There’s a lot of curiosity around The Alters, the upcoming space survival project from 11 Bit Studios. It marks a departure from the cold, gritty fare the developer is known for in Frostpunk and This War of Mine, and it puts a novel spin on some survival tropes. Alas, we’ve to wait a little longer to see the whole thing, as the game’s been subjected to another delay further in 2025.
There’s a lot of familiar ground in The Alters if you know your survival games. You have crafting, resource management, and base-building as fundamental mechanics. Where the space game stands apart is in the premise: you’re Jan Dolski, the sole survivor of a crash on an alien planet, and you must clone yourself to rebuild and maintain your ship.
The eponymous ‘Alters’ are partially composed from a mysterious substance found on the planet, and they each represent a different critical moment in Jan’s life. It’s a fascinating collation of ideas, and the The Alters release date was due to arrive in the first quarter of this year so we could see the execution in full, but 11 Bit Studios has announced that won’t be happening.
Revealed in a charming letter to Jan from his employer, Ally Corp, the developer reveals the upcoming PC game is getting pushed back further into 2025. According to the statement, this is for refinement to make sure everything is up to scratch. Considering the ambitious ideas on display and the fact this is a fresh direction for the studio, there’s no doubt been a plethora of unforeseen obstacles and hurdles to getting The Alters exactly where the team would like it to be.
Aside from the survival aspects, there’s some light diplomacy needed in managing all the disparate personalities. Every clone of Jan has a distinct perspective informed by how they did something differently to others, like changing careers for marriage or defending himself from abuse. It doesn’t take much to imagine how that can be a powder keg when you’ve got a whole bunch of them on various duties.
The Alters is now due out sometime later in 2025. If you’re eager to check it out now though, a demo is available on Steam here.
Have a look at our list of the best strategy games to keep your brain sharp, and our list of the best robot games for more futuristic nightmares.
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