The Alters Review

The Alters is one of those truly unique experiences that is really hard to easily explain just by throwing it under a genre tag. Its current tags on Steam are survival, base building, action-adventure, and sci-fi, and while those are all true, The Alters is also so much more.

To be clear, The Alters isn’t just another survival game. It’s a deeply personal journey wrapped in sci-fi mechanics that will have you questioning your own life choices, all while desperately trying to keep yourself (all versions of yourself) alive on a hostile planet. This is 11 Bit Studios’ most ambitious project yetand to be quite frank: It shows.

A tale of Jan’s

The Alters Review

10.0Masterpiece

PlatformsPC, PS5, Xbox X|S

Release DateJune 13, 2025

Developer11 Bit Studios

Publisher11 Bit Studios

You play Jan Dolski, a space miner who becomes the sole survivor when his crew’s expedition goes sideways while attempting to survey and land on an alien planet. Jan isn’t a hero-type character; he’s just a regular guy who happened not to die when everyone else in his crew did. The problem is, he’s completely out of his depth, and he’s well aware of that. The planet’s deadly sun causes cycles to occur on the planet’s surface, where the heat will fry him to a crisp. Jan has got maybe days to figure out how to escape while maneuvering a massive mobile base that he has no idea how to operate alone.

Enter The Alters‘ wild hook: using a mysterious substance called Rapidium, Jan can create alternate versions of himself. These “Alters” are clones, but with a bit of a twist: they’re based on different life paths Jan could have taken. Not just in overall career path, but also with every life choice Jan has made along the way. One version of Jan could have stood up to his abusive father instead of running away like the “base” version of Jan did. Another went to university instead of dropping out. Each decision creates a completely different person with unique skills, personalities, and, more importantly, baggage and views on life.

Does it sound a bit bonkers? Good, because it absolutely is. But it works. So damn well.

We Jan be heroes

As I said, from a survival/gameplay standpoint, this isn’t your typical “collect resources and build stuff” survival game. Don’t get me wrong, the gameplay in The Alters is fun, but the story is truly next level. It hits hard because it asks some brutally honest questions about regret and identity. Questions I didn’t expect to search for the answers to, but did. Many times. I love a game that can make me think about things outside of the game, and The Alters did this not once, not twice, but repeatedly throughout the whole experience.

When Jan Engineer wakes up confused and angry about existing, you feel it. Sure (at least I hope not), none of us has gone through the exact issue of having been cloned. But I know that for me personally, I’ve certainly had times where I’ve wondered what exactly the point actually is, and even games that go out of their way to address this feeling have failed to do so with as much nuance as The Alters. When you’re having a heart-to-heart with Jan Scientist about childhood trauma while trying to figure out how to power the mining equipment, shit gets real.

The voice acting deserves special mention here. Actor Alex Jordan (Mr. Hands in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Library, and Rook in Dragon Age: The Veilguard) manages to give each version of Jan a distinct personality despite them all being the same person. You can hear the differences – Jan Technician is more assertive, Jan Botanist is gentler, and they all carry the weight of their different life experiences. It’s genuinely impressive work. I recently saw Sinners in theaters, which features Michael B. Jordan playing the role of two twin brothers, and it was an absolutely phenomenal performance. Well, Jordan does that times…well, a lot. Jordan confirmed he played all of them, which has to go down as one of the most impressive performances in video games.

One moment that stuck with me involved two Jans bonding over their shared memories of their mother, but from completely different perspectives. The original Jan was too scared to protect her from their father’s abuse, while Jan Mechanic stepped in. Watching them process this together, all while planning their survival strategy, was both heartwarming and gut-wrenching. If you want a game that makes you think “What if…” about your life choices, this is the one you need to play.

You Jan count on me

The core gameplay revolves around resource management, but it’s more complex than that sounds. You’re constantly balancing multiple plates at once: keeping your mobile base running, exploring the hostile planet surface for materials, managing the emotional states of your Alters, and racing against time before the sun catches up.

Every morning starts with a decision (more multiple). Do you send Jan Scientist outside to research weird anomalies, or keep him inside working on tech upgrades? Can Jan Miner handle another long shift, or is he getting close to a breakdown? It’s not just stats and percentages forming these decisions. The Alter’s are people (sort of) with real emotional needs and experiences, and if you haven’t been paying attention, you can quickly find yourself heading down a dangerous path.

Exploration is a huge part of The Alters and feels both meaningful and purposeful. You’re not just wandering around clicking on rocks. Finding a new metal deposit means setting up power pylons, connecting mining equipment, and creating supply lines back to your base. When a magnetic storm hits while you’re outside and your radiation levels spike, the panic is real. You have to quickly sprint back to base, hoping you don’t collapse before reaching the safety of your mobile base.

Base building connects directly to survival and story. You need workshops to craft essential gear, dormitories for your growing crew, and social spaces to keep everyone’s morale up. But there’s more nuance than just your standard “make sure you have the resources” for your growing population. Your Alters will request specific things, as well. Jan Scientist might want a research lab. Jan Botanist needs a greenhouse. These aren’t just gameplay upgrades; they’re extensions of who these people are. And you won’t always be able to satisfy the needs (or wants) of every Jan, and since they’re real people (once again, sort of), they can be hurt or gracious about your decisions.

I Jan only imagine

Let me tell you about the rubber duck incident. I found this silly toy while exploring and decided to give it to Jan Scientist as a gift. His reaction was pure joy. He even named it “Marie Squackowska” and his whole demeanor changed from there on out. It was such a small moment, but it perfectly captured how these aren’t just worker units with stats. They’re individuals with quirks and emotions. I haven’t played through The Alters a second time yet, although I’m excited to do so. But I’m certainly curious how some events would have played out if I had never found Squackowska for Jan Scienties.

Then there’s the rebellion system. If you push your Alters too hard or make decisions they fundamentally disagree with, they’ll eventually turn on you. There are several times I’d sink into a bit of a comfortable lull with managing my Jan’s before an event would transpire that quickly snapped me out of my lull. Some of the possible outcomes are both hilarious and horrifying.

Another highlight moment involves the beer pong minigame. Yes, really. You can build a social room where your Alters play beer pong and watch movies together. It sounds ridiculous until but remember: these people are stuck with each other in a metal can, running from certain death. They need ways to bond and decompress, just like we would.

Tin Jan

Fair warning: The Alters can be relentlessly stressful. You’re always behind, always short on something critical, always making impossible choices. Do you use those precious metals to fix the life support system or upgrade the mining equipment? Do you comfort the Alter who’s having an existential crisis or focus on the mission-critical research?

Some players will love this tension, and others will find it exhausting. I think it fits perfectly with the actual themes at play in The Alters, but it’s important to point out that the pressure never lets up, and that’s intentional. You’re supposed to feel overwhelmed because the Jan’s are overwhelmed.

You’re expected to fail and learn along the way. There’s even a replay feature that reminds you of previous choices so you can try different approaches. But while I think The Alters does a great job of walking that line, I know that constant stress might not be for everyone.

From a technical standpoint, The Alters runs on Unreal Engine 5 and looks phenomenal. The mobile base design is also particularly impressive; this giant wheel rolls across alien landscapes while you manage everything inside. Character animations during conversations feel natural, and the environmental design creates a genuinely hostile atmosphere that feels immersively terrifying.

Throughout my playthrough, there were a few rough edges: Jan would occasionally get stuck on terrain while exploring, or the third-person camera would feel a bit awkward at times. Nothing game-breaking, or even that bothersome, but noticeable enough to mention for a game that otherwise gets everything right.

Catch me if you Jan

If you enjoyed the immersive storytelling of This War of Mine or Frostpunk, you’ll connect with The Alters. It has that same moral complexity and resource tension, but with what I’d consider the most personal story focus 11 Bit Studios has produced yet.

This is perfect for players who want their survival games to have meaning beyond just staying alive. If you’re into games that make you think about big philosophical questions while managing practical concerns, this is your Jan (haha). Just go into it expecting that the pressure feels real and unrelenting.

The Alters is one of those rare games that tries something genuinely new and largely succeeds. This is 11 Bit Studios firing on all cylinders, combining their proven survival mechanics with mature storytelling and innovative concepts. It asks hard questions about regret, identity, and choice while wrapping them in compelling gameplay systems. It’s scary how good they’ve done here.

I could keep going about the philosophical implications or the clever way difficulty scales with emotional complexity. But realistically, the best way to understand The Alters is to experience it yourself, which I recommend everyone should do. Just be prepared for some serious self-reflection along the way.