- 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 27/Jun 04:12

The Alters – Review

11 bit studios often develops and publishes quite a few original games, and we have been fortunate enough to review a few. We loved the topical and thought-provoking This War of Mine, which feels more relevant than ever in today’s world, but we also really enjoyed playing through INDIKA, where a nun’s interactions with the devil sent her on a wild journey. Today, however, we’ll be trading in heartbreaking stories from war survivors and the exploits of a nun for a sci-fi setting that revolves around cloning oneself. Story The story of The Alters revolves around Jan Dolski, who has crash-landed on an unspecified planet’s surface. While looking for the rest of his crew, Jan discovers that they all died, even though their landing pods are all still intact. After the initial shock, he manages to make it to the mobile base that’s already on the planet, and he is able to contact AllyCorp from here. AllyCorp informs him of even more bad news as they can get to him, but not before the scorching sun burns everything in its path at Jan’s current location. While the base can move, it cannot be operated alone. The massive corporation behind Jan’s mission only starts to actively work on rescuing Jan when they hear has has discovered Rapidium, which is somewhat of a legendary material. Sadly, even though Jan obtained some, he will still need to move before the sun burns everything in his location. Luckily, the Rapidium is actually able to create so-called Alters of Jan, which are in essence the same as clones. These Alters, however, can still be a different version of Jan, with different skills and not necessarily the same personality. Each Alter will be based on a choice that could have led Jan to a different career path, such as being a scientist, a doctor, a miner, and so on. While creating Alters may be considered somewhat unethical, it’s the only way Jan, and by extension, the other Jans, can survive. Even though the story sometimes comes to a halt when grinding for resources, the overall concept drew us in right from the start. We loved the story’s evolution and the fact that each Jan had a different personality and a varied set of dialogue options. Bonding with the rest of the Jan crew was also properly fleshed out. 11 bit studios does have a knack for storytelling, and The Alters is yet another example of this. Graphics The Alters is a good-looking game, even within its limited bubble. For the majority of the game, you’ll be spending time in the mobile base and on the surface of the faraway planet. The base looks rather sterile and bright, giving a clean, futuristic impression, while the outside is dark, barren, and hostile. In the base, you’ll find different rooms, each with their appliances, machines, and unique backdrops. The surface level does have interesting backdrops as well, and there are some colors thrown in the mix for materials and other obstacles. The contrast between the safety of the base and the harsh environments outside is great. Jan’s character models for his Alters also have distinct traits that adhere to their class. While the developers could essentially work with the same character model over and over again, there’s still more than enough diversity when it comes to different types of clothing, facial features, and so on. Other character models are often obscured or not even shown at all. The game does have a few other character arts it uses as portraits for incoming calls or during cinematics that only use still images. Sound All in all, the sound design of The Alters is quite good. There’s a distinct difference between the indoor soundtrack and the one you’ll get when exploring the dangerous surface of the planet. Indoors, the soundtrack turns into a more mellowed-out, tranquil background tune, while outside, you’ll be treated to a more unsettling and eerie tune that only settles down when you’re back inside. Alex Jordan single-handedly brings a full ensemble of Jan Dolskis to life in The Alters. He changes his voice for each version of Jan, and while some of these are perhaps a bit more outlandish, it’s still nice to have some diversity, making each Alter very recognizable. We don’t quite get why each Jan has a different accent or tone, but we just rolled with it. Gameplay The Alters is parts exploration, survival, and base management, all in one fairly polished whole. When outside, you’ll be scouting for materials, setting up mining and harvesting rigs, and so on. Inside the base, you’ll reorganize and build new rooms, produce items, bond with the other Jans, and quite a few other things. You’ll even be able to relax by watching ‘movies’ you find scattered across the planet. The offset is rather simple, but the fact that there is a time constraint and several options in terms of Alters, things can be rather overwhelming at the beginning. You’ll constantly be trying to manage everything on the base, while also making sure you get the base moving before the sun reaches you. On top of that, you’ll have to be inside before 20:00, as otherwise, radiation will get you. You’ll basically be performing a task juggling act from start to finish, but luckily, the other Jans can be assigned more and more tasks as you progress. We really enjoyed what The Alters had to offer, especially in terms of base management. Exploring the surface sometimes became a bit repetitive after the halfway mark, as you’ll just be doing the same thing over and over again, albeit as efficiently as possible. This means you’ll have to explore your surroundings, determine where there are necessary material deposits, set up rigs to harvest materials, and then make a connection to your base by setting up pylons. Don’t get us wrong, the gameplay loop is enjoyable, it just became a bit monotonous after a while. Our biggest motivator was story progression, and not necessarily the actual survival mechanics. Even though a playthrough will take around 20 hours or slightly more, depending on how much time you spend on managing everything, The Alters is not a game that tells you all its secrets with only one playthrough. There are still other approaches to completing the game, and you will not have seen all the available Alters just yet. Of course, some of the Alters in the game are fixed or necessary, but you can still experiment with the additional options. This is one of those games that you can simply revisit a few months down the line to have a different type of playthrough the second time around. Conclusion The Alters is a very interesting title that presents players with an interesting setting about life choices and the possibility of cloning oneself. While the gameplay loop is enjoyable, especially the base management and bonding with Jan’s Alters, our main motivator was the narrative that kept us hooked from start to finish. Even though we only finished the game once for our review, this is a title that we plan to pick up again in the future to see what other Alters have to offer in a playthrough. If you like quirky games with an original premise and a broody atmosphere, then we suggest checking this one out.