One of my favorites movies of all time is Moon starring Sam Rockwell as an astronaut that discovers he is a clone and new ones get created anytime they perish. Playing The Alters really reminded me of that movie, not so much in the how of clone creation, but of the dynamics between them. The game is innovative, endlessly interesting and genuinely fun to explore and experience especially as the story progresses.

In The Alters astronaut Jan Dolski wakes up after crash landing on a planet being explored for a rare and precious substance called Rapidium. Jan quickly learns the whole crew is dead and he needs to get to the pre-built mobile base to survive.

Once there it is a battle against time as the triple suns surrounding the planet are approaching a zenith and will fry the area the base is in. Problem is the base needs multiple hands to repair and Jan is alone. A somewhat mysterious and helpful signal contacts Jan and suggests using Rapidium and the Quantum computer to generate an ‘Alter’ a deviated timeline from Jan’s to create a clone of himself with different skills and memories.

The initial process was fascinating to play out, seeing Jan’s key memories and choosing a focal point to split in order to get a skilled technician version of Jan to be generated. Once that second Jan (dubbed Jan Technician) was created the game started in earnest.

Rather than fluff about and just have clones born and be fine to operate and move around helping The Alters adds a relationship system to the game which adds so much meaning to the experience. Jan Technician is as human as the original, has some of the same and some different memories, he feels, hurts, gets angry and confused.

Learning to work with your Alters is a massive part of the game. Talking to them, helping them with favors or social activities and leveraging them in the maintenance of the base and gathering materials. Your Alters are more than clones, they become brothers, friends and sometimes enemies.

While the Alters are introduced there is still a need to get to safety as well as the bottom line of gathering Rapidium to bring to earth (corporate hints often that rescue efforts go easier if there is also material value to be rescued). This involves another main part of the game, the exploration and resource gathering.

The whole point of the game is to collect Rapidium and get rescued, unfortuanately the triple sun combo of this planet makes areas very dangerous over time so the base has to keep moving. This requires resources to happen.

Each time a new area is discovered we, as the original Jan acting as de facto Captain, needs to explore, set up mining sites and find materials and secrets. This involves moving about the planet during daytime hours scanning mining areas, gathering loose materials, setting up facilities and finding secrets and rare personal items.

This part of the experience was one I usual don’t enjoy, but in the Alters it is a blast. Scanning resource areas is fun and setting up mining stations and connecting to the base is like a puzzle. Avoiding or eliminating anomalies, finding scattered personal items and locating rare expansion modules and planetary secrets is addicting and just fun.

Once reources are tapped they can be mined directly or an Alter can get assigned during working shift hours. The Alters can also be assigned to base facilities which is where the base building part of the game comes in.

As resources are gathered new necessary and optional modules can be created with more and more unlocked as research and expansion potential becomes available. Creating a greenhouse and dormitories is crucial, a gym is optional but incredibly important as is a social area.

Once modules like the Kitchen, Research lab, Refinery and others are created Alters or the Player as Jan can be assigned there and work on whatever is queued up. The game has a great centralized menu to add production and assignments for the Alters, but each Module can be explored and manually accessed to queue up work that is required.

What continually blows me away is how 11 Bit Studios has integrated a Social game, exploration/Survival experience and Base building into such a compelling and cohesive experience. Just watching the base zoomed out (or in to a specific module) is mesmerizing to see the Alters move, relax, eat and work as each day progresses.

But even better than the ‘game’ systems that are handled so well is the compelling narrative and concept of the same biological person becoming very different versions based on memories shifting and changing at crucial points. The Researcher is analytical and cold, the Technician gruff but playful and the Worker fighting for the rights of the people. They all have distinct attitudes, looks and mannerisms but come from the same shared core.

The Alters is a rare videogame that does not just present a fun experience, it gives us moments to think, wonder and imagine what the dynamics of this unusual scenario of cloning could cause. The game itself is compelling and has hooks to carry it on, including some mysteries, love triangles (of a sort) and double crosses, but the true beauty is the dynamics between these variations of Jan Dolski.

We received a PS5 key for review purposes and The Alters is out June 13 on PC via Steam,  GOG and  Epic as well as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X.