On paper, The Alters sounds a lot like games we’ve all already played. It’s a sci-fi survival game with base building, crafting, and everything else you’d expect. Yet, I’ve never seen a survival game quite like it, largely due to its focus on a character-driven story in which a worker creates alternate versions of himself in a desperate attempt to survive. It’s an ambitious project, though one that’s undeniably exciting on premise alone. Thankfully, to celebrate the homestretch towards the game’s 2025 launch, you can download The Alters demo to try it out right now.
From the talented team behind the critically acclaimed This War is Mine and Frostpunk, The Alters takes the studio in a different direction with a spin on the tried and true survival games we know and love. With a demo now available on Steam, you can see for yourself how well this twist plays out.
Unlike most survival games, you don’t create your own character in The Alters. No, you play as Jan, a measly worker in a desperate battle for survival on a hostile planet. Luckily, you’ve got a high-tech base at your disposal.
Here, you’re able to create Alters, which are effectively clones of Jan. However, each one has its one personality, skills, emotions, and motivations that can help and hinder your survival. Some might not be too happy about being unwillingly forced to join Jan in his struggle, where others will just suck it all up and get on with it. If all goes according to plan, The Alters will be a thought-provoking survival game unlike anything else.
When you’re not spawning an army of Alters and avoiding a civil war, you’ll be doing your usual survival game stuff, from upgrading tools and crafting new equipment to harvesting resources and building your base. It helps that the planet you’re stranded on is hauntingly beautiful, with volcanoes, gravity-defying rocks, and strange structures dotted around.
While this part of The Alters is much more in line with what you’d expect from the genre, it also innovates here by changing your perspective when managing your base. Rather than the comfortable third-person perspective, base building is handled more like Oxygen Not Included and Fallout Shelter, adopting a side-on view.
The Alters will launch in 2025, though the demo is available today, Thursday, December 5, via Steam. Once it launches fully next year, it will also be included on PC Game Pass. Keep up with The Alters release date to find out more.
Who would’ve thought a survival open-world game also had the potential to be one of the best story games? Well, creating tense and intriguing narratives is 11 bit studios’ forte, even if The Alters takes things in a slightly different direction. Download the demo and give it a go for yourself.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.