With the base-building genre undergoing a boom as of late, it’s refreshing to see some unique and exciting ideas still being attempted in the genre. Enter The Alters, following Jan after crash landing on an inhabitable planet. Jan must excavate a local crystal resource in order to maintain not only his base but in order to help him create Alters. Clones of Jans using past experiences to alter their skill set.
This is done by going through Jan’s life and changing critical moments from his past. Will he marry the love of his life, move away with her and get a job as a gardener? This change will produce an Alter with some botanical knowledge. Or does Jans take a different course and take some mechanics classes, producing some sort of mechanic you can use around your base? One thing is for sure: The Alters provides some fun experiments that could be incredibly interesting.
There will be plenty of timeline altering in The Alters, as each Alter is needed to perform specific tasks if you want them done fast. But there is another level to these clones, where you, as the main Jans, will need to form relationships with them and learn to understand their emotions, wants, and needs. For example, in a brief preview presentation, we were shown that the mechanic wanted some pain medication because another Jans had lost their hand and was suffering the opposite of a phantom limb. After giving the Jans Mechanic some pain meds, he became addicted and had an accident while excavating some gems.
What happened next was a big shock. After dealing with Phantom Limb, the mechanic lost his mind a little bit and ended up chopping off his own hand to feel some semblance of his body. The Alters really looks to push this space thriller storyline, which looks intense for sure.
But, there is another key danger present in The Alters, and that is that every few days, a Solar Flare will occur. If this Solar Flare happens and Jans and his Jans team aren’t prepared, everyone will die. So there is also this mix of resource management to not only build out your base but defend it as well.
The Alters looks interesting, and I will be interested to see what other secrets the game has to show. Sadly, there is no release date, but it is coming to PC, Xbox Series, and PlayStation 5.
