The Alters

Impulse GamerLander Van Poucke

11 bit studio's "The Alters" is a fascinating game, and one I had my eye on from the moment it was announced years ago.

GameSpaceTaoshi

9.5/10

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.

COGConnectedMark Steighner

92/100

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.

WayTooManyGamesHeidi Hawes

9/10

Have you ever wondered how your life might have been different if you had only made other choices? If you’d agreed to go out with the weirdo in high school, would you have ended up marrying your current spouse? If you hadn’t taken a chance on moving to a new area, would you have stayed in touch with your old friends? What if you had decided to stick with that same dead-end job instead of going back to school? How vastly different would your life have been if you’d made other decisions a...

Screen RantKaitlyn Peterson

9/10

At any given time, it feels as though there are a million resources you’re falling short on, storage that’s quickly reaching capacity, and not enough hands to go around for all the work that needs to be done. Unfortunately, it was occasionally more overwhelming than it was enjoyable, even on an easier difficulty setting. Especially since half of your responsibilities are meeting the basic human needs of your team, which weirdly makes it feel like a sci-fi survival version of The Sims. Overall, the survival gameplay should be commended for feeling authentic and realistic, but I just wish it had...

Playstation UniverseTimothy Nunes

9/10

The Alters is a unique narrative experience all its own, asking you to survive by manipulating your own history to create clones and escape from a fiery fate. As far as the genre goes, The Alters makes for a very accessible survival experience. With that said, hardcore fans of the genre may see gameplay in The Alters as far too simplistic. The other potential issue is that the Sun's looming danger isn't quite as looming as it initially feels, with most of the game progressing naturally without much actual danger.  Either way, the combination of strong narrative and accessible gameplay makes th...

TechRadar GamingChristian Guyton

The best indie game I've played in a while, The Alters is an ambitious sci-fi tale that successfully marries several game genres with an interesting plot to deliver a standout experience unlike any other. Supporting all the exploration and base management is a beating emotional heart to this game that makes you eager to push forward and see what will happen next.

GamingTrendRon Burke

85/100

The Alters is a surprisingly deep and compelling moral choice simulator, wrapped in a survival-base building game.  If you don’t start to question some of your own life choices by the end, you must be the best version of yourself – don’t forget to take care of us other alters who didn’t make as good of choices.

Lords of GamingLords of Gaming

8/10

Review of 11 Bit Studios' The Alters. Navigate a lonely Sci Fi world with quantum clones of yourself working together to survive until rescue

Jump Dash RollPete Taylor

8/10

While The Alters tells a decent sci-fi story, its real strength lies in its gameplay. The unique mechanic of creating skill-specific clones adds meaningful variety and challenge. If you enjoy pulpy sci-fi with a clever twist, it’s well worth your time.

StartMenuOdhrán Johnson

Unscored

The Alters may not be a game that I replay straight away, but it occupies a very special place in my mind. I can’t stop thinking about its world and characters, as well as the memories I’ve created with both. It’s absolutely worth picking up, even if you’re only mildly interested in its baseline concept.

Rock Paper ShotgunEdwin Evans-Thirlwell

Unscored

On a similar note, the game takes a pragmatic approach to time even before you start fooling around with Rapidium. When you hold a button to perform a task, Jan lurches into fast-forward, spinning through the hours with the shriek of a boiling kettle, till the standardised onset of "exhaustion" at 11pm sharp slams his blurring body to a halt. This shortcutting is a necessary convenience for the management sim player who doesn't want to spend minutes watching a dude wield a drill. But again, i...