Me, another me, and another me… The Alters game review

It is almost impossible to accurately determine the genre of the new game from 11 Bit Studios. The Alters is both a science fiction interactive story with a lot of branches and the weight of the choices made; it is also an action/adventure about exploring an unknown planet; it is also a metroidvania; it is also an economic strategy with base management and survival elements. And The Alters is also a philosophical parable about life, about the actions that make us who we are, about longing for childhood and what we did not have time for, about memories of people who are no longer around...

History

The main character of The Alters, Jan Dolsky, is an ordinary construction worker. He signed up for a space trip because he wanted to change his own life, which had gone somewhere wrong. Jan had to maintain the expedition base and build new modules so that scientists and researchers could find the mysterious rapidium, an element that accelerates the growth of organic tissue and can help solve the Earth's environmental and food problems.

Unfortunately, as always, something went wrong, and out of the entire expedition, only Jan reached the surface of the distant planet of three stars alive. The deadly dangerous sun is approaching, and now, in order to survive and complete the task, Jan Dolsky must replace the expedition commander, technician, scientist, driller and a bunch of other people. But Jan does not have time to master new professions, if he can master, say, quantum physics at all.

So he receives instructions from the mission leader on how to use a quantum computer, consciousness scans, rapidium, and an artificial womb to create his own clone. But not just a clone, but an alter – a clone with different knowledge and experience, a person who at certain key moments in life made a different choice. She stood up against her tyrant father and stood up for her mother. She left home for the sake of her education. She chose a scientific career instead of easy money and an office job. She didn't go to study, but went to work in a mine to feed her family. And so on. Typical "what if...".

It's not that we don't have enough science fiction novels or movies about clones or parallel worlds, but the combination of these plot moves in one story doesn't happen often. As for games, I can't recall such a mix as in The Alters. And I haven't even mentioned the suspicious actions of the corporation, the relationship with the ex-wife, shared memories, conflicts between alters, the atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia, etc.

Yes, if you've read a lot of science fiction, you'll probably guess some of the plot twists, but overall The Alters offers players a really interesting, coherent, and well-written emotional story. I'd happily read a fictionalized version of it or watch a movie based on it.

Alters

According to the game's plot, you don't choose the first alter because the base is damaged and you need to repair it to move on, so you first create Jan the Technician. For the next alter, you are supposedly free to choose any life path, but in reality it will be Jan the Scientist, because you need to study the phenomena of this unstable planet and find a way to move forward, because the sun is catching up.

But then you can experiment, although I think many will choose Yan Shakhtar or Yan Naftovyk, because maintaining the base requires a large amount of resources and you need to put someone on mining while you study the terrain and phenomena.

There are actually ten alters in The Alters, some of which are only unlocked in the second act of the game, after reaching the required quantum computer level. In addition, the number of quantum blocks is limited, so you definitely won't see all the possible options in one playthrough.

All versions of Jan Dolski have their own thoughts, memories, beliefs, and desires. From time to time, alters will clash over issues important to the survival of the mission. As the acting captain and patriarch of this strange family, you must choose which side to take and how to calm down the one you "abandoned." Alters suffer the consequences of their actions in a past "life," may get injured while working, fall into depression, do something stupid on impulse, and so on.

So one of the important components of The Alters is communicating with alters, completing their tasks, playing beer pong (lots of beer, a ping pong table, and a ball), watching movies together, and other activities.

Sometimes it is enough to just talk, choosing options according to the alter's beliefs, to motivate him or reduce anxiety and gloom. In addition, you can give the alter some of the things you took from Earth and about which you have common memories. As for the tasks, one of the alters wants dumbbells and a gym, because his cloned body is much weaker than the body from the memories; someone wants delicious food and fresh vegetables; someone, on the contrary, wants to work harder to forget about problems. Each task requires resources, and some are simply difficult to complete due to the weight limit of the base.

Regarding watching movies together. Especially for The Alters, the developers shot several films and drew cartoons that beat real famous fantasy films and common science fiction clichés. Some of these films are really funny. I advise you to watch "History of the Universe".

To give you an idea of the level of problems that can arise on the base… Possible alters include a psychotherapist to conduct therapy sessions and a security guard to break up fights. In the middle of the second act, the tension on the base increases, you have to solve more complex problems and accept the consequences of your decisions. But overall, it seemed to me that unlike This War of Mine and Frostpunk, which are sometimes just painful to play, the emotional tension and empathy for the characters in The Alters is less. It seems like the authors have distanced themselves a little from their heroes. Maybe this is just my impression.

Research

Personally, for me, exploring the world is the most interesting part of The Alters. Each level here, especially the canyon in the second act, is a real maze. To get to some areas, you first need to explore and build improvements, such as a portable drill, a grappling hook plus upgrades for it, protection from anomalies, etc. And, of course, the local weapon - the luminator, which helps to detect and destroy anomalies.

Yes, in The Alters there are almost the same anomalies as in STALKER . From a distance they look like flickering atmosphere, when you get closer they begin to manifest and reveal the core. Some anomalies emit dangerous radiation, some slow down time, some chase you, some pulse. Unlike in STALKER, you won't have to throw bolts, a luminator will be enough (it also improves, by the way). But it consumes energy, so it's worth having a supply of batteries for your spacesuit. And these are again resources.

Resources in the game are divided into those that can be collected manually, using a portable drill, or using a stationary installation. Some resources must also be processed at the base. All drills must be connected to the base with power lines, laying them over difficult terrain is a separate game within the game.

During a magnetic storm, when radiation levels are dangerous, resource extraction increases, but an alter working on the rig will get radiation sickness. This is treatable, but you have to be careful.

The power of the drills, the radius of the sensors and the energy pillars can be improved through research. Some of the research requires rare resources that can only be obtained from interal anomalies, a kind of quantum breakthroughs of other worlds. In general, scientific research is the most important part of The Alters, do not neglect them.

Database management

11 Bit Studios are the creators of This War of Mine and Frostpunk, so it's no surprise that The Alters base management resembles a mix of these games. Every day we distribute alters to workplaces - someone cooks food, someone makes filters, repair kits, batteries and other things necessary for survival, someone extracts resources, someone processes them, someone repairs the base, someone works in the science lab, someone in the infirmary... somehow there's too much work and not enough alters, so you'll have to constantly shuffle them between stations and intervene yourself.

11 Bit Studios is trying to make life easier for players by adding item limits, allowing for automatic addition of shortages to the production queue, automatic loading of filters, and automatic request for a job change if the previous one is already completed. But still, there is enough micromanagement in managing the base that distracts from exploring the planet and finding its secrets.

Yes, I understand that The Alters is a game about survival on a dangerous planet, but... I would have gladly abandoned this part, putting more emphasis on world exploration and interactive story. Because by the end of the first act, base management becomes a not-so-interesting routine.

Building new modules, maintaining the base's weight balance, which determines the amount of fuel needed for movement, and distributing housing is the much more interesting part, but it also depends on the amount of resources you have at your disposal.

Personally, for me, the base management is the weakest part of The Alters, which somewhat tarnished my impression of the game. If you like this, add another point to the rating.

Ukrainian localization

Polish 11 Bit Studios are true friends of Ukraine, they have repeatedly transferred funds to help our country (in 2022, and several times in 2024). Starting with Frostpunk 2, they have been adding Ukrainian localization to all their own games (developed, but not published, because 11 Bit Studios is also an indie publisher). The Alters was no exception.

The game has a lot of text, and overall it has received a very good translation. Even songs and poems have been adapted (yes, there are both), but without rhymes. I played the pre-release version, and it had a few errors (physician is a general practitioner, not a physicist), but not too critical, plus I came across a few untranslated paragraphs. Let's hope they fix this with patches.

Graphics and bugs

There's really nothing special to say here. The Alters uses Unreal Engine 5, so you can roughly imagine the level of the visual part and system requirements. During the construction and management of the base, the game works almost in 2.5D. In the open world, it's full and very good 3D. The anomalies, manifestations of quantum breakthroughs and rapidium deposits are especially impressive - interesting visual effects are used here. As for bugs, I haven't seen any in 20 hours of play. It's amazing.

Alternative game

To be honest, The Alters is one of the most unusual games I've played recently. It's packed with so much that other developers would have had enough for several separate projects. Perhaps 11 Bit Studios even went a little overboard, because the game has elements of many genres, and there aren't many players who like them all at once.

In any case, The Alters is one of those projects that is worth trying out for yourself. This game cannot be ignored. And the fact that it was released, including in Game Pass, may be a good opportunity for many to get acquainted with this experiment from 11 Bit Studios.