The Alters Might Be the Most Insane Sci-Fi Game I’ve Ever Seen, and I’m Sold

ign.com:

The video game industry’s love affair with science fiction is as old as the medium itself, so it’s no minor statement when I say that 11 Bit Studios’ The Alters is perhaps the weirdest sci-fi game I’ve ever seen. This bizarre survival game is packed with weighty building mechanics and social links, and every time I thought the 40-minute demo couldn’t get any wilder, it defied my expectations by throwing yet another curveball. Whether it’s the planet’s rising sun that threatens to burn you into oblivion or the giant wheel-shaped base that serves as your home, the Rapidium miracle element that’s Earth’s only chance at survival or the alternate reality clones of the protagonist that serve as your companions, The Alters is perhaps the most high-concept science fiction game of all time – and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. I quite enjoy weird science fiction stories myself, and there’s something about The Alters’ extreme weirdness that gives it a neat dreamlike quality that’s unlike anything I’ve seen before. That’s definitely something to get excited about.

In the Alters, you play one version of Jan Dolski, a space-faring captain on an expedition to a remote world that’s gone horribly wrong, seeing you stranded on a planet with a slowly rising sun that will kill you if you let it. While waiting for help to arrive, you’ll need to pilot your mobile command base across the surface of a hostile world, and that can’t happen on your own. To assist you, you’ll need to gather resources to build alternative versions of yourself called Alters, who are pulled from the multiverse where Jan made different life choices and became a different person. This way, you can find a version of yourself who became a miner to help with gathering