Every time I get exhausted by modern games, gems like this pop up to prove that people are still being creative, even if not within the AAA space. This year has actually been a pretty solid year of unique and fascinating games from the AA and indy scene. There's Blue Prince, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and now this game. All great games that offer something truly unique and isn't afraid to commit to a unique vision and making an artistic statement. These games are truly rare but a total joy to experience when they pop up. Alters deserves your attention.

I'll not spoil anything because the plot and writing are honestly the best part of the game. But in a nutshell, this is a survival exploration base building narrative focused game. While that may not sound unique at a glance, the way the game utilizes these mechanics is wholly unique and the writing elevates the experience. The game is about regret, missed opportunities and finding your true potential against extreme adversity. It's firmly grounded in emotion and a deeply personal experience of self discovery.

It's a base builder, its a survival exploration game and it's a person management simulator, all in one. The Sci-Fi elements are well explored and the game presents you with a plethora of morally complex decisions. There is a time limit to the game, but honestly you are given plenty of time. I did get a game over once, which was a good learning experience for me, but the game does have a generous re-load system where if you really botch your base and set up, you have plenty of options for how far back you want to go to reset. I did lose roughly 3 hours from my game over, but I had learned a lot from those mistakes and never had a game over again.

The main Sci-Fi element to the game (which isn't a spoiler) is the Alters. Which allows you to clone yourself, but change the life decisions you made. Resulting in a wholly unique new version of yourself. From a gameplay perspective, you pick an Alter based on their profession. You need a scientist to research stuff for you. A botanist is really good at growing food for you, ect. But while you make your decision from a cold calculated perspective of "I need this job," the Alters themselves all have unique personalities derived from their simulated life experiences. You can't select every Alter on one play through, so I haven't experienced every possible option, but the Alters I did pick all had a fully realized and unique personality. Further more each had their own compelling story that I was infested in learning. if you do a bad job of meeting the needs of your alters, they can rebel against you and cause a game over. So it's important for you to monitor and compromise with them. Making them feel real, but also adding more pressure to the gameplay.

The game certainly has issues. There can be small graphical glitches. When using the fast travel system, I got caught on terrain. Combat is nothing to write home about, but these are all easy to look past with how much this game gets right.

So you will be building a base, managing people, collecting and managing resources, progressing your technology, exploring an alien planet and of course surviving. While most individual elements may not wow you, the game is firmly greater than the sum of its parts. With the writing and characterization really elevating the experience as a whole. Do your self a favor and give this game a chance! That all said, it's certainly not a game for everyone, but hey you may like it more than you expected.