Developer: 11 bit Studios
Publisher: 11 bit Studios
Reviewed On: PS5
Available On: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Release Date: June 13, 2025
Review Copy Provided By: 11 bit Studios
The Alters is a 3D survival game set in a distant planet where the sun constantly scorches the land. It is developed by 11 bit Studios who made the critically acclaimed This War of Mine. You are playing as Jan Dolski, a builder who was sent on a mission to discover Rapidium. An element that has mysterious abilities. In order for our protagonist to survive, he was asked to clone himself using Rapidium and this is where our adventure begins.
The story is very intriguing and captivating and it got me hooked in an instant. He wasn’t just creating clones of himself, he’s creating clones who has made different life choices than him and resulted to a different life path making them have their own distinct abilities and skills. Since Jan is not able to run the ship on his own, he had to come up with clones who have other skills like someone who excels in research or someone who excels in repairing things.
And because their life choices were different, they also have different personalities and you will see that some of your clones will argue or will not agree on certain decisions you make for them.
The core mechanics of the game is managing the clones and making sure that everyone survives the journey. This involves ensuring that you have enough meals for everyone, enough radiation filters and enough resources to build everything you need to run away from the sun. Otherwise, your Alters will start to rebel or do stupid things that could get them killed.
I really like the frenzy of managing systems. And Alters has done a very good job of ensuring that you don’t space out and miss out on running your ship like a well-oiled machine. I like that the Alters will remind you that they’re not doing anything and would suggest whether you want to assign them on certain things to do. This really helps speed up the process and ensures that you’re not trying to do everything by yourself. There’s a sense of trust and a sense of letting go and just focusing on your main objectives.
At certain points in the game, it will also ask you to make game changing decisions that will affect you and your crew of Alters. It’s good to know as well that every choice you make really leads to different paths in the game and it even has multiple endings depending on the choices you make.
The one thing that the game limits you is with how many Alters you can make throughout the game. If it is your first play of the game, you will soon find out that you are only allowed to create up to a maximum of 6 Alters. And because of this, you will really need to figure out which characters you need to create and which of them will help you get to the best ending in the game. If you’re a completionist like me this means I would have to play the game several times to ensure I have the best possible combination of Alters together.
But I guess the one thing about the Alters is that there is one character that is the only character who is able to research which is very crucial in the game. This means that you will most likely have to create this character at once in any of your playthroughs, unless of course you want to make your life difficult and not rely on upgrades at all. And I mean, the character can do anyone else’s jobs and as well as the other characters can do anyone else’s jobs but no one else can do the research. Except of course for the Doctor and the Shrink because they are also the only ones who can do their specific job roles but they are not as impactful as the Scientist’s role.
Another things I have noticed is that there are no manual saves in this game. There is only auto save and this can result into problems later on if for some reason your save file gets corrupted then you will have to restart all over again. This happened to me one time and it was very frustrating because I was already halfway through the game and then the game won’t save anymore because the game file got corrupted. There are also no auto saves in the middle of a day cycle.
By day cycle I mean the game has a night and day cycle that allows you to plan and manage what you will do between 7:30AM to 12:00AM in the game. If you try to push your character to 1:00AM he will collapse and will wake up late the next day and start the day at 10:30AM. So if you have to leave or go somewhere else, you need to make sure that you’ve completed a day cycle before you can step out if you want to ensure that your progress has been saved.
The graphics of this game are beautiful. And it transports you in this beautiful otherworldly planet that has beautiful views that you can surely get mesmerized with. Too bad there is no photo mode as you won’t be able to capture the breathtaking views on this game.
The soundtrack for this game is awesome and the usage of sound in the game is very well placed. From the crackling sound of a radiation burn to the airlock as it hisses for when you enter the ship. You can very much hear how well they’ve put this together.
Overall, The Alters is a wonderful survival game that will capture the hearts of many scifi loving people. The tough choices laid out in the game are built to test your morality and explores the many possible outcomes it entails. With the gripping story combined with the threat of running out of time, the Alters is one of those games where you learn the more you play. And the more you play, the more discoveries you will make.
The Alters is a wonderful survival game that will capture the hearts of many scifi loving people. The tough choices laid out in the game are built to test your morality and explores the many possible outcomes it entails.
The Good
- Awesome management gameplay
- Interesting characters
- Beautiful game world
The Bad
- No manual saves
