Posted in: 11 bit studios, Games, Indie Games, Video Games | Tagged: The Alters

Learning To Love Myselves: We Previewed The Alters

Learning how to love every version of myself to get out of danger. We played a preview of The Alters while in Poland last week.

Two years ago, 11 Bit Studios revealed their latest sci-fi game on the way, as we were shown the first trailer for The Alters. The game reminded me a lot about the film Moon, but with a far more satirical and survival approach, as it showed us a ship full of clones of the same man, all looking differently. But what was really going on in this game was far more interesting, we just didn't realize it yet. The company was kind enough to bring us all the way out to Warsaw, Poland, to check out an extended demo of the game to see what it was all about, as we attempt to get along with my, myself, and I.

So, let's start with the basics. You play as Jan, the lone surviving crew member from a ship that has crash-landed on a hostile planet that is pretty much uninhabitable. The only real reason anyone would check out this dump is for resources because when the sun rises, anything living does from radiation exposure. You come to your ship to find that you can barely communicate with the outside world, but you need to make it arrive at a specific rendezvous point on the map while a rescue mission is underway. Unfortunately, you're in no position to take care of this on your own. Lucky for you, you have help in the most unlikely of forms, as the organization you work for has made you a temporary captain and given you access to cloning technology. This is how you will find a way off this volcanic rock.

The ship in The Alters is incredible, as you're in a giant wheel filled with the futuristic version of liveable shipping containers. You'll use planet resources to make rooms and elevators as needed to make storage, living quarters, a medical bay, a hydroponics lab, and more as you need new rooms for development and resources, as well as a place for the clones to be as the ship will get cramped. Not everything is available to you at the start, as the ship can only hold so much. But you will be able to expand it and upgrade it over time so everyone can do their jobs and live somewhat normally, all things considered. This includes making tools, scientific research, storage, living quarters, a game room to just escape, and more. We didn't get to see all of the room options, but it does appear that you'll basically have enough options and customization abilities to make it however you wish.

In order to do this in The Alters, you'll need to mine for resources on the planet. Different resources allow you to do different things. You'll explore different areas and mine them to be sent back to the ship. You can't mine forever as the sun does rise after a night cycle, so you'll have to go back to the ship eventually. Each day, you'll choose how long to sleep to determine how much energy you have compared to how much time you'll be able to go outside. Use your time wisely, as well as the time of the clones you make, as overexertion causes tasks to go slower, and sleep deprivation affects everything you do, including your vision. Once you mine resources, you'll be able to funnel them into storage and then use them in the ship to make different things, including clones from a specific material found on the planet. You'll have a set number of tasks in front of you to progress, as well as a number of days until failure, so don't want a ton of time just looking around and exploring as there's work to be done.

You might be asking yourself, "So how the hell do I get clones?" In The Alters, the sci-fi explanation to that is from tech that analyzes your brain's choices. Using a special program that looks at your life, it charts where certain decisions were made and how choosing alternate paths could have made you a different person. For example, standing up to your abusive father at a certain point turns you into a tougher individual who ultimately goes into a career in engineering. Using this info and the planet resource, you're able to make a clone of yourself from what is essentially an alternate timeline, with skills that match what you need from that person. The game didn't let us get too far into the weeds with this, but it's pretty clear you have more than a dozen possible options in front of you to make a clone as you need for particular circumstances. But be careful: just because they are you doesn't mean they act like you or even want to know you. You'll have to balance out personalities that comes out of the machine, and sometimes, you just can't get on the same page.

That said, each one serves a basic function. For example, the Doctor version of you can help heal wounds, examine people, and use certain sciences to your benefit. They're also able to make and give drugs that could help you out or possibly get others addicted if they have that personality trait. You can assign them to work specific jobs in different areas of the ship to get things done faster as well, such as keeping this one in the Infirmary if someone is injured or sending them to the Research Lab to work on a project. It all kind of depends on what you need at any given time. What's more, with all of the different job types, there are multiple branches of how people will get along with each other, and how successful you'll work as a crew, opening the door for a lot of possibilities.

The Alters was an amazing experience for us. We have been looking forward to this game since it debuted, and this demo did not disappoint. The biggest factor here that we kinda kept quiet about is the main plot to the story, which revolves around you trying to escape death on the planet while talking to people from home, including your ex-wife. As you talk to them, it's clear there might be more here than what's going on. Even how you got here seems a bit suspect. But that's all for you to ponder over and unravel while attempting to survive. Overall, we loved playing this game as it met all of our expectations, and we look forward to playing the entire game when it eventually comes out sometime later this year.

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