Am I my Clones Keeper?
If you’ve ever thought, “Man, I wish I could clone myself to be more productive,” The Alters is here to say: Are you sure about that? Like, REALLY sure? Because this game proves that having multiple versions of yourself just means multiple sources of stress, drug addictions, and philosophical crises in the middle of a power outage. The Alters has players taking control of Jan Dolski, an everyman type who has decided to take a job on the ass end of space. But as these things inevitably do, disaster strikes and Jan’s team is seemingly killed in their drop pods; leaving him alone. Once he makes it to their base Jan quickly releases that he is unable to operate it by himself after speaking with mission control on Earth and with the discovery of the element Rapidium; Jan is ready to make some clones.
MSRP: $34.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $34.99
Imagine a survival management game where every worker is you, but each one has a different backstory, skillset, and emotional baggage. Need someone to fix the Quantum computer? There’s Technician-Jan. Need to know what the heck a ‘quantum computer’ is? Researcher-Jan’s got your back; unless he is too busy telling you how Botanist-Jan is losing focus since he got to talk to their wife. Players will spend your time managing resources, repairing your base and keeping their Alters from spiraling into despair. You’ll juggle time-sensitive crises, build facilities, upgrade equipment, and occasionally just sit there, staring at the screen, whispering, “Why did I think this was a good idea?”
The narrative is intensely psychological. It explores identity, regret, personal growth, and what it means to live with the consequences of the roads not taken. The writing is sharp, and each Alter has a distinct personality; so distinct, in fact, that I ended up liking more than a few Alter-Jan’s more than the original. Some of them bonded, some got into shouting matches, and at one point, two of them started singing. Then one of them got injured and became addicted to painkillers and died. This was made all the worse because I enabled him, more than once Miner-Jan came to me and lied about him being able to handle his addiction; and I let it go because I didn’t want to deal with what his attitude did to the group dynamic. I should have stopped the pills and I am so curious what would have happened if I had let that play out.
Visually, the game is stunning in a “you will die here” kind of way. The harsh alien landscape is beautifully bleak, like if Mars and your childhood nightmares had a baby. The magnetic storms and weird temporal rifts add to the dread and are each visually beautiful to behold. The interior of the base is cramped, industrial, and filled with clunky terminals and personality disorders. Sound design? Chef’s kiss. The voice acting is top-tier; especially impressive considering it’s basically one guy voicing every version of himself and making you feel like they’re totally different people. The music does a great job of shifting between meditative calm and “you left the oven on and now we’re all doomed” levels of tension.
The Alters is a unique, emotionally layered, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking game that will have you questioning your own life choices and then simulating alternate versions of them. It’s not just about survival or ‘tree-punching’ as Ken calls it; but it’s about identity, regret, and learning to cooperate with your own worst tendencies… literally. It’s like if RimWorld and Black Mirror had a baby, and that baby wanted to talk to you about your high school failures. The Alters is developer 11-bit Studios firing on all cylinders with what I feel is there best game to date. Do I recommend The Alters? Absolutely! Just don’t play it when you’re already existentially fragile. Or do. I’m not your Alter.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
