Is The Alters Worth Playing? Review of the New Sci-Fi Survival Game

The Alters starts off strong by setting up the ideas the game wants to tackle right away with its opening monologue and poem, setting the tone right away. This is not a funny, haha story, nor is it a game about tragedy. In true 11-bit Studios fashion, this is a story about humans.  I was gripped by the foreshadowing that I already knew, hoarding the information of just how intense Jan’s life was about to become. The players know that he will have to clone himself; that’s not the shocking part, the introduction plays on that prior understanding like a secretive note.

The rest of the prologue went by pretty quickly, and I was a bit impatient. The background was nice, the flares amused me cuz, can we say, convenient much map makers? I just wanted to get to my first clone and start to really play the game. The Alters are the heart and soul of this game, and wow! Do they shine! The acting, the body language, the voices! Hell yes! I was in a psychological heaven. Reading the different pathways you could have taken, seeing how that changed everything about your life, but still keeping that core thread? It’s so interesting!

In The Alters you have to manage these different versions of yourself, feed them, and find them a place to sleep, how the hell did you not think of that Jan, it’s the first thing I wanted to make for the poor man come on, their emotions are so raw, Just like in this war of mine.  The mix of argument and humor, all underscored by that undercurrent of tension and fear, is never really gone from them, at least. The stakes are high, and the guy leading the ship makes perogies with beer. They have real concerns. Real questions that make you, as the player, tell yourself to avoid going into space.

What are The Alters missing?

While this wasn’t a big problem for me, there are troubles.  The minigame to find deposits can dissolve in the sun, Jan, leave those scanners, dry those tears, I will take you somewhere better. Adding salt to the wound, it’s not even hard, it’s just a matter of luck, and in a game so focused on time management where every day a timer clicks down, luck-based things are infuriating. The world is cool to look at, but pretty basic. It’s not an open world, you cannot jump, and you will be blocked by the god of invisible barriers. There is combat, sorta..Look. There wasn’t a Soldier Jan in the mind records for a reason; we can’t blame him.

Overall.

I don’t have any other complaint about the game, everything else that happens is normal for the kind of game it is- The Alters is mostly a story game based on these people you create from yourself, and I went into it hoping for that. While the exploration side does suffer, it wasn’t anything that ruined the game or made it less fun. If that is something you want? To feel and work around people, to stack the odds and manage all your resources, while debating the morality of the human need for more? Get it! You will love it. Otherwise.. well..there’s a reason the game doesn’t keep a kill count.