’re immediately told that time is not on your side. In a few days, the sun will leave its zenith and heat the planet’s surface to critical levels. Your character must urgently gather as many resources as possible to get the base moving and relocate to a safer area.
If you’ve ever played a survival game, you’ll have no trouble figuring out the basic mechanics on the planet’s surface. You run around a fairly large area, collect stones and iron, and look for organic matter to make standard survival porridge. Large resource deposits require a jackhammer, which takes a lot of time — a process that, by the way, is fast-forwarded at triple speed so you don’t have to wait around staring at your monitor. However, the best way to gather resources without unnecessary effort is to build an outpost. Once again, this feature is implemented perfectly: you select an element from a radial menu and indicate where to place the mining machine. It appears in a couple of seconds, and all you have to do is lay a cable from it to the base, using towers you construct along the way. All the routine in The Alters is kept to a minimum, allowing you to focus on the more interesting aspects, which we’ll discuss later.
After setting up several outposts, you’ll gain the ability to fast travel from the base, leaving pointless walking behind. Wake up early in the morning, head to the surface, and teleport to a mining station. All the player needs to do is keep an eye on the time. Resource gathering takes many hours, but after 8 PM you need to return to the base, as radiation levels rise in the evening. You also have to monitor Jan’s biorhythm and make sure he goes to bed on time. At night, he works less efficiently, and if you send him to bed after midnight, he’ll definitely oversleep and miss everything.
As you progress through the story campaign, new mechanics for exploring the rocky planet will be introduced. At a certain point, gravitational and radioactive anomalies will appear, actively chasing the main character and doing everything they can to prevent him from reaching a safe zone. After some time, you’ll be able to craft a special lantern to scan anomalies in order to locate their core. Then a mini-game in the spirit of Ghostbusters begins, where you have to catch these cores with your crosshair and destroy them. Of course, these aren’t the only obstacles that will interfere with peaceful exploration. In the second act, gravitational wells appear, where time speeds up several times, just like in the movie Interstellar. And, of course, there are magnetic barriers that disable electronics, including the batteries in your suit. Without them, Jan can’t use the grappling hook to climb ledges or use the lantern.
As you explore the planet, you’ll gradually master it by creating shortcuts and placing outposts with fast travel points. Again, everything happens within strict time limits, so there’s no time for leisurely strolls or admiring the scenery (even though it’s gorgeous). Fully exploring the map is a must, as the main character’s personal belongings, which fell out of the ship during the crash landing, are hidden in its secluded spots. These items play an important role in the story and social moments.
The only system the developers clearly didn’t manage to polish is the deep deposit search mechanic. You have to place probes in certain locations to form geometric planes that reveal deposits. It’s a fairly simple mechanic that doesn’t really affect gameplay. You can remove probes from the ground, keeping the data on found resources, and set them up elsewhere to find the best spot for an outpost. In essence, you’re just wasting time searching — something you’ll be sorely lacking at the start.
Now that you know all the key surface mechanics, we can move on to the next layer of gameplay—base management. The construction mode works according to the principles of modern XCOM iterations and the mobile game Fallout Shelter: the station layout is displayed in 2D, with quick switching between compartments. You can freely move each room or workshop and use the limited space as you see fit. In other words, you won’t be able to build everything at once. You need to strategically arrange compartments and connect them with elevators and corridors so Jan can move freely between them. At any time, you can demolish an unwanted room and get all spent resources back.
The main thing is not to forget about the limitations. The base’s storage isn’t bottomless, and for large amounts of resources, you’ll need warehouses. They not only take up a lot of space but are also quite heavy. The total weight of the base is the sum of all the compartments’ mass. The heavier it is, the more organic matter you’ll need to move the space station for long journeys across the planet. Because of all these restrictions, you can’t build everything on the list in one go. As a result, base management turns into an engaging puzzle that you have to solve every time new room options become available.
You have to move around the base manually. The camera zooms in on the character, allowing you to interact with machinery, workbenches, and kitchen stoves. However, switching views and changing the scale brings certain difficulties, which become more noticeable with each new station iteration. For example, you’ll memorize the initial station layout in the first couple of hours, but after a few rearrangements and changes, you’ll constantly switch views and get confused by the maze of corridors and elevators. By the second act, the base will be even larger, with more compartments.
Sometimes, magnetic storms occur, during which sections of the base quickly break down and malfunction. The first few times, we actually panicked because we couldn’t go outside for resources and had to run around trying to repair the broken equipment. The creepy music and shaking really ramp up the atmosphere, making you frantically switch screens and analyze all the damage caused by the storm. However, after a couple of these situations, we realized it’s enough to just go to bed and skip the anomalous activity.
Do you like survival games?
Anketi geçAs the number of sections on the base increases, so do the needs and the number of tasks, which become physically impossible to complete in a short time. That’s when the main and most fundamental feature of The Alters comes into play — creating clones to handle most of the work for you. More precisely, these aren’t clones in the usual sense, but something more complex and original. Here’s the thing: the space station is equipped with a quantum computer loaded with the protagonist’s life path. Using calculations, you can select a specific moment from the past and create an alternate history, after which the fate of the «alternative Jan» will follow a different scenario. Then, in a special compartment called the «Womb», you literally grow a clone — but with a completely different mindset and worldview. And these aren’t just controllable dummies, but fully developed personalities who, from the moment they wake up, believe they arrived on the space station just like the «original Jan» — thanks to the space expedition. Some of the alternate selves became scientists, others miners, and their knowledge and skills are crucial for survival.
Interacting with the «Alters» is both the most fascinating and the most challenging aspect of The Alters. Through dialogue and quest systems, you’ll have to establish contact with your «special-brothers» and build relationships, since the changes in fate affect not only professional skills but also personality as a whole. Yes, they all share the same past of a drinking father, a sick mother, and certain cultural preferences, but everything that came after is entirely generated by the quantum computer. For example, the original Jan dropped out of school after failing a semester, while Jan the scientist continued his studies and graduated with honors. The main character ran away from home to avoid his father, leaving his mother to deal with all the problems, while Jan the mechanic mustered his courage and put the aggressive relative in his place. The Alters vividly shows how a person’s fate can change due to a single adjustment in events, giving you food for thought: «How would my life have turned out if I had made different choices at certain moments?»
The alternate versions of Jan are radically different from each other, so you constantly have to adapt to each of their personalities. The nerdy scientist will realize he’s an Alter from the very beginning and won’t need your comforting words. The mechanic will grumble discontentedly and initially hate Jan for creating a clone for personal gain. The oil worker, in his fabricated past, had a best friend who died in an incident, and he’ll often ask the player about reality and whether the people he cares about truly exist. And, of course, there’s the miner, who lost an arm in his past but appears on the station with both limbs. However, this situation doesn’t quite suit him, which can eventually lead to a tragic scenario involving amputation. Of course, you have every opportunity to calm your newly formed team and avoid particularly sensitive situations, but conflicts between the Alters are the core of the entire game, and you won’t be able to avoid them completely.
The narrative part of The Alters is where the game shines most, offering an experience comparable to a good nonlinear RPG. The experience we had during our playthrough can be radically different from yours. Much depends on which Alters you choose to create and how you build relationships between them. The characters also interact with each other in different ways, and to see even a small portion of the content, you’ll need to play through the game at least twice. You can refuse the scientist’s suggestion to increase working hours and thus avoid irritating your fellow sufferers, or you can boost productivity and put up with their complaints. While you’re on the base, the gameplay turns into a management simulator where, in addition to assigning tasks, you constantly have to monitor the atmosphere and improve living conditions. We especially enjoyed the life lesson system, where the main Jan receives valuable insights from his alternate versions. As they say, the best teacher is yourself. Each motivational speech is recorded on a special board in the form of puzzle pieces.
We paid as much attention to our Alters as possible and did everything to keep them motivated and cheerful. Every two days, we played beer pong (the alcoholic version), watched hilarious short films (the developers made them specifically for the game), cooked dumplings, and even sang a song we wrote ourselves. Each new conflict between the Alters was a new test of strength, against which all the fuss with resource gathering and base layout seemed mundane. You can reduce stress not only by talking but also by taking action. Just cook meals from decent ingredients and equip the base with comforts, and you won’t have to listen to whining every day. A gym reduces stress, and a relaxation room gives the most sensitive and vulnerable Alters a chance to rest alone. The further you progress in the story campaign, the more problems will arise. That’s why we recommend setting up your base in advance so that, in addition to work, your Jans have a place to relax.
In addition to constant conversations with the protagonist’s alternate versions, you’ll also have to solve the problems of story characters who always want something and, as is typical of corporations, don’t like to share details. They’ll call you via video link very often, but due to interference, you’ll only hear their voices, while the background remains static. The story is fairly simple: reach the evacuation point while filling the ship’s tanks with a special substance — Rapidium — which can accelerate cell division and do unimaginable things in genetic engineering. Naturally, the employers are only interested in the resource, not Jan’s life, so they’ll manipulate the main character in every possible way. In addition, your ex-wife and a contact—who’s loyal to the corporation but will repeatedly hint at building a couple more Rapidium tanks on the base to achieve financial independence — will reach out to you. The course of the main story and the game’s ending depend on your communication and the decisions you make.
There are no clearly good or bad sides in The Alters’ story. For most of the game, Jan will be fed lies and asked to do things he never agreed to in the first place. The only ones you can truly trust are the Alters. Despite their obvious differences in personalities, hairstyles, tastes, and even mannerisms, they are essentially the same person—someone who can easily abandon principles formed over years and act as the main character wishes. The more we interacted with Jan’s alternate versions, the more we saw them as his brothers — people you don’t want to torment just to see what else the game has to offer. This is, of course, thanks to the very strong writing and scene direction.
As you progress through the story arcs, your base will constantly stop in inconvenient places, and the team will have to solve a host of problems to move forward. For example, in the first act, you need to build a bridge to cross a lava-filled gorge. To do this, you have to create an Alter who’s a scientist, and he must invent the bridge. However, his memories are the product of the quantum computer’s imagination, so many of the scientific discoveries he knows about either don’t exist or were only in their infancy within the corporation. All you have are the rocks under your feet, the corporate suits on the other end of the line, and a «freshly baked» scientist you need to motivate so much that he believes in himself and comes up with a way to build the bridge. It’s pure narrative madness in the spirit of a good sci-fi TV series.
Surprisingly Well Executed
The Alters is built on Unreal Engine 5 and runs perfectly on maximum settings without any performance issues. Despite its clearly modest budget, it’s a beautiful and stylish game with great lighting, excellent landscapes, and high detail. The planet is both enchanting and creepy at the same time. Hexagonal rock formations, crystallized deposits, and lava-drenched mountain ranges look far more interesting and appealing than any of the planets Bethesda created for Starfield.
Character models and their level of detail are well done. The design of the main character’s suit turned out so well that a real-life version is now being sold as merchandise. Facial animations are on par with good indie games, and some of the directed and choreographed moments look no worse than what we’ve seen in big-budget blockbusters. The Alters is a very high-quality production, and any nitpicking about the graphics would be just that — nitpicking.
Special praise should be given to the soundtrack, which not only enhances the atmosphere of loneliness on a hostile planet but also fully immerses you in what’s happening. In the lounge and the Alters’ bedroom, there’s always a radio playing full-fledged songs. It often saved us from the constant hustle and tension.
We didn’t encounter any technical issues throughout our playthrough. The game runs perfectly on maximum settings and never dropped frames. The only exception was that Jan would occasionally get stuck in the air after cutscenes until we pressed the action button. Other than that, it’s a good, polished product.
Have you already tried The Alters?
Anketi geç***
The Alters isn’t just a game — it’s a full-fledged philosophical exploration of the question, «What would have happened to me if I had made a different choice in a certain situation?» An incredible symbiosis of adventure, management, survival, and atmospheric exploration, where everything is harmoniously interconnected and no element feels out of place. There are no aliens, gunfights, or other trappings that usually fill the sci-fi genre. The Alters is a truly unique product that generates an unbelievable amount of content and situations, offering the chance to experience the entire spectrum of emotions. Its nonlinear storytelling and lifelike characters motivate you to replay it, while the drama and direction leave a pleasant aftertaste, like watching a great TV series with vibrant characters, lively dialogues, and an engaging story. Be sure to give it your time, as experiments like this are extremely rare and don’t always achieve commercial success. The Alters deserves your attention.