They say that two minds are better than one, but in The Alters, that's not exactly true. Two more minds – admittedly clones of the same one – are certainly better at running a mobile research base, but what happens when those two minds get to talking about what their progenitor could be doing better? Are three minds better? Four? Well, that depends on how much you enjoy being murdered in your sleep.
If you couldn't tell, my 10-hour playthrough of The Alters is coming apart at the seams. A perfect storm of a dead sheep, missing minerals, and an actual storm have all coalesced into the one word that no captain wants to hear: mutiny. I've spent several real-life days trying to get ahead of my Disagreements (we don't like the M-word here), but so far it's all been to no avail: come day 47, my game ends with three all-too familiar silhouettes standing over my bed. And to think, we had a movie night together.
This feature contains slight spoilers for Act 2's opening
Dawn of the final day
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Day 47. After the surprise death of our cloned sheep Molly, my Alters – who were created with the same machine as our mascot – are feeling a little antsy. They'd like me to create an MRI machine and make sure there are no underlying health issues, which is reasonable. Unfortunately this is The Alters, which means upgrading the infirmary is – at best – the third most pressing matter to deal with.
Outside of the airlock, a gravity-warping anomaly blocks our base in its tracks. The sun, with its highly radioactive rays, is inching ever-closer to dawning. I accidentally left several mining outposts in the first act, which means we've got no materials coming in. To top it all off, a magnetic storm – a brutal weather phenomena that spells doom for an underprepared base – is rolling in.
Here's where things get messy. I can only be in so many places at once, and decide to prioritize handling the resource situation first. Without enough metal and organic material, we can't build the repair kits and anti-radiation filters which will keep us alive through the storm. I spend the next few days getting us set up and manage to get production running again, but inside the airlock, trouble is brewing. Our scientist warns me that morale is dire, and if it doesn't improve in a few days, rebellion is on the cards.
Their most pressing issue seems to be the MRI machine – the crew want to know they aren't going to keel over without warning. Fine. I add "find minerals to build an MRI" to my endless to-do list, and although it takes a few more days to find a deposit, we get scans up and running just as the magnetic storm lands. Brilliant! Results won't be ready until tomorrow morning, and the base is in better condition than I had hoped it would be, so I leave my Alters in the Infirmary and go to get some sleep.
Except.. What's this? My Alters have rebelled and murdered me in my sleep? Oh, that's low. No matter – I've settled rebellions through Act One (admittedly all it took was cooking better meals), so I reload back to this morning, put my best HR face on, and get to work. The Technician is madder than most – how about a game of beer pong, bud? Fellas – movie night tonight? And hey, let's splurge on some fresh food for a change today. Day 47 ends with another MRI scan, and I head back to my captain's quarters feeling good about tomorrow. Déjà vu.
Déjà vu. Another rebellion. I try harder, handling the bulk of the magnetic storm repairs myself and making time to play beer pong with everyone. Movie night is still on, followed by another MRI scan. Bedtime. Déjà vu. Another rebellion.
This time, I take stock of the broader situation and it's clear that the cause for my crew's Disagreements is their existential dread over Molly. In the face of that, beer pong and movie nights feels a little like a corporate pizza party amid layoffs. But it's also a trickier issue to remedy, which means my Groundhog Day turns to Groundhog Days as I reload to the day before MRI-and-murder-Monday. The goal is to survive long enough for scan results to come through, so I beeline to mine minerals and build the MRI a day early. I get scanned, throw in another movie night for old time's sake, and go to sleep.
Dawn of the final day
"It's been two real-world days since the first game over, and forget the crew – my own morale is flagging"
It's day 47 once again, the time of my preordained murder, but we're an entire 24 hours ahead of schedule. The scientist has results for me and– oh dear, that's not good. The whole crew has the same degrading brain tissue as Molly, and it will be terminal within a matter of days unless someone on Earth calls with word of a cure. There's just one (more) problem with that: the magnetic storm cuts off all communication, and the crew already seems… antsy. I go through the motions until bed, unsure whether waiting for a call will buy me an extra day. Beer pong. Movie night. Bed. Murder. Déjà vu.
It's been two real-world days since the first game over, and forget the crew – my own morale is flagging. I've lost count of how many times Day 47s there have been, and have been forced to reload increasingly further back to try and resolve things. I even manage to get a call from Earth, but in typical corporate fashion, my handler needs his boss to phone for more information – and wouldn't you know it, he doesn't call before the magnetic storm kicks off. I die.
At this point, I've gone back nearly a week and, thanks to the gift of foresight, have the MRI results in-hand by day 44. Will this be the day that breaks the cycle? Fingers crossed. I can't remember the last game to punish me so thoroughly, but deep down, it makes me truly appreciate what 11 Bit Studios has pulled off.
The Alters is a deceptively hardcore survival game in cloned sheep's clothing, its onboarding so sleek that you don't realize how much you're being asked to juggle until it all comes crashing down. Given I chose to prioritize other pressing matters before building an MRI, maybe I've only got myself to blame. Well, not myself – the other me – but you get the picture. Hopefully this time will be better. Déjà vu.
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