Clone Alone: Surviving with Your Other Selves in The Alters

Developer: 11 Bit Studios

Platforms: PC (Reviewed), Console versions TBD

Genre: Survival | Management | Narrative-driven Sci-fi

11 Bit Studios has carved out a niche in the indie gaming space by turning survival and management games into emotionally rich, morally complex experiences. With The Alters, the studio returns to familiar territory—but with a fresh, thought-provoking twist that merges psychological drama with sci-fi survival in a way that’s both ambitious and uneven.

You awaken as Jan Dolski, the lone survivor of a crash on a desolate, toxic planet. The land is alien and deadly, drenched in oil-slick colors and dominated by geological oddities shaped by a mysterious resource called Rapidium. There’s no time to soak in the scenery—survival depends on getting your mobile base, a massive wheeled rotating tower, operational before the blistering sun cooks everything on the surface.

That looming sense of time pressure creates an immediate urgency that drives the first few hours of gameplay. Finding resources, planning your next movement cycle, and keeping your life support systems humming quickly establish a gripping loop of risk and reward.

What sets The Alters apart is the concept of “Alters”—alternate versions of Jan created through branching life decisions. Maybe one Jan became a technician by standing up to his father, while another became a scientist by choosing academia over rebellion. Each Alter has unique skills and personality traits, which opens up gameplay possibilities, narrative branches, and complex interpersonal dynamics.

On paper, this is genius—and often in practice, it is too. Managing the needs of your Alters, from rest to morale to meaningful interaction, adds a human element to base management. Some Jans need encouragement, while others bristle without direct orders. The game subtly forces you to know your Alters, not just assign them tasks like cogs in a machine.

But keeping them healthy, happy, and productive isn’t easy. You’ll balance food production, radiation shielding, mental health maintenance, and physical well-being. Gyms, parks, entertainment rooms, and more must be constructed and optimized in your base’s diorama-like layout.

It’s not just about keeping people alive. Each Alter—and external factions back on Earth—come with demands, missions, and moral conflicts. Often, what one Jan wants is at direct odds with another’s goals. Pleasing everyone isn’t possible. The result is a constant undercurrent of tension: should you prioritize an Alter’s emotional arc or serve the corporate interests that might get you off this rock?

That kind of narrative complexity is where The Alters shines most brightly. There’s emotional weight behind every mission you accept or decline, every room you build, every Alter you bring into being. It’s a rare example of a management game that manages to be deeply personal.

Still, The Alters isn’t always smooth sailing. Toward the end of each act, when pressure ramps up, the number of systems to juggle becomes overwhelming. You’re asked to meet resource quotas, resolve interpersonal drama, upgrade tech, respond to environmental threats, and keep everything moving—all while trying to progress a story with emotional stakes. It can feel like taking one step forward and three steps sideways.

There are difficulty sliders to ease the burden, but the pacing can still falter under the weight of its own systems. For players who crave a tighter, more curated experience, The Alters may occasionally feel like it’s stretching itself in too many directions.

The Alters is a bold, thoughtful game that asks what kind of person you are—not just as Jan, but as the player managing him and his many potential selves. Its emotional storytelling, inventive base management, and surreal world-building make it more than the sum of its parts. But like Jan himself, the game sometimes struggles under the weight of the choices it’s made.

Still, if you’re willing to brave the radiation and wade through the complexity, The Alters offers a compelling sci-fi survival experience unlike any other.