Quick Verdict
The Alters is a great example of the direction I hope game development is heading: the continued mixing of different genres to create unique experiences. It comes from 11 bit studios, the company behind This War of Mine and both Frostpunk titles, and that management sim influence is prevalent throughout The Alters. The game centers on Jan Dolski, who has been stranded on a mysterious planet and forced to clone himself to survive. These clones, however, have unique backstories and specialties as a result of making different choices in their “lives.”
While the main appeal here is the story and all the different Jan Dolskis you interact with, The Alters’ unique blend of survival and management sim gameplay feels like learning the art of spinning plates. The game starts off easy enough, but eventually you’ll have to balance numerous tasks and objectives depending on the type of captain you want to be. I’m a sucker for games where your actions actually impact the outcome, and The Alters does that well. You won’t be singing praises for its gameplay, but if you like balancing multiple things at once while making compelling choices, The Alters is right up your alley.
Identity Crisis
My experience with The Alters was peculiar, to say the least. It took me about three hours to fully understand the core gameplay loop and everything that I had to balance in terms of resources and research. As a result, I wasted numerous days in the game’s first act, causing me to fail to meet the first objective before the deadline. Fortunately, the game’s auto-save system is very generous, and using what I learned, I rolled back a few days to meet the deadline. However, in doing so, it seemed that my particular combination of choices got me stuck. Based on what I found online, it appears I’m not the only one with that specific issue. I spent around three hours replaying past saves, going back further and further in time trying to find a solution. Since I couldn’t find an answer online, I ended up starting all over again.
I’m leading off with this story because it should paint a really good picture of The Alters. The beginning is a little slow and potentially overwhelming, and the game still seems to have its fair share of bugs. However, once you grasp everything that’s going on, it’s a really compelling experience, and I had no problem redoing the initial few hours. In a way, I treated it like a roguelike, starting a new run with all the knowledge and experience I gained from my first attempt, which was full of wrong choices and wasted days. The Alters is largely a narrative game with some gameplay, but to really enjoy it, you’re going to have to enjoy reading and making choices. I can probably count on two hands the number of games I’ve ever played that had me sit there contemplating dialogue choices for an extended period of time, and The Alters is one of them.
If you manage not to mess things up like I did, an average playthrough should take around 20 hours, depending on how much side content you want to do or how many endings you want to see. Many of the optional missions are tied to a particular Alter’s story, meaning that if you don’t really care for Jan Scientist, you can ignore his requests. It’ll probably make him mad, though, and that could have lasting consequences for your game. All of this makes for a more meaningful experience, as the game has multiple endings based on your choices. Without spoiling anything, I wish some of these endings were more varied, but I appreciate that they are, for the most part, reflective of the choices you made.
Balancing Act
As I mentioned in my Quick Verdict, The Alters focuses on Jan Dolski, the sole survivor of a team that traveled to a mysterious planet in search of a rare resource. The first goal is to get Jan safely to the base, which will be familiar to anyone who has played Fallout Shelter. While the base’s layout may not seem all that important at first glance, there are ways of positioning certain things to make your playthrough more efficient. Since time is a factor in the game, especially if you want to complete all the objectives, it’s worth figuring out a layout that works for your brain. For example, I placed the dormitory right outside the captain’s cabin, so each morning I could easily speak to the Alters without having to hunt them down. It may not save you a significant amount of time, but it’s definitely less frustrating when you easily remember where everything is in your base.
Later on, there’s more of a puzzle element in trying to fit everything you need into the base. You’ll need room for elevators, and there’s a fixed module that can’t be moved, which serves as a bit of an obstacle. Storage is important as well, since you’ll need to keep a variety of resources stocked to craft the items necessary to maintain your base. There are random events like magnetic storms that can damage modules inside your base, at which point you’ll need a repair kit to either repair the module yourself or assign an Alter to do so. Any production module requires an Alter assigned to it or you working in it, otherwise no production happens. You should be getting an idea of how the management simulation part of the game comes into play here.
The main focus of the game is to safely move the base from one area to another before the sun rises on your section of the planet. Failing to do so will result in a game over screen, at which point you’ll need to load a previous save to figure out how to complete the main objective before time runs out. That typically consists of exploring the region and setting up infrastructure to mine resources such as metals, minerals, organics, and the rare material Rapidium. Establishing mining nodes involves a mini-game of finding where to place your mining outpost, which I found terribly unengaging and easily one of the worst parts of the game. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it too many times, but it really seems like it’s designed to waste as much time as possible. Like modules in the base, mining outposts have to be manned to generate resources, which means balancing which of your Alters are helping out at the base and which are gathering resources outside.
Clone Wars
The Alters lacks what you’d traditionally consider combat, but there are threats when exploring outside that can result in your Jan Dolski fainting and losing time. Being exposed to too much radiation or staying out too late at night will cause exhaustion, and you’ll respawn at the base. There are also anomalies that cause radiation, but they can easily be avoided and eventually destroyed. It reminded me of certain sections of Alan Wake 2, especially when things got bizarre as the mystery of the planet continued to grow throughout the story. All of this is to say that the general gameplay isn’t all that exciting, and most of the fun in The Alters is the balancing act of the various mechanics while managing your time.
That is, essentially, the core of the game. You’ll spend most of the day exploring the outdoors while balancing the jobs of the Alters to keep everyone fed and the base operating. Of course, you can choose to neglect any number of things if you want, but that puts the entire mission in jeopardy. I ran into instances where rebellions occurred, resulting in a game over screen. Making the wrong choices can also impact individual Alters, and it was a lot of fun seeing all the different outcomes based on dialogue choices and whether or not I bothered completing their side objectives. Repeatedly ignoring the needs of your Alters or pushing them too hard can cause them to become uncooperative, and conflicts can escalate. Continuing down that path can collapse the run outright. It’s an interesting dynamic because, in a way, The Alters has you treat these clones like people, not just job slots.
Another major choice is which Alters to create, as you are limited to how many you can have in your base. Certain Alters are required in every playthrough, but you do have the freedom to choose the others. Some of this comes down to your needs, whether you want a botanist or a miner, for example, and which personalities you connect with. Half of the Alters feel like they were intentionally created to be a pain to deal with, while others are really chill. I found it all to be a very interesting way to explore how seemingly minor decisions in life could actually play a major role in shaping who you are.
Branch Manager
Visually, exploring certain areas of the planet is sometimes stunning and other times vastly empty and bland. You can set up travel pylons to quickly fast travel to a certain area of the map, while each mining outpost also comes with its own fast travel point. You will find yourself going back and forth quite a bit, but all of the maps are manageable in size. It’s hard for me to comment on performance because of my current PC setup, but the game ran flawlessly for me with a consistent frame rate, especially with frame generation turned on. Broadly speaking, though, The Alters is a beautiful game, and I like the sharp contrast between how it looks while exploring the planet and how it looks when spending time in the base.
The standout performance though comes from Alex Jordan, who voices all the different Alters and manages to make each one sound unique and fitting for their personalities. He’s gruff and grating in certain roles, while soft-spoken when needed in others. Like the game itself, Alex Jordan’s performance deserves more recognition and attention than it got. I’m surprised he wasn’t nominated for the job he did as Jan Dolski. Sure, some of the writing isn’t exactly the best, but he still manages to deliver it in a way that doesn’t sound awkward or out of place. A lot of the immersion in the game comes from Jordan’s performance, which makes it more believable that each Alter has their own identity.
If all of this sounds a bit overwhelming and you’re more interested in the story itself and how 11 bit studios manages to write the different Alters, the game does allow you to adjust its difficulty. There are two different settings, one for the economy and another for the action elements. Each of these settings has three options, so you can customize the experience. I will say that on the normal settings, the game feels good, but the economy side can be a little overwhelming if you aren’t paying close attention. The action elements aren’t very demanding if you’ve played any action game in the past that involves aiming.
Me, Myself, and Why
So who exactly is The Alters made for? Well, you’re going to have to enjoy reading if you want to jump into this game. Each Alter has their own backstory presented in a timeline, and there’s a lot of dialogue to get through. You’ll also need to enjoy certain aspects of management simulation, from choosing priorities to keeping resources stocked and production running. If you’re looking for a game packed with action, you’ll want to look elsewhere. Really, the premise of interacting with clones who have different personalities and specialties has to be intriguing for you to enjoy The Alters. The narrative revolves around that foundation, and the story being told mainly focuses on that. Unfortunately, it never fully explains some of the mysteries of the planet. At one point, I felt like the story was heading in a certain direction, but it never came to fruition, much to my disappointment.
I’d say The Alters is primarily a narrative-first game focused on telling the story of Jan Dolski and his Alters. It offers a lot of interesting perspectives and will get you thinking about your personal life if you’re that type of gamer. The core gameplay loop is satisfying if you enjoy management sims, and I felt like the playthrough was just the right amount of time. It does start to feel a bit like a chore toward the final act, having to once again explore another map to establish a pipeline for resources, but the game throws enough twists at you to make it feel like you’re constantly trying to solve a puzzle. Again, there were moments when I felt overwhelmed by just how many things I wanted to do, forcing me to create my own checklist to make sure I didn’t forget anything.
The Alters provides a unique experience, one that pulls elements and mechanics from different genres. It’s part visual novel, part crafting survival, part exploration, and part management simulation. I hate using a cliché, but one really does describe The Alters: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Some of the gameplay on its own isn’t very compelling, nor would the game be fun if all it involved were interacting with the different Jan Dolskis. It’s the combination of having to manage everything that results in this enjoyable juggling act, which kept me occupied for over 30 hours as I went back to see how certain decisions changed the ending. I love unique games like this even if they’re flawed, just like every one of those Jan Dolskis I decided to create and put through the wringer.
The Alters has an official release date of June 13, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. This review is based on a purchased retail copy of the game on PC. While FullCleared does have affiliate partnerships, they do not influence our editorial content. We may earn a commission for purchases made through links on this page.
The Alters Review Gallery (possible spoilers!)
