If you want better crash stability
Choose South of Midnight. It scores 4.8 vs 1.5 for crash stability, with a 3.9 overall score.
The Alters Review
Bottom Line
Choose The Alters if you want a bold, emotional sci-fi survival-management game with replayable choices. Skip it if heavy stress, mature themes, resource busywork, or technical rough edges will outweigh the story for you.
Best for
Best for players who enjoy narrative-heavy survival management, tense time-and-resource decisions, and morally complicated sci-fi stories with replayable branching outcomes.
Not for
Not for players who dislike stress, resource juggling, repetitive gathering loops, mature themes, or games where technical rough edges can interrupt momentum.
Verdict
The Alters stands out for its unusual cloning premise, rich moral dilemmas, and a strong blend of base management, resource pressure, and character-driven storytelling. Reviewers repeatedly praised the narrative, voice acting, atmosphere, replay value, and the distinct personalities of Jan’s alternate selves. The tradeoff is that the same pressure making the experience memorable can also become stressful, repetitive, or cumbersome, especially during exploration and resource gathering. Technical reports also varied, from smooth performance and zero bugs to crashes, shader waits, and stuck characters. Overall, the evidence points to a bold, emotionally resonant survival-management game with some friction around pacing, polish, and busywork.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
56 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.021 (38%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.420 (36%)
-
Neutral 2.5-3.412 (21%)
-
Negative 1.5-2.43 (5%)
Pros
-
Narrative quality was one of the strongest areas, with many reviewers praising the story as compelling, thoughtful, philosophical, or emotionally resonant.
-
Voice acting was strongly praised across many reviews, especially Alex Jordan’s work differentiating the many Jans, with only one mild delivery caveat.
-
Graphics were praised repeatedly, with reviewers calling the game gorgeous, detailed, good-looking, or visually distinctive.
-
Atmosphere was consistently praised as isolating, eerie, tense, symbolic, and thrilling.
-
Emotional impact was consistently strong, with reviewers describing thought-provoking, personal, vulnerable, and resonant moments.
-
Originality was strongly praised, with reviewers calling the concept unique, uncategorizable, ambitious, or unlike anything else.
Cons
-
Grind level drew negative evidence, with reviewers criticizing repetitive busywork and mindless material loops.
-
Crash stability was a major issue in one PC review, which reported frequent crashes around the Quantum Computer.
-
Age appropriateness evidence points to mature themes, with one reviewer warning about substance abuse, suicide, and self-harm.
-
Load-time evidence was mixed-to-negative because shader precompilation was called long or repeatedly required on launch.
-
Progression drew criticism from one reviewer who felt unlocks mostly reduced earlier friction rather than adding exciting new capabilities.
-
Movement drew mixed-to-negative notes, with one reviewer calling traversal cumbersome and another saying Jan could feel awkward or get stuck.
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other Video Games, this product is above average in narrative quality, side character depth, facial animations, near average in replay value, gameplay mechanics, below average in crash stability, load times, progression system.
Comparison summary
56 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher28 (50%)
-
Same as average within 0.3 pts17 (30%)
-
Below average 0.4+ pts lower11 (20%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| crash stability | 1.5 | 3.1 | -1.6 |
| narrative quality | 4.7 | 3.6 | +1.1 |
| side character depth | 5.0 | 3.6 | +1.4 |
| load times | 2.5 | 3.9 | -1.4 |
| progression system | 2.5 | 3.9 | -1.4 |
| facial animations | 5.0 | 3.6 | +1.4 |
| visual effects quality | 3.0 | 4.3 | -1.3 |
| onboarding experience | 5.0 | 3.7 | +1.3 |
Consider This Instead
If you want better progression system
Choose Hades II. It scores 4.9 vs 2.5 for progression system, with a 4.6 overall score.
If you want better combat system
Choose Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It scores 4.7 vs 3.1 for combat system, with a 4.5 overall score.
If you want better core gameplay loop
Choose Cronos: The New Dawn. It scores 5.0 vs 4.3 for core gameplay loop, with a 3.9 overall score.
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
Alan Wake 2
- Compared: musical sequence tone The reviewer favorably compares a musical number's energy to Alan Wake 2.
Fallout Shelter
- Similar: management assignments The reviewer says the crew-assignment management recalls Fallout Shelter.
Frost Punk
- Compared: challenging decision design The review references Frost Punk alongside This War of Mine as part of 11 bit's decision-making lineage.
FAQ
Is The Alters more story-driven or systems-driven?
Reviewers generally describe it as both: a survival-management game built around a strongly praised sci-fi narrative, moral choices, and relationships with Jan's alternate selves.
Is The Alters stressful?
Yes. Many reviewers highlight the constant pressure of time, resources, storms, and Alter morale; some loved that tension, while others found it overwhelming.
How replayable is The Alters?
Replay value is one of the most repeated positives. Reviewers point to different Alters, branching choices, alternate endings, and dialogue tracking as reasons to replay.
Does the exploration hold up?
Exploration is divisive. Several reviewers found the planet atmospheric and tactile, while others thought resource gathering, pylons, and traversal became repetitive or chore-like.
How good is the voice acting?
Voice acting is strongly praised, especially Alex Jordan's performance as multiple versions of Jan with distinct personalities, tones, and emotional registers.
Are there technical problems?
Reports are mixed. Some reviewers had smooth performance or zero bugs, while others cited crashes, shader waits, stuck characters, glitches, or visual issues.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
YouTube - GamingBolt
- Review score
- 4.1
YouTube - I Dream of Indie Games
- Review score
- 4.7
Article Reviews
punishedbacklog.com
- Review score
- 4.4
techraptor.net
- Review score
- 3.4
gamesradar.com
- Review score
- 4.9
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