By Chris Picone, 22 June, 2025

The Alters didn't grab me at first; without context, the header art of all the dudes crammed in together with the red background, I thought it was just some sort of social game or maybe they were in a band together or something. I must have scrolled past it a bunch of times before I realised it was being published by 11 Bit Studios.  And that, for me, was all I needed to know.  11 Bit Studios are fantastic story tellers and have a track record for making great games that are as innovative as they are fun to play.   I'm very pleased to announce that The Alters is no exception. 

Story

The Alters sees you on a mission to collect rapidium, a mysterious new and rare element that accelerates organic growth, a characteristic that promises to save Earth from extinction.  But the mission is doomed and the game starts with you, Jan Dolski,  stranded alone on a desolate planet with a sun whose proximity brings lethal levels of radiation.  The corporation is sending a rescue mission to collect you but first you need to escape to relative safety and make your way to the rendezvous point.  Luckily, you have an incredibly high-tech base capable of both producing everything you need, and traversing the planet.  But it's a bit much for one person to manage and so, without any other apparent options, you begin using the rapidium to clone yourself.  

The Alters is less about the story and more about exploring its themes of identity, humanity, sentience, and the enduring question of predetermination vs will.  The concept is around those key turning points in our lives. You know the ones, where because you zigged your life is the way it is now, but if you had zagged you might now be living a totally different life?  I distinctly recall such a time in my own life.  I was out on the town one night and accidentally stumbled across a genuinely innovative and impressive "all female revue." I had the strange thought of talking to the show manager, wanting to somehow invest.  They were about to catch a plane to Spain but she took my promised she would call me.  I assumed I'd never hear from her again but, some months later, she did in fact call back, and offered me a gig.  I'll never know the details of what that might have entailed but the vision was that, had I accepted, I would have been getting paid to travel around the world with a gaggle of strippers.  Instead, I got engaged, took a mining job, and tried to start a family.  I often think about how different my life might have been.  The Alters goes further, questioning how that different life might affect who you are as a person; your personality, your identity.  

That's the core concept that fuels The Alters.  Jan Dolski's had a tough life full of difficult choices. An abusive father, who he ran away from instead of fighting back. A college opportunity - at the same time his mother falls gravely ill.  Later, an opportunity to study a doctorate, which he declines in favour of a steady income to support his new relationship with Lena Berg. A relationship that breaks down when she is offered an incredible job opportunity overseas, which Jan felt would mean losing everything he'd worked for and having to start again.  Decisions, and regrets, each shaping his identity and eventually leading to his joining the mission.  The cloning process involves using samples of his DNA, accelerated with the rapidium, to grow a new living body.  The base's quantum computer is used to analyse your memories and determine how Jan's life might have gone had he made a different choice at any of those key junctures, and these altered memories are used to give the alter sentience.  For example, in one strand, Jan stayed to look after his mother and fought back against the abusive father.  In this way, the new Jan learned to be assertive, and instead of college found work in workshops, becoming a technician.  So many similarities, and yet so many differences.  Having been cloned, Technician Jan is real and alive, and although his memories are created, they're absolutely real for him.   And if his memories aren't real, are Jan's?  Does it even matter? 

None of these are particularly new philosophical questions but 11 Bit Studios have done such a great job fleshing out the characters and making them feel like they really believe they exist that you get a chance to actually explore those ideas in a meaningful way.  11 Bit Studios are very good at forcing you into moral quandaries, having set the scene in such a way that you'll frequently surprise yourself by jumping into decisions that you never thought you would make because at the time they seem perfectly reasonable.  This came early in the game for me.  The clones are living creatures. What right do I have to bring them into the world against their will? And, even if I survive long enough to be rescued, what will their futures look like? They have no place in this world.  But you need them to survive - and not just you. The Earth needs the rapidium, so it's imperative that you survive. And yet before long I found myself bringing another, and yet another, clone into existence.

11 Bit Studios are also very good at creating difficult decisions where, not only is there no clear correct answer, but frequently all answers appear to be the wrong one but you have to make the decision anyway.  I don't want to give away too many spoilers but a prime example of this is when Miner Jan comes to you complaining that he is experiencing a sort of reverse phantom pain - that is, in his memories he is missing an arm but his body, cloned from your own DNA, is not.  He wants access to painkillers but this seems like a bad idea because you know from accessing his memories that he has previously had an addiction to them.  But when you do what appears to be the right thing and refuse, he cuts his own arm off.  There was no way to see it coming, and likewise no way of knowing whether or not the painkillers would have been a worse decision in the long term. You just have to live with your choices and move on. 

Gameplay

I had a hard time deciding what to write in the "genre" section for this review.  When I first started playing I thought to put construction and management simulator in the same vein as Fallout Shelter, as that seemed to be the central point of the game.   Exploration seemed limited to seeking resource deposits and establishing mines, which would of course be used to add more structures and expand your base. I won't delve into that too much because it's mostly the expected things; a greenhouse to grow food, dormitories for your clones to sleep in, a social room to help manage morale, storage, an infirmary, that sort of thing. There's also a workshop where you can craft all manner of items; suit batteries, climbing hooks, laser drills, radiation filters.  Research, of course, opens up new options.  You need to expand to be able to satisfy your growing needs, and that requires resources, and that requires exploration and the establishment of mine sites.  Resource deposits are clearly visible and labelled on the map but you need to find the right spot to mine and that requires placement of depth sensors. It's a simple little mechanic but I think it adds a much-needed sense of interactivity.  It's all simple enough but that doesn't mean it's easy.  Radiation filters and food, for example, are consumable items that you need to keep in stock or else you die.  And constant radiation causes the base to deteriorate over time.  But repairs take time, crafting takes time, gathering resources takes time.  You can't do it all yourself:  Enter, the Alters.  You can assign your Alters to each of these tasks, essentially automating all of these processes, while you explore and address odd jobs and immediate needs. But you'll never have enough Alters to fulfil every job and so all these things must be managed.  And you have to be efficient:  The sun never stops moving, so your time in each location is limited.  Take too long and it's game over.  It adds a nice touch of pressure and urgency.

Another layer you must manage is that of the Alters themselves.  Each has their own agenda and priorities and opinions and frequently these opinions clash.  Using Mining Jan as an example again, the Scientist wants to build a simple prosthetic to get him working again.  The Technician, however, wants you to spend valuable time researching and developing an artificial limb for him.  Whichever option you choose, either the Technician or Scientist is going to be upset with you - and neither of those options takes Mining Jan's feelings into consideration.  Other times, the Alters have some urgent need that you must address - but doing so takes you   It is impossible to keep everyone happy all of the time, and even harder to continue inputting your own opinions when sometimes you might be sure your idea is the right course of action but you know it will put everyone off-side.  When Alters become unhappy, they stop working, and fights can erupt or even lead to rebellion. 

The Alters is split into three Acts, each of which prompting you with some challenge that must be overcome.  I'm avoiding spoilers here so all I'll say is that the first requires efficient base management, and the second focuses on exploration.  That's one thing I love about the Alters.  You're constantly moving from one thing to the next and it never feels like a grind. 

The Alters is such an intuitive game, and the tutorial embedded into the early stages as you progress from the basics to gradually more complicated tasks, that it is really simple to pick up and run with.  And there's an in-game manual entry for every new concept you encounter. I think the only issue I ever ran into was that queued items set resources aside and it took me a while to work out I had to remove all items from my queues in order to have enough organics to allow travel. 

Aesthetics

You'll probably spend around half your game time in first person mode, exploring the desolate landscape that is... whatever planet you landed on.  It's well-presented, but in a surprisingly simplistic, functional manner.  The landscape is desolate, so you're constantly surrounded by grey hills and canyons and rocky outcrops.  Shallow resource deposits appear as small but obvious colour-coded rocks scattered about the place; red for metals, blue for organics, and so on.  Deeper deposits appear similarly; small colour-coded geyser-like formations or patches of ground. Other than the colours differing, they all look much alike, and pretty much everything else is rock. To be honest, it's a little bland, but it does do a good job of giving that sense of desolation and isolation.  Things change a little when you get your hands on a luminator but I don't want to spoil that here.  The other half of the game is in the base, which is what I'd describe as 2.5d - the base is presented side on and you move from room to room by going up and down, left and right, but you can actually move around each room, the third dimension does exist.   There are a few cut scenes and "oil painting" moments throughout the game, and some of these are bloody beautiful, but the focus is definitely on functionality.  Finally, there is a menu system, which is particularly useful - it allows you to see and manipulate everything across the base - task assignment, research, crafting, everything - all in one place, which is often handier than manually running about the place for every little task. 

Fun Factor / Replayability

I enjoyed the hell out of the Alters but I'm not sure how replayable it is.  I mean there are definitely elements that lend themselves to replayability.  There's definitely choice and consequence, and there will always be some appeal in going back for another run to see what could have been.  And there are more Alters than you can unlock in one run.  But the core concepts, the core problems, the core story, they're all the same, so is it enough? As much as I'm loving the Alters, I don't think I'll rush back for a second go at it - I think the real benefit will be when I no doubt go to replay the game in a few years time, those extra choices will help make subsequent playthroughs feel fresh again. 

Verdict

 I think The Alters is an easy purchase for any 11 Bit Studios fans. The hybrid nature of the game makes it a little tricky to recommend to any particular crowd but fans of story-driven games and/or management sims will likely enjoy it.  I bloody loved it. 

Store Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1601570/The_Alters/