Info about The Alters:

Official game description:
Digital Deluxe Edition
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Feature List
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About the Game
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**The Alters** is an ambitious **sci-fi survival** game with a unique twist. You play as **Jan Dolski**, the lone survivor of a crash-landed expedition on a hostile planet. To survive, you must form a new crew for your mobile base.
Using a substance called Rapidium, you create alternative versions of Jan - **THE ALTERS** - each one shaped by a different crucial decision from the protagonist’s past.
As you navigate through survival and moral dilemmas, you will explore a branching narrative filled with captivating character dynamics and challenging decisions. 
At the same time, you’re challenged to reflect on one of life’s fundamental questions – do we shape our destiny or does it shape us? **This makes your bid for survival a deeply personal experience.**
Use the quantum computer onboard your base to simulate alternate outcomes of your past choices and uncover Jan’s different life paths. Each Alter brought to life thanks to the remarkable properties of Rapidium comes with unique skills and emotional depths. These variations offer both opportunities and challenges as you navigate personal struggles and manage the fragile dynamics of your crew. 
To operate the mobile base, you’ll need to explore the planet’s surface in search of precious resources, like metals and organics. Yet venturing outside the safe haven comes with the risk of exposing you and your Alters to various deadly anomalies as well as the ever-present radiation of the sun. That’s why you must pay attention to the in-game day and night cycle and plan your daily activities wisely!
Navigate a narrative rich with moral dilemmas and branching paths. Your choices will shape Jan’s relations with his Alters which then will impact their journey and lead you to multiple outcomes and endings.
Gathered resources can be used in different ways – create necessary items or develop your base with additional modules like Research Lab or Social Room. Sometimes you will have to choose between creating items specially for your Alters and ones that could push the mission forward, like Anomaly Detectors or Radiation Filters. The burden of every decision lies solely on your shoulders as you will never be able to satisfy everyone’s needs.
The planet features unique biomes and secrets waiting to be found, but deadly anomalies stand in your way. Levitating rocks and eerie distortions of reality attract attention immediately, while other singularities remain invisible to the naked eye and require special tools to uncover. In all cases, you must be extra careful - or face the risk of instant death, radiation-induced injuries, and even disintegration of time and space. Also, you may want to avoid exploring the planet during hours when intense radioactivity can eat right through your suit. Happy travels!
Jan Dolski is about to face the answers to the essential “what if?” question in the form of alternative versions of himself. This makes the predicament he is in even more daunting as you slowly discover the impact every choice has on Jan’s survival.
The Alters poses you with life’s most nagging questions

Release date: Jun 13, 2025

Categories: Survival, Base Building, Resource Management, Single-player Story, Choice-based Narrative, Character Management, Exploration, Time-based Mechanics


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Excellent genre blending and gameplay (weight 0.95): The game blends multiple genres, such as base building, resource management, survival, and social simulation, into a cohesive and enjoyable experience.  Players appreciate the balance and integration of these elements, which keeps the gameplay fresh and prevents it from becoming repetitive.
- Compelling Alters with unique personalities (weight 0.94): The Alters, clones of the main character with distinct personalities and life experiences, are a standout feature.  Players find interacting with them compelling, as their unique traits and backstories influence the narrative and create emotional connections.
- Engaging start and captivating experience (weight 0.94): The game delivers a captivating and engaging experience from the very beginning, with many players highlighting the strength of the prologue and initial hours.  The story, premise, and gameplay quickly draw players in, creating a desire to continue playing and uncover more of the game's world and narrative.
- High-quality graphics and atmosphere (weight 0.86): The game features high-quality graphics, a beautiful art style, and an atmospheric soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.  The visuals and audio work together to create a sense of immersion and emotional resonance.
- Immersive sci-fi setting and narrative (weight 0.84): The game's science fiction setting and narrative are highly praised for their immersive qualities and thought-provoking themes.  Players appreciate the game's ability to create a sense of wonder and mystery, drawing comparisons to classic sci-fi works.
- Good optimization and smooth performance (weight 0.69): The game is well-optimized and runs smoothly, providing a positive experience for players.  Reviewers noted significant improvements in optimization compared to earlier versions.
- Excellent and believable voice acting (weight 0.69): The game features excellent voice acting that enhances the characters and narrative.  The voice actors deliver believable performances that bring the characters to life and make them more engaging.

Common complaints:
- Frequent crashes and freezes (weight 0.18): The game suffers from frequent crashes and freezes, sometimes preventing progress or even launching the game. The lack of manual or mid-day saves exacerbates the problem, leading to significant loss of progress and frustration.
- Inconvenient save system (weight 0.14): The game's save system only allows saving upon sleeping, which can be problematic for shorter play sessions or unexpected character deaths. This, combined with long in-game days, can lead to significant progress loss and the need to replay large sections.
- Lacks engaging features (weight 0.12): The game lacks engaging features such as multiplayer, first-person perspective, or mouse key binding. The plot is more attractive than the gameplay, suggesting the gameplay may be lacking. The game's color palette is limited and monotonous, consisting mainly of black, dark blue, red, and white.
- Tedious exploration and gathering (weight 0.11): Exploration and resource gathering are hampered by slow character movement, clunky controls (especially the 'E' key interaction), and repetitive gameplay loops. The world can feel monotonous, and the need to constantly travel between locations becomes tedious.
- Difficult Alter management (weight 0.08): Managing the Alters' happiness and anxiety levels is difficult due to conflicting desires and unpredictable behavior. Dialogue choices can have significant negative impacts on relationships, potentially requiring players to reload saves.
- Poor translation quality (weight 0.08): The game suffers from poor translation quality, with stilted grammar, unnatural dialogue, and inconsistencies in speech levels. There are also some unoptimized English texts in subtitles, tasks, and answers.
- Unintuitive base building (weight 0.08): Base building and resource management are not intuitive, with unclear guidance and tedious mechanics. The base design is restrictive, and resource gathering animations are poor, leading to frustration and a feeling of managing a daycare rather than a base.
- Game-breaking bugs (weight 0.05): The game cannot be progressed due to unresolvable bugs. The 'Alter Uprising' quest leads to a game over when the timer expires, regardless of player actions.
- Unengaging story and dialogue (weight 0.05): The story lacks emotional impact, with characters feeling like mere checkboxes in a queue for the story's finale. Many dialogues are stereotypical and boring.
- High difficulty, unclear tutorial (weight 0.04): The game is difficult to master and can be overwhelming initially, especially for players unfamiliar with the various genres it incorporates. The tutorial level feels unclear and confusing, leaving the player unprepared for the actual game.
- Poor miner management (weight 0.03): Miners die frequently, leading to a very poor experience. Placing miners involves a 'find the sweet spot' mini-game with scanners to reveal mineral hot zones, feeling like an over-designed clicker game.
- Excessive, limiting dialogue (weight 0.03): There is too much dialogue, requiring the player to memorize the personalities of each clone. Dialogue choices feel too limiting, hindering player expression.
- Overwhelming time pressure (weight 0.02): The game can present many urgent things to do at once. The time pressure creates a sense of urgency, requiring constant running between the planet and the base.

Gameplay feedback:
- Blend of survival, base-building, narrative (weight 0.34): The game blends survival, base building, and resource management with a narrative focus. Players explore, gather resources, and manage a base while navigating a story with branching narratives and character interactions. Time management is crucial due to the day/night cycle and resource scarcity.
- Mobile base management, 2D layout (weight 0.22): Base management involves expanding and developing a mobile station using a 2D side-view layout, similar to 'This War of Mine'. Players must optimize space, connect modules, and manage weight limits while gathering resources to maintain and upgrade the base.
- Cloning mechanic with unique Alters (weight 0.17): A core mechanic involves cloning the main character to create 'Alters,' each with unique personalities, skills, and histories based on alternative life choices. Players must manage these Alters, balancing their needs and resolving conflicts, which significantly impacts the story and gameplay.
- Solid, unoriginal, slow-paced gameplay (weight 0.04): The gameplay is described as solid but not particularly original, combining elements from several games in a well-integrated manner. The game has a slow pace and is not an open world, at least initially, with movement being restricted to a linear path.
- Branching dialogue with impactful choices (weight 0.03): Dialogue choices may initially seem limited, but they branch into different outcomes later on, influencing the story and relationships with other characters. Choices made in conversations can change outcomes, creating politicking between all parties.
- Environmental hazards, base maintenance (weight 0.02): The game features environmental hazards such as magnetic storms and radiation spikes that require constant repairs and filter replacements. Alters automatically work emergency shifts to mitigate these hazards, adding a layer of challenge to base management.
- Detailed character backgrounds, complex plot (weight 0.02): The game focuses on detailed and unique backgrounds for each character, unlike other games where characters are treated as expendable resources. The game has a complex plot where details matter, and skipping content can make it difficult to understand.
- Dilemma: pragmatism vs. idealism (weight 0.01): The game culminates in a central dilemma between corporate pragmatism and rebellious idealism, offering a quiet ending that reflects the player's choices and the relationships they've forged with the Alters.
- Repetitive tasks, resource gathering (weight 0.01): Some reviewers found tasks to be repetitive, mainly involving building structures and gathering resources at machines. This repetition may detract from the overall experience for some players.

Performance notes:
- Generally good optimization and performance (weight 0.25): The game generally exhibits good optimization, running smoothly on a variety of hardware configurations, including high-end PCs, gaming laptops, and even the Steam Deck. Many reviewers reported stable frame rates and an absence of significant bugs or crashes, especially after release version improvements.
- Missing graphics options (weight 0.02): Some players have noted a lack of certain graphics options, such as super resolution and resolution options in borderless mode, as well as no native resolution scaling. This limits the ability to fine-tune the game's visual settings to optimize performance or visual quality.
- Minor graphical and gameplay glitches (weight 0.02): A few players have encountered minor graphical glitches, such as flickering textures during dialogues, or getting stuck in specific locations after fast travel. These issues appear to be infrequent and relatively minor, but can still disrupt the player experience.
- Game crashes on startup (weight 0.01): A small number of users have reported experiencing game crashes on startup. This is a critical issue that prevents players from accessing the game at all.

Recommendations:
- Strongly recommended; worth the price (weight 0.6): The game is overwhelmingly recommended by reviewers, with many calling it a must-play, a masterpiece, and worth the price. Reviewers express enjoyment of the game and encourage others to try it, with some specifically recommending it to fans of the genre or the studio's previous works. Some reviewers are emotionally invested in the game and express gratitude to the developers.
- Practical information for players (weight 0.04): These points provide practical information for potential players, such as the game's availability on Game Pass, the length of the prologue, system requirements, and advice for Linux users. While helpful, these points are less focused on the core gameplay experience.
- Overpriced; writing quality concerns (weight 0.04): Some reviewers feel the game is overpriced for its content, citing an imbalance between storyline/dialogue and gameplay. One reviewer found the writing quality grating and refunded the game. This point is specific and actionable, but the small number of mentions reduces its importance.
- Reports of performance, crashing issues (weight 0.03): Some reviewers report performance issues, such as optimization problems and crashes, with one reviewer refunding the game due to these problems. A day-one patch is anticipated to address these issues. One reviewer experienced motion sickness.
- General emotional responses, praise (weight 0.03): These points express general emotional responses and praise for the developers without providing specific details about the game's features or gameplay. While positive, they lack the specificity needed for actionable feedback.
- Explores life choices, moral dilemmas (weight 0.03): The game explores complex themes of life choices and moral dilemmas through the interactions of clones. Reviewers praise the innovative theme, well-developed clone personalities, and engaging exploration, highlighting the game's thought-provoking nature.
- Hope for sustained quality (weight 0.02): Some reviewers express hope that the game will maintain its high quality throughout the entire experience. This suggests a positive initial impression but also a degree of uncertainty about the game's consistency.
- Cultural references, game comparisons (weight 0.01): These points contain cultural references and comparisons to other games, which are less valuable as constructive feedback. They offer limited insight into the game's specific qualities.
- No horror or creature features (weight 0.01): The game is suitable for players who dislike horror or creature features, as there are currently no dangerous aliens encountered. This point provides specific information about the game's content and target audience.
- Rewarding learning process (weight 0.01): The learning process, despite the initial difficulty, is ultimately rewarding. This suggests that the game may have a steep learning curve, but that players who persevere will find the experience enjoyable.
- Exploration alone is insufficient (weight 0.01): Exploration isn't enough to carry the game. This suggests that while the game may have interesting environments to explore, the gameplay itself may be lacking.

Other player notes:
- Explores deep philosophical themes (weight 0.08): The game explores thought-provoking themes such as determinism, identity, and the consequences of choices within a sci-fi setting. The narrative focuses on Jan, who is working for Ally Corporation to obtain Rapidium and is confronted with moral dilemmas and self-reflection through interactions with copies of himself.
- Cutscenes use still images (weight 0.01): The game uses still images with voice-over for its cutscenes. This presentation style may impact the level of immersion and storytelling effectiveness.
- Saves only upon waking (weight 0.01): The game only saves when the player character wakes up. This save system could create tension or frustration depending on player preferences and the difficulty of the game.
- Includes social activities (weight 0.01): The game features live-action series collectibles and social activities like beer pong for alters. This may add a lighthearted or humorous element to the game.
- Similar to Death Stranding (weight 0.01): Some features in the game are reminiscent of Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding, particularly the mining transmission towers. This may influence players familiar with that game.
- AI development concerns (weight 0.01): The reviewer expresses concern about the potential use of AI in the game's development and requests a public statement on the matter. This concern does not reflect on the game itself.
- Ukrainian localization added (weight 0.01): The developers added Ukrainian localization and support Ukraine. This is a commendable gesture, but it does not directly impact the gameplay experience.
- Unspecified Xbox game (weight 0): The review states 'Typical game for XBOX'. This is vague and lacks specific details about the game's quality or features, and is therefore not very helpful.

Emotions:
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