In 11 bit studios’ sci-fi survival base-building adventure game, The Alters, Jan Dolski is the sole survivor of a ship malfunction during a space expedition to locate and mine Rapidium, a mineral that can be used for rapid growth of organic material and is considered the solution to Earth’s hunger crisis. Stranded on a hostile planet and with the imminent threat of a deadly sunrise, Jan must get moving again in order to survive and carry out the mission. However, there is one problem: he can’t do it all by himself. So, using some illegal research from his contact at Ally Corp, the corporation fronting the mission, and the Rapidium he discovers, Jan clones himself using the ship’s Quantum Computer. Each clone has had his memories altered to create a new life path, giving him new experiences, set of skills and personality based on his fabricated history.
In The Alters our main goal is to survive the predicament that Jan has found himself in. To do this, we must expand and maintain our rolling base by gathering resources, while also ensuring that our Alter population is healthy and happy to boost their productivity. The game is split into three acts, each counting down the days until the sun draws too close and fries the base with radiation. We must fuel it and move it before this happens, overcoming the obstacles that block our path to reach the rendezvous point that Ally Corp’s rescue team can pick us up from.
To keep our Alters happy and to ensure we have the best facilities to maintain efficient production, we must expand the base by adding new modules to it. However, the larger and heavier the base is, the more fuel we will have to gather to move it before the sun catches up with us. So, maybe think twice before adding that social room with the beer pong table. Crafting new modules also costs valuable resources that we will also need to save for main mission tasks.
Our Alters will help us gather these resources and also maintain the base. There are ten Alters in total, however we can only create six per playthrough unless one dies, this includes The Scientist and The Technician who are mandatory. Each Alter has an entirely different skill set and personality, along with their own needs and series of side quests which you can follow to experience their full character arc.
There are four main resources to mine on the planet: minerals, metals, organics and, of course, Rapidium. We can collect these by mining from the limited shallow deposits scattered around, but for the long term and also larger production, we need to locate deep deposits and set up mining outposts that link up with the base. The game works on a day and night cycle, with nights emitting large and deadly quantities of radiation, not to mention that Jan can become exhausted by working through the night, which means he’ll work slower and sleep in for longer the following day. Each task that Jan completes, whether that’s mining a resource or crafting something, takes up a certain amount of time.
Inside the base, the various modules also need to be maintained. We need to craft a consistent supply of radiation filters so that the base is protected and Jan and his Alters can also recover from radiation burns while inside the base. On top of this, modules will break down over time, so we need to also keep a steady flow of repair kits going and keep an Alter assigned to this task. If a module breaks, then it either won’t work as efficiently or it will be completely unusable, and if the base breaks down too much then it’s game over.
To begin with, I felt like the game didn’t do a great job at helping me get on my feet with the tutorial. We have a manual at our disposal, and it gives us a few pointers. But I think just a quick run through with some actual visual indications of what we need to do would have been helpful, as I spent the first hour or two confused as to what certain objects it was requesting me to craft were and how I was supposed to craft them. I did pick it up on my own eventually, but this would have just been nice to have.
Alters can be assigned to various tasks, such as mining, base maintenance, production at the various crafting modules, research, and either supervising or using specific modules such as the infirmary or contemplation module to improve both their physical and mental health. Keeping them happy is not only vital to ensuring they work their shifts and are at their full potential, but also opening up their side quests and preventing anything dire from happening, such as a serious injury or even a mutiny if they are really unhappy. You can keep Alters happy by ensuring there is enough food for everyone each morning, that they are not overworked and their basic needs are being met, such as a bed to sleep in and an infirmary so they can rest if they are injured or sick. You can also go out of your way to please them further by installing luxury modules such as a gym or contemplation room where they can spend their down time and relax. Creating certain Alters, such as the Shrink, can also boost their moods. As part of the mission preparation, Jan was also instructed to pack a selection of personal items which were scattered across the planet during the crash. If you collect these you can gift them to your Alters who also hold some personal value to them and your shared memories. Some of these include films which you can have movie nights in the social room to watch them with your Alters. These are actual FMV and animated short films and a lot of them are surprisingly good and worth taking the time to sit back and watch.
The gameplay loop is seriously addictive, especially considering we aren’t able to save during a day, as each save file is created at the end of the day when we go to sleep. So it’s really easy to fall into that ‘just one more day’ mentality when we’re trying to complete a specific task.
Maintaining the base while also trying to complete main mission tasks is a constant balancing act of resources, and I think The Alters does a fantastic job of using this to show the player through gameplay the pressures of leadership that Jan faces, having been unwillingly thrown into that position. We may be mining for more resources, but then we find we’re running out of storage space, so we have to use resources to craft this. Meanwhile, a magnetic storm is incoming, so we also have to stock up on radiation filters, but then The Scientist is feeling burnout from the crunch hours we’ve had to enforce to generate more resources, so we need to consider adding a gym to the base so that he can let off some steam in between shifts – which, you’ve guessed it, costs more resources.
There are enemies in The Alters that come in the form of radioactive anomalies that cause your radiation levels to rise if you walk into them, progressively becoming more of a problem as the game progresses. To begin with, they are simply clear blobs that only become slightly visible via a ripple effect as you approach them, an audio indicator giving you extra awareness. In act two, further varieties are introduced until eventually, they can move, slow down time, or cause a mirror dimension visual effect that makes it hard to see. You can craft a luminater to make them more visible so that you can avoid them or take them out, however this uses up your suit’s battery power which also needs to be spent on using your climbing hook. I thought the anomalies were a unique way to introduce enemies to the game and reminded me a lot of Death Stranding‘s BTs in the way that they are barely visible until you approach them and the recommended approach is to only use up your resources to take them out when necessary. They were also a much needed introduction to add that extra challenge when out on the field
Each Alter has their own story to complete, usually along the lines of facing their past and learning about themselves. In turn, Jan also gains insight from his Alters, as each one has a lesson to learn from if you complete a specific task for them. These open up further dialogue options, which also save across new (and old) playthroughs to create different outcomes and conversations as Jan becomes a more rounded person. For example, the life changing moment that makes The Technician different from Jan is that he stood up to their abusive father and stayed, whereas Jan left home as soon as he could. As a result, The Technician is able to teach Jan how to stand up for himself and say “no” where it counts.
Your choices, even your early ones, do have an impact on your relationships with your Alters and also the ending you will get. In fact, a decision I made back in act one, or something I chose not to do I should say, blocked me from an option at the end of the game. Because resources are so tight and you constantly feel the pressure of leadership on your back, it’s nigh impossible to please everyone, and you will end up disappointing some of your Alters and even breaking down your relationship with them. Some events also change depending on what Alters you have created in that playthrough. For example, The Botanist’s life changing choice was that he prioritized his relationship with your ex wife above all else and in his life path, they never divorced. Having him present in a playthrough opens up a more positive relationship with your ex wife who also works for Ally Corp.
The good thing is that The Alters is massively replayable. In fact, I’ve played it two and a half times already. My first run was around twenty hours long whereas my second was fifteen, being able to shave off some hours by skipping already experienced dialogue and also having a better idea of the mechanics and what to prioritize early on. As mentioned before, save files come in the form of days. And while the game can only store a limited number of saves (roughly a game and a half), you can lock certain saves if you would like to go back to them later. This means you can load up any point in time in your previous playthrough to restart from there. In fact, if you learn a lesson, you could even go back to the day before and use it in a conversation you had there.
My only problem with this system is that, while I did feel an impact in my decisions in terms of my relationships with the Alters and what events happened throughout the game, I felt like the five endings weren’t diverse enough as they are only mildly different from each other. This is quite disappointing as I went to great lengths to make sure my second playthrough covered absolutely everything and I felt like this wasn’t really paid off.
The inability to save during a day is also a pet peeve of mine in a lot of games as you never know when you need to jump off. While I appreciate that the save system works best when designated to specific days, I think a quick save function wouldn’t take away from this. It would also be a great addition to be able to fast forward time, especially while we’re out exploring as you can assign Alters to create equipment for you while you’re on the go, but you’ll have to wait for them to craft this first. This meant that a lot of my time outside the base was spent hanging around, waiting for an Alter to finish making something that I needed to progress.
While it is a little unbelievable that a choice made as an adult would completely change Jan’s personality and… accent, getting to know the different Alters was a pleasure and Jan’s relationship with them was an easy highlight of the game. I genuinely cared about their stories and helping them come to terms with why they were made as well as their past choices. The game does a great job at making you really want to keep each Alter alive and happy as a priority, especially when it builds on a found family theme (or made family, I should say) by having the Alters hang out together, even when you’re not around, and you’ll often walk in on them having a conversation about the mission, a squabble, or even a heartfelt discussion. They genuinely felt alive and quite frankly, if The Scientist wants two gyms, we will make it work, even if the constant nagging to replenish stock could be grinding at times. If you love radiation filters so much, Jan, why don’t you marry them?!
The Alters also isn’t afraid to delve into the moral questions of Jan’s decision to not only clone himself to create a workforce in order to save his own skin and the corporation’s mission, but also manipulate their memories. He will come face to face with this choice with some brilliantly written dialogue and insightful questions raised by his Alters and the fact that they have to come to terms with the reality that their lives as they know it never existed. Some of them have accomplished great things in their lives, had important relationships with others, or experienced significant events that Jan was unable to – and all of that is gone.
The Alters is an addictive and unique survival base-building game that I would struggle to compare to any other game in its genre. It has a fantastic story and even though I wish there were some more diverse endings to add to that replayability, the writing behind what we have is still very strong, clearly following the themes of the pressures of leadership.
Jess reviewed The Alters on PC with a provided review copy.
