95
The Alters makes you think about the value of every life, even the "fake" ones, the burden of choice, and the fact that within each of us there are many unrealized selves. It's a powerful, emotional, and philosophical statement, packaged within complex, multi-layered gameplay.
100
The Alters requires time, flexibility and some moments of contemplation to really appreciate all it has to offer. The beauty is in the details, such as the nuances in dialogues, the subtle differences between each personality of the same person, and also the way that the narrative grips you and takes you with it to a place where time is as precious as scarce.
tbd
A marvelous (and surprising) mix between survival and strategy games. [Recommended]
1
This is a great game and a bit of a mind trip. It’s executed very well lol and keeps you engaged because you have to know what comes next. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a unique story driven game.
10
The Alters, ~24 Hrs Playtime A masterpiece that brilliantly blends base-management, survival, and light RPG elements into an entirely unique sci-fi experience. On a technical level, the game runs perfectly. The entire playthrough was completely free of performance drops, visual bugs, glitches, or game-breaking issues. The gameplay loop centers on a constant ticking clock. Stranded on a mysterious planet after your team is killed on arrival, you must explore on foot, mine critical resources, and upgrade your mobile base before a deadly sunrise wipes you out. While strict time limits usually frustrate me, The Alters strikes a perfect balance—it avoids hand-holding without ever feeling punishing or like a slog. To survive the radioactive nights and manage essential resources like food, you rely on engaging, functional RPG systems to create "Alters." Forged from a mysterious element called rapidium, these clones are generated by simulating your alternate life choices, yielding distinct companions with the specific skills and memories needed to help you survive. This design provides incredible replay value; once you master the ticking clock on your first run and figure out how to escape the planet and complete your mission, you are given the breathing room to experiment with different base builds, upgrades, and Alter combinations on subsequent playthroughs. Narratively and atmospherically, the game is incredibly immersive. The world-building, high stakes, and the lore consume you completely. Without venturing into spoiler territory, the narrative masterfully unfurls a complex range of emotional, psychological, and philosophical themes as you interact with these alternate versions of yourself. Honestly, I never expected to love this game as much as I did. The Alters is a breathtaking, one-of-a-kind experience that genuinely feels like it gives you far more than your money's worth. I cannot recommend it enough.
7
A very enjoyable game with an interesting premise and strong atmosphere. Managing your Alters and keeping the base running is satisfying, and the story does a good job of exploring different versions of the protagonist. However, the choices feel less impactful than the game initially suggests, and many paths seem more structured than they appear. While the game gives the impression of being highly replayable, different Alters and story decisions often lead to more similar outcomes than expected. Despite these shortcomings, it's a unique and engaging experience that stands out in the genre.
The Alters
Released On:
Jun 13, 2025
Metascore
Generally Favorable
85
User score
Generally Favorable
8.2
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
85
91% Positive
58 Reviews
58 Reviews
9% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Oct 14, 2025
100
The Alters requires time, flexibility and some moments of contemplation to really appreciate all it has to offer. The beauty is in the details, such as the nuances in dialogues, the subtle differences between each personality of the same person, and also the way that the narrative grips you and takes you with it to a place where time is as precious as scarce.
Jun 20, 2025
92
All games build on or look back at what’s come before. The Alters makes a delicious stew out of familiar ingredients, both from other 11 bit studios games and popular genres. Taking survival and building mechanics and adding a complex layer of social simulation isn’t entirely foreign to this developer, but The Alters feels genuinely original, and that’s a bit miraculous in an industry full of sequels and remakes. Ironically, while the game might be about clones, The Alters is anything but a copy of something else.
User score
Generally Favorable
8.2
81% Positive
515 Ratings
515 Ratings
12% Mixed
78 Ratings
78 Ratings
6% Negative
41 Ratings
41 Ratings
Jun 2, 2026
10
The Alters, ~24 Hrs Playtime A masterpiece that brilliantly blends base-management, survival, and light RPG elements into an entirely unique sci-fi experience. On a technical level, the game runs perfectly. The entire playthrough was completely free of performance drops, visual bugs, glitches, or game-breaking issues. The gameplay loop centers on a constant ticking clock. Stranded on a mysterious planet after your team is killed on arrival, you must explore on foot, mine critical resources, and upgrade your mobile base before a deadly sunrise wipes you out. While strict time limits usually frustrate me, The Alters strikes a perfect balance—it avoids hand-holding without ever feeling punishing or like a slog. To survive the radioactive nights and manage essential resources like food, you rely on engaging, functional RPG systems to create "Alters." Forged from a mysterious element called rapidium, these clones are generated by simulating your alternate life choices, yielding distinct companions with the specific skills and memories needed to help you survive. This design provides incredible replay value; once you master the ticking clock on your first run and figure out how to escape the planet and complete your mission, you are given the breathing room to experiment with different base builds, upgrades, and Alter combinations on subsequent playthroughs. Narratively and atmospherically, the game is incredibly immersive. The world-building, high stakes, and the lore consume you completely. Without venturing into spoiler territory, the narrative masterfully unfurls a complex range of emotional, psychological, and philosophical themes as you interact with these alternate versions of yourself. Honestly, I never expected to love this game as much as I did. The Alters is a breathtaking, one-of-a-kind experience that genuinely feels like it gives you far more than your money's worth. I cannot recommend it enough.
Apr 4, 2026
10
This game is basically perfect. You manage a crew of yourself on a ship in space, trying to outrun the sun, yes, you have a time limit, it's not a relaxing builder/manager, it's a survival game, don't let that deter you. It's fantastic, the game tells you how much time you have left so as long as you're paying attention & time managing properly you should have no problem not burning alive. Some of the most realistic dialogue & emotions you'll find in a videogame. Your goal is to manage your teams emotions & mental state while gathering materials for your ship & mission, while making necessary repairs to keep it moving to outrun the sun & return to earth. The different personalities make the game have high replay value, something I usually don't care about or like to do, but I ended up replaying this game 3 times to get all the achievements & experience all the different Alters. Replaying it introduced me to tons of new dialogue, more fun managing since I knew what I was doing the 2nd time around & a better overall experience than my 1st time playing. Highly recommend playing it at least twice.
Jun 12, 2025
90
From its philosophical musings to its management and exploration, The Alters pulls you in from the opening and refuses to let go. It has the same quality of a good strategy game where real life hours get sucked away as you tick off tasks and work towards goals, but it’s even more engaging because you want the answers to all of its mysteries, too. Minus some iffy technical performance – frames drop in certain areas, and there’s some strange flickering around character models occasionally – it’s brilliantly executed, completely original, and just the right level of stressful.
Jun 13, 2025
86
The Alters is a masterful evolution of 11 bit studios’ signature grim survival formula. Instead of pushing players into abstract moral quandaries, it offers something more personal: a sci-fi tale of regret and self-reconciliation. Stranded on a deadly planet, lone survivor Jan Dolski creates alternate versions of himself — each shaped by paths not taken. These “Alters” are not clones but fully realized personalities, forcing Jan to confront his own failings while managing survival. Beneath its familiar gameplay loop lies a deeply human story about identity, missed chances, and emotional repair. This is survival — not of the body, but of the soul.
Jun 16, 2025
83
Questions like how to reconcile with oneself, how to pursue personal growth, and how to decide the fate of different versions of "you" lie at the heart of The Alters - and they are exactly the kind of existential territory 11 bit studios excels at exploring.
Jun 12, 2025
80
The Alters is a highly atmospheric sci-fi character study of one man who meets the effects of the formative choices he’s made throughout his life face to face. Managing Jan’s relationships with his alternate selves while extracting enough resources from a hostile alien environment to survive is a balancing act on top of a balancing act, and it cleverly builds up the pressure over the course of its story. Exploration of these barren but eye-catching maps presents a series of puzzles and threats without resorting to blasting aliens, and the conversations and moral dilemmas that arise from Jan’s clones are a novel way to approach a game like this. It’s clearly not a big-budget game with resources to throw at cinematics and character models, but it does a lot with a little to tell its story effectively, and its occasional interface quirks don’t get in the way of that.
Jun 12, 2025
50
The Alters spreads itself thinly, approaching heady subject matter with little imagination and shallow dialogue. Coupled with irritating resource management, cumbersome traversal, and an ever-ticking clock that harms its narrative pacing, 11 Bit's ambitious survival game is only for those who love deadlines and suffering.
Jan 2, 2026
10
The Alters is one of the most immersive and emotionally gripping games I’ve played in years. It doesn’t just tell a story - it puts you inside it. Managing the base and the different versions of Jan creates constant pressure, responsibility, and reflection in a way that feels genuinely human.
Jul 5, 2025
7
A very enjoyable game with an interesting premise and strong atmosphere. Managing your Alters and keeping the base running is satisfying, and the story does a good job of exploring different versions of the protagonist. However, the choices feel less impactful than the game initially suggests, and many paths seem more structured than they appear. While the game gives the impression of being highly replayable, different Alters and story decisions often lead to more similar outcomes than expected. Despite these shortcomings, it's a unique and engaging experience that stands out in the genre.
Sep 4, 2025
7
Even though it's not a genre I'd usually play, I really enjoyed it. The dialogues were nice, the mechanics and pacing were also good.
Sep 23, 2025
4
This game is so annoying and frustrating.
Every time I think I progressed in the game something happens to make my game miserable. The alters rebels for no reason,every modules broke down, there is no space for more resources or a new thing to build, ...
And I am on the easy level. This is only frustration. I would like to have fun, to put a strategy in place. Let me game in peace.
I know that they are trying to define an emergency environment with stress etc....
But the only sensation that is left when I close the game after 2 or 3 hours is "It was like the worst boring work in real life".
I don't game to work. I want to have fun ! And stress and emergencies and micro managing a crew of dumb idiots is not fun.
Jul 13, 2025
4
Its an okay game with a LOT of bugs, NO replayability and a lot of psychological warfare. IF done right this game could be an okay-ish and interesting book but the systems that pair with each other are just frustrating. After 8 hours I couldn´t get myself to finishing the game because It felt like an Sci Fi Addon for the Sims 4
SummaryThe Alters is an ambitious sci-fi survival game with a unique twist. You play as Jan Dolski, the lone survivor of a crash-landed expedition on a hostile planet. To survive, you must form a new crew for your mobile base. Using a substance called Rapidium, you create alternative versions of Jan—THE ALTERS—each one shaped by a different cru... Read More
Platforms:
- PC
- Xbox Series X
- PlayStation 5
Initial Release Date:Jun 13, 2025
Developer:
Publisher:
