What you need to know
- The Alters is developed and published by 11 Bit Studios and is coming to Consoles and PC, though a release date has not been set.
- The game is a sci-fi-themed survival adventure focused on Jan and the clones of himself he must make to survive.
11 Bit Studios, a team of 30 developers and publishers based in Poland, unveiled their upcoming game—a sci-fi survival adventure titled The Alters—during the PC Game Show over the summer. Now the studio has released yet another trailer, this time introducing The Alters’ main character, Jan. And the other cast of characters, all of whom are also Jan.
The Alters is a story centered around Jan Dolski, a simple worker who takes what should be a simple job. Unfortunately, things aren’t always as simple as they seem, and Jan (pronounced “yon”) finds himself stranded and alone on a distant planet following a crash landing.
To survive, Jan will need to reinvent himself—many, many times.
This is where the Alters come in. Jan must create new versions of himself by looking into his past and determining where his decisions have affected his life so that he comes to be where he is. By making a different decision and altering his life path, Jan can create a new version of himself with the necessary survival skills.
There’s Jan, the mechanic, Jan, the scientist, Jan, the farmer, etc. Jan can not use his alters as tools alone, however. They are all unique people with emotions, needs, and goals.
The Alters asks the player to take a philosophical look at how our life decisions lead us to be who and what we are. It does so, however, in the spirit of entertainment. Jan is trapped on a distant and hostile planet, spinning rapidly toward the sun, causing radiation levels to increase. He must explore to collect Rapidium to create the Alters equipped with the skills he requires if he’s going to get back to his own life.
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Initially, The Alters was only expected to launch on PC, but with this latest trailer, 11 Bit Studios has shared that it will also be coming to Xbox and PS5 sometime in 2024.
11 Bit Studios recently inked a deal with Microsoft to bring more of their catalog of games to Xbox Game Pass, but there is no confirmation yet on whether The Alters will be among those listings. Previous 11 Bit Studios releases, including Frostpunk and This War of Mine, have been part of the Xbox Game Pass lineup. The small studio has a full slate of releases next year, including the gothic horror The Thaumaturge, likened to a dark and gritty Pokémon-like, and a survival strategy game, Frostpunk 2.
