The Alters: Last Variable, a roughly 20-hour expansion to 11 bit studios’ survival sci-fi game, is out now on PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S, and PC, and it’s arriving alongside a launch trailer showing what Jan Scientist is up against.
The expansion continues the base game ending in which Jan Scientist stays behind on the planet, waking from cryosleep to study the Oasis, a lush paradise emerging from an otherwise desolate world. It’s a phenomenon he can’t crack alone, so he starts creating Alters again, this time building scientific versions of himself, including a Geologist, a Biologist, a Chemist, and a Physicist.
The new mechanics center on terraforming, with each transformed region shifting the landscape, spawning fresh resources, and provoking the planet’s defenses in the form of more frequent earthquakes and severe radiation waves. Players can also build underground across different soil types, research new modules like the Cryosleep Chamber, and set up Field Labs that keep Alters working on the surface while Jan sleeps through the planet’s harshest cycles.
Much of this will sound familiar if you caught the gameplay trailer from earlier this month, and the expansion leans into what worked the first time around. In my review of The Alters, I said you won’t be singing praises for its gameplay, but if you like balancing multiple things at once while making compelling choices, the game is right up your alley. I also called it a great example of the direction I hope game development keeps heading, mixing genres to create experiences you can’t get anywhere else, and Last Variable is more of that formula.
Last Variable requires the base game to play, but a completed save isn’t necessary to jump in, and 11 bit studios pegs the expansion at around 20 hours.
