The Alters Review: A Masterpiece Two of Us Couldn't Stand

Former host Paul found The Alters demo about a year ago, and it hooked us immediately. Josh, who doesn't do sim games, called it one of the best demos he's ever played. Ryan said it was the first demo in years that made him have to own the game. We hyped it on the show for months. Then the full game came out, and our panel split down the middle.

What is The Alters?

You're Jan Dolski, a worker sent to an alien planet by a corporation hunting for a rare, valuable mineral called Rapidium. The ship crashes, the crew dies, and the sun is coming. To survive, you use the mineral to create alters: alternate versions of yourself, grown from the paths your life could have taken. One went into science after leaving an abusive home. One became a technician. One chose career success over love. Each has his own skills, personality and issues.

The game is three systems running at once:

• Exploring the planet, mining resources and setting up outposts, with a slick holographic map.
• Building your base, a giant rolling wheel (you can even see its tread marks). You rearrange modules inside it like a puzzle, and every room has character. The dorm plays great '80s-style music.
• Managing your alters: work assignments, food, sleep, morale, and their relationships with each other.

The presentation is stunning

Everyone agrees on this part. It's gorgeous, polished and smooth. One voice actor, Alex Jordan (Mr. Hands in Cyberpunk, Rook in Dragon Age: The Veilguard), plays every alter with distinct voices and speech patterns, and you can tell he's having a blast. The story explores some heavy ethical questions about what it means to create these men.

Ryan loved it

Ryan is about 25 hours in. After a bad stretch in act two, he went back to day eight just to replay it better, because he was having so much fun. Once his work queues were set up, he never ran short on materials or storage and spent most of his time exploring while the alters handled everything else. He loved building and organizing his base and admits he played it in bed until he fell asleep.

Josh and John did not

John used to own a business, and The Alters brought back the worst part of it: no matter what you do, somebody's unhappy. Josh hit a wall a few hours in and fell into a death spiral. He needed Rapidium to keep one alter happy, so he sent someone to mine it. Meanwhile the organics ran out, so food ran out. Repair kits ran out, so the base fell apart. Then a magnetic storm rolled through, irradiating everyone and breaking everything, and for Josh it lasted two days while Paul's lasted three hours. He reloaded four hours back, played smarter, and failed again.

Both think it should have been a roguelike, where a bad run resets and leaves you with some permanent progress. As it is, mistakes from hours earlier can leave you unable to recover. (Josh admits he should have seen it coming: it's from 11 bit studios, makers of Frostpunk, and Frostpunk loses him at the same point.)

Least favorite alter? Josh and Ryan both say the Miner. You'll understand when you meet him. John goes with the Botanist.

The VGP take

This was a hard one to score. Josh wanted to give it a 3 or a 4 based on how it made him feel, but he gave it an 8 because it's genuinely innovative and masterfully made. John landed in the same place: an 8 on its merits, a 4 for his own experience. Ryan, who hasn't cracked out on a game like this in a long time, gave it a 9.1.

Here's our honest advice. If you love management sims and base building, this could be your game of the year, and people in our Discord are already saying so. If sims feel like work to you, try the demo and watch how you feel a few hours in. It's on Game Pass, so you can find out for free.