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The Guardian
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Alters: unintentionally the realest game about parenting I've ever played
Other than during that golden period when they were old enough to play games and watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer but hadn't yet become evil teenagers, I don't think I'm very good at parenting. When my kids were babies I felt unnecessary and useless, a feeling I have been reminded of most days since. That's OK. We can't be good at everything. I can read words backwards and upside down but I can never find my house keys. I am brilliant at dancing to the Cure's The Lovecats on Dancing Stage MegaMix but terrible at DIY. Don't get me wrong: I love my children. I like hanging out with them socially as young adults because they are smart, funny and entertaining, but then they remember I am their dad, and everything is ruined as they ask me to do stuff then blame me for everything wrong in their lives. So I took advantage of the fact that they all went away on the same weekend to have some uninterrupted dad time and sink my teeth into a game with depth, without disturbance. That game was The Alters. I loved the concept. You are stuck on a planet and have to clone different versions of yourself to operate the base and survive. That's really clever. Even better: you create the clones by looking at your life path and picking moments when you made certain decisions that led to you becoming the Jan Dolski that you are. For example, if you select the path where you went off to study rather than entering the mines like your dad did, then you clone Jan the Scientist, an ace researcher. If you went to work on oil rigs, you create Jan Worker, a load-lightener. If you decide that all you want to do is sit on your backside all day playing with words, you become Jan Writer. (Except you don't. There is no Jan Writer option, which shows how useless I would be in a survival situation.) It's a compelling game mechanic because you are not only exploring, resource building and problem solving, you are questioning the whole nature of decision making. It makes you go back through your own life, wondering at the choices you made and what could have been different. This is horribly depressing though and I wouldn't recommend it. Stick to the game's story, not your own. The problem is that the more clones you have in The Alters, the more you have to work to keep them fed, healthy and entertained. And they are needy little bastards whose first language is Whine. It didn't matter about the fresh food I gave them, the movies I sat through or the games of beer pong I deliberately lost – the Jan Miner character was determined to be grumpy and confrontational, and Jan Scientist was constantly punchably irritating. Whenever I thought I was triumphing at managing the base – helped by a system that allows you to set up automatic production of important things like radiation filters to keep you safe, and allotting different clones to regularly do specific shifts – I would have to drop what I was doing and run around doing something else for my dependants to keep them happy. You see where I am going with this? Sign up to Pushing Buttons Keza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gaming after newsletter promotion The Alters may be pitched as a sci-fi survival game, but really? It's a parenting sim. The very last thing I want to do with my free time. My failures in the game (and there are many) are accompanied by me screaming at the needy sods to give me a break for five minutes. My neighbours probably still think my kids are still at home. I have never felt so strongly that I am the wrong person to play a game that is so right. The script and story are strong, almost like an interactive version of Andy Weir's The Martian. Philosophical concepts are bandied around, such as Camus's idea that heroism is easy, and it's doing the normal things that is the real challenge in life. And the graphics are so distinctive and mesmerising they are works of art. The space base moves around like a futuristic take on Howl's Moving Castle. The game questions the very meaning of existence and what we're supposed to do with it, and it is moving to witness the clones react to their new reality. Some hate you, others are fascinated, but all at points bond with you over shared memories of everything from Mom's pierogies and beloved lava lamps to how you dealt with your abusive father. There is imagination and intelligence in abundance. It would make an incredible novel or animated movie. And 1990s Dominik, who had no kids or responsibilities, would have found marshalling a load of interesting, talented but whiny dependants a fun novelty. It's like The Game of Life, which was a fun board game to play as kids, but hell when we had two in the back seat of our car. Maybe The Alters is the perfect game for you to play if you are thinking about having kids. In fact I urge anyone of child-bearing or rearing age to play it immediately, to see if you are up to the task in real life or if, like me, it all turns out to be too much hard work.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Alters: unintentionally the realest game about parenting I've ever played
Other than during that golden period when they were old enough to play games and watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer but hadn't yet become evil teenagers, I don't think I'm very good at parenting. When my kids were babies I felt unnecessary and useless, a feeling I have been reminded of most days since. That's OK. We can't be good at everything. I can read words backwards and upside down but I can never find my house keys. I am brilliant at dancing to the Cure's The Lovecats on Dancing Stage MegaMix but terrible at DIY. Don't get me wrong: I love my children. I like hanging out with them socially as young adults because they are smart, funny and entertaining, but then they remember I am their dad, and everything is ruined as they ask me to do stuff then blame me for everything wrong in their lives. So I took advantage of the fact that they all went away on the same weekend to have some uninterrupted dad time and sink my teeth into a game with depth, without disturbance. That game was The Alters. I loved the concept. You are stuck on a planet and have to clone different versions of yourself to operate the base and survive. That's really clever. Even better: you create the clones by looking at your life path and picking moments when you made certain decisions that led to you becoming the Jan Dolski that you are. For example, if you select the path where you went off to study rather than entering the mines like your dad did, then you clone Jan the Scientist, an ace researcher. If you went to work on oil rigs, you create Jan Worker, a load-lightener. If you decide that all you want to do is sit on your backside all day playing with words, you become Jan Writer. (Except you don't. There is no Jan Writer option, which shows how useless I would be in a survival situation.) It's a compelling game mechanic because you are not only exploring, resource building and problem solving, you are questioning the whole nature of decision making. It makes you go back through your own life, wondering at the choices you made and what could have been different. This is horribly depressing though and I wouldn't recommend it. Stick to the game's story, not your own. The problem is that the more clones you have in The Alters, the more you have to work to keep them fed, healthy and entertained. And they are needy little bastards whose first language is Whine. It didn't matter about the fresh food I gave them, the movies I sat through or the games of beer pong I deliberately lost – the Jan Miner character was determined to be grumpy and confrontational, and Jan Scientist was constantly punchably irritating. Whenever I thought I was triumphing at managing the base – helped by a system that allows you to set up automatic production of important things like radiation filters to keep you safe, and allotting different clones to regularly do specific shifts – I would have to drop what I was doing and run around doing something else for my dependants to keep them happy. You see where I am going with this? Sign up to Pushing Buttons Keza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gaming after newsletter promotion The Alters may be pitched as a sci-fi survival game, but really? It's a parenting sim. The very last thing I want to do with my free time. My failures in the game (and there are many) are accompanied by me screaming at the needy sods to give me a break for five minutes. My neighbours probably still think my kids are still at home. I have never felt so strongly that I am the wrong person to play a game that is so right. The script and story are strong, almost like an interactive version of Andy Weir's The Martian. Philosophical concepts are bandied around, such as Camus's idea that heroism is easy, and it's doing the normal things that is the real challenge in life. And the graphics are so distinctive and mesmerising they are works of art. The space base moves around like a futuristic take on Howl's Moving Castle. The game questions the very meaning of existence and what we're supposed to do with it, and it is moving to witness the clones react to their new reality. Some hate you, others are fascinated, but all at points bond with you over shared memories of everything from Mom's pierogies and beloved lava lamps to how you dealt with your abusive father. There is imagination and intelligence in abundance. It would make an incredible novel or animated movie. And 1990s Dominik, who had no kids or responsibilities, would have found marshalling a load of interesting, talented but whiny dependants a fun novelty. It's like The Game of Life, which was a fun board game to play as kids, but hell when we had two in the back seat of our car. Maybe The Alters is the perfect game for you to play if you are thinking about having kids. In fact I urge anyone of child-bearing or rearing age to play it immediately, to see if you are up to the task in real life or if, like me, it all turns out to be too much hard work.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Best Video Games of 2025, So Far
One of the biggest video game stories of the year — the delay of Grand Theft Auto VI — is about a hotly anticipated title that will not be playable in 2025. But there still has been plenty to enjoy in the first half of this year. Here's an alphabetical list of the 10 games that have wowed our critics most. The Alters When the sole survivor of a space mining expedition initiates a procedure on his ship's quantum computer that allows him to select an alternative life path, he must learn to live with the other selves he might have been. The Alters, by the studio behind Frostpunk and This War of Mine, is an extraordinary survival game that explores miscommunication, human fallibility and conflicting motivations. By contrast with so many games that urge perfectionism, it wants you to embrace your errors and remember that out of mistakes, good things can happen. (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S) Read the full review. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Metro
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
The Alters review - send in the clones
From the makers of This War Of Mine and Frostpunk comes a new sci-fi survival game, where you literally are your own worst enemy. Now that we've finally finished our Nintendo Switch 2 launch coverage, and the madness of not-E3 week is over, we have time to circle back and see what we might have missed from the beginning of the month. Normally, June isn't a busy time for new releases but for some reason this year was different and MindsEye proved to be such a baffling creation we were compelled to cover it as soon as possible. The Alters wasn't any more sensible in picking its release date, especially with the summer games drought now upon us, but it is a vastly superior experience. Technically, it's a survival game, but rather than a formless sandbox world to explore it has a tight narrative, very much in the vein of films such as Mickey 17, Moon, and Multiplicity (except that it doesn't begin with the letter M). The idea of a single person being cloned multiple times, to perform different or dangerous tasks is surprisingly common in movies (which is a little strange as companies would surely prefer to just use multiple, low paid workers) but relatively rare in games, as anything other than a throwaway excuse for getting an extra life. With The Alters though, the concept takes centre stage. Frostpunk and This War Of Mine would have been fine games in their own right but Polish developer 11 bit studios elevated them by using the gameplay to explore morality and the human condition. By constantly forcing you to choose between the lesser of two (or more) evils, you gained an often disturbing insight into how the real world works and how immoral or destructive acts can initially be driven by good intentions. In The Alters, you play as engineer Jan Dolski, an unremarkable everyman who finds himself stranded on alien planet, whose sun emits deadly radiation if you're caught out in the open when it rises above the horizon. This creates a tight time limit for the whole game but luckily you have access to a mobile base, which is presented like the bases from XCOM, with a side-on view where you can see everyone working away, like a sci-fi ant colony. The base is built inside a giant wheel, but there's no one except you to operate it, which is where the cloning comes in. Not only do you need more people to staff the base, but you also need to go outside and forage for resources, in order to craft tools and equipment, and grow food. The most precious commodity is something called rapidium, which has the ability to accelerate cell growth in any living thing. This is used for food but, just as importantly, to create clones – or alters as the game calls them. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Most alters can do most ordinary jobs but sometimes you need specialists, like a scientist, to work on something more specific. This may seem impossible, given the original Jan is just an ordinary engineer, but the conceit is that the central computer has all his memories stored and it's able to extrapolate from there different paths his life could've taken, in order to get alters with different abilities. We're not sure that makes much sense but it's why we mentioned Multiplicity, even though it's a comedy and not sent in space. In that film, Michael Keaton plays innumerable different clones, with very different personalities, and, in a rather less slapstick manner, that's how The Alters works too. The narrative is fascinating, in that the thing the alters are most interested in, is how and why your life didn't go down the path that would've led to them. They don't necessarily trust you or your decisions and they're fully aware that they're disposable and that while you might make it home okay, if everything works out, they're just as likely to be discarded or sacrificed. As a result, you're not just managing them in terms of telling them what to do but dealing with their personal concerns as well – which despite decades of strategy management games is not something any of them have ever really got into. You can't refer them to HR, so instead you have to tell them what you think will best motivate them and then make the decision as to whether you outright lie or not. There's a tendency for the script to rely on a single, cliched personality type for each alter, such as the nerdy scientist, but while some of the plot points, such as neglecting home life in favour of work, are equally predictable the alters do change over time, as a result of your input and their interactions with each other. Dealing with alters is when the game is at its best but some of the other elements don't work quite so well. Every major task takes time to complete and that means that sometimes you're not doing anything more than pressing a button and waiting for the day to end – although you could argue that makes it even more realistic. Unfortunately, the survival aspect is also not very engaging, as it literally seems to be designed to waste time. The graphics are surprisingly good – the whole game looks far better than its mid-budget price tag suggests, but the day-to-day exploration and tedious minigames are a slog and quickly become repetitive. More Trending The increasingly dangerous aliens are also an irritation, as they're almost invisible and they have time compression abilities that, you guessed it, are also designed to steal precious days away from you. These aren't ruinous problems but interacting with the alters, and the quandaries they throw up, is much more interesting than the okay-ish survival elements. The game is inventive and ambitious, but it really needed a second pass in order to get everything working at the same level. We'd very much welcome a sequel but, ironically, The Alters would also work really well as a movie. In Short: A management game where you have to handle people as well as just spreadsheets, but while its sci-fi elements add intrigue the survival gameplay isn't all it could be. Pros: A fantastic idea that attempts a clever mixture of narrative, management, and survival gameplay, with some very difficult moral decisions to make. Surprisingly good graphics. Cons: The survival gameplay is repetitive and rarely very interesting. Pacing can be knocked off course at times and some of the writing is a little basic. Score: 7/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: £28.99*Publisher: 11 bit studiosDeveloper: 11 bit studiosRelease Date: 13th June 2025 Age Rating: 16 *available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from day one Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: The best Mario Kart World character is not who you'd expect MORE: Xbox to be hit by fourth wave of layoffs in 18 months says report MORE: Switch 2 has a secret feature that's perfect for an overlooked genre
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Best Alters to pick when starting the game in The Alters
(Image via 11 Bit Studios) Starting strong in The Alters can make or break your entire playthrough. While the game gives you complete freedom in choosing which Alters (clones of Jan) to create, some choices can make the opening hours smoother, faster, and far less stressful. Picking the right Alter early on means fewer hiccups as you race against the sun and scramble to survive. Here's a detailed guide to help you choose the best first Alters when beginning your journey. 1. Jan Technician Before we get to the fun picks, let's get this out of the way — you have to make the Technician first. It's non-negotiable. He'll repair modules, fix your systems, and keep your mobile base functional. No Technician, no progress. Think of him as the foundation of everything that follows. JAN SCIENTIST | The ALTERS Hard Challenging Gameplay Walkthrough Part 3 | ACT 1 | Day 12 - 15 2. Jan Scientist If you want to move fast and unlock new possibilities quickly, the Scientist is your MVP. He gives you access to the Research Lab — which means: Unlocking essential base upgrades Accessing new modules (like Greenhouse, Refinery, etc.) Speeding up your long-term efficiency He's also critical for progressing in Act 1 of the main story. Without the Scientist, you're going to hit a narrative wall sooner or later. The faster you get him, the sooner you start optimizing everything else — from food production to power efficiency. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo Pro Tip : Prioritize research on mobility and base enhancements first. It'll pay off big time later. 3. Jan Botanist Survival's not just about tech — it's about food too. The Botanist is your best friend when it comes to feeding your growing crew. He doubles Greenhouse efficiency when growing crops Raw food keeps Alters happy (unlike the bland Organics mush) With a few upgrades, he can produce way more food than your team can consume You don't want your Alters starving or turning moody when you're trying to build bridge anchors and outrun a burning sun. Get the Botanist early and let him handle the crops while you focus elsewhere. Get These Alters FIRST | Best Alters Unlock Order Guide | The Alters 4. Jan Refiner If you're planning to go full throttle on construction and resource processing, the Refiner is a solid choice. +50% efficiency in turning Enriched Metals into usable materials Essential for Polymer production, which you'll need for bridge anchors Unlocks access to the Worker Alter, who's a beast in item crafting He's not a 'must-have-in-hour-one' kind of Alter, but picking him early speeds up both crafting and progression. And once you unlock the Worker, your base becomes a productivity machine. So, what's the best order? Technician → Scientist → Botanist → Refiner (optional but helpful) This combo covers tech, food, repair, and resource flow — everything you need to get ahead early. The Alters is all about momentum. Start with the right clones, and you'll spend more time expanding and exploring, and less time firefighting.
