Released earlier this year, The Alters is an intriguing game. Part exploration/discovery, part survival, part base-builder, it puts players in the shoes of a “lone wanderer” of a different sort. Admittedly, it pushes the boundaries of Spooktober, as it’s not particular scary. Or…is it? Being stranded alone on an alien world could be considered quite scary, after all. But the plight of sole survivor Jan Dolski is atypical. The world devoid of physical lifeforms on which he’s crashed isn’t completely unknown – there’s a reason he’s there – and a certain material on it helps him be, um…less alone. But Jan’s efforts are shrouded by limitations, stress, and worst of all…serious deadlines. ::shivers:: If that word isn’t to induce dread in the best of us, I don’t know what is!

The premise of The Alters is simple with complex undertones. Jan is a member of Project Dolly, the sole survivor of a space expedition that has at its disposal a giant, wheel-shaped base. The base provides shelter for Jan, but both he and it are subject to intense radiation from a nearby sun, which is constantly monitored. The closer the sun gets, the worse the radiation becomes. By mining resources from the planets surface, Jan is able to create items he needs to survive and build the base into a “home.” (Think: Fallout Shelter, probably it’s closest comparison.) Jan’s exertions each day are limited – he must eat and sleep, and working to exhaustion leads to negative conseqeunces – and he’s up against the major deadline that the sun presents. He must move the base to escape the sun’s path, for a full sunrise means death, and gathering up enough resources and making what he needs to do that is extremely stressful. That’s the deadline dread, and its awful.

Not the game; the game is good, maybe even great! I was just a poor substitute for Jan, because the game’s deadline dread made me not only act irrationally and make poor choices, but it also made me hallucinate while exploring the planet. Seeing things that weren’t there and all. Alas, my own brain is the spookiest thing of all, sometimes.

The Alters starts to really shine (no pun intended) when Jan learns about the secret of Project Dolly. Named after the famous cloned sheep, the project’s goal is to harvest a substance called Rapidium, which can be found in pockets on the planet under Jan’s feet, which can be used to clone human life. Using Rapidium, Jan is able to create “Alters,” alternative versions of himself from different branching points in his own life. One branch led him to become the Project Dolly builder he is, but others lead to versions of himself that never were…until now! These Alters each come with specialties – mining, medicine, science, psychiatry, botany, to name a few – that Jan is able to use to his advantage. The Alters are also living humans with feelings and desires, and Jan has to manage them, too, from keeping them happy, to keeping them from fighting with one another, to simply keeping them alive.

Jan has a lot on his plate. And don’t forget about the sun! Always remember the sun! The dire, dreadful SUN!

Failure to escape the sun during any given segment of the game means starting over, which, frankly, instills the worst kind of fear in a game– the fear of losing everything. Granted, that’s part and parcel in survival games, but because the stakes are so high in The Alters, losing everything feels ten times more heartbreaking. Yes, the idea is to learn. Learn how to move the base, learn how to efficiently and effectively gather and utilize resources, and learn which Alters are the best to create in any given moment (only so many can be created at once). That’s difficult when one’s mind feels like its in a vise with stress on one side and apprehension on the other.

Despite how overwhelming The Alters may be at first, it’s a fascinating game. It’s not one to make players jump out of their skins, unless the fear of facing a terminable and irradiated death is scary, which it is. Facing ones’ unsung past and future “lives” is scary, too. And so is trying to manage a crew with limited time and resources. With all that in mind, The Alters might be the scariest game of the year!

All images, including lede, were captured by author during Xbox gameplay of The Alters (©11 bit studios).