11 bit studios has revealed The Alters: Last Variable, a DLC expansion for their acclaimed 2025 clone survival game that will launch for PC and consoles on 13th July.
Last Variable introduces a new 20-hour story, introducing new underground base building, and refining the gameplay loop around terraforming the planet into a lush oasis.
It’s possible because Jan Scientist chose to stay behind on the planet instead of leaving, carrying on with his own alters in the name of scientific research and advancement. But there’s lots of types of science, if you recall having so many lessons on this during secondary school. Creating the Oasis requires the specialised analysis of a Geologist, Biologist, Chemist or Physicist, and once again, each of these Jan variants will have their own personality and opinions. And while Jan Scientist goes down to persist in cryosleep, the scientists in the Field Labs will continue to age without protection.
- The next story focuses on Jan Scientist(s): Jan Scientists, with their perfectly aligned minds, can offer the expertise needed to unravel the phenomenon of the Oasis.
- Explore new regions and terraform them: Each transformation shifts the landscape, spawns new resources, and awakens the planet’s defensive mechanism – more frequent earthquakes, severe radiation waves, and other threats.
- Expand underground and survive cycles: Build in different soil types, construct new components, and research new modules like the Cryosleep Chamber, which will buy you more time and let you witness the long-term effects of your scientific actions.
- Develop new tech and set field labs: Each planetary cooldown offers a brief window to explore a dramatically changed surface, and Field Labs introduces new assignments for alters to continue their work while you cryosleep.
As stressful as it could be, we gave The Alters a glowing review. Ade said, “The Alters is one of the stand-out survival games of this generation. Imbued with a fascinating sci-fi concept for the ages – one that asks genuinely fascinating ethical questions – and with high-pressure survival mechanics that keep things stressful from beginning to end, this is quite the experience. Did I enjoy playing it? Not really, but good grief, I’ll never forget it.”
