The Alters: What to Know Before Playing on Game Pass

The Alters arrives on Game Pass Premium today, opening up one of 2025's most inventive survival games to a wider audience. From 11 bit studios, the team behind Frostpunk and This War of Mine, this is a game about cloning yourself to survive on a hostile planet. If that pitch alone makes you curious, here is what to expect before you start.

The Premise

You play as Jan Dolski, a miner stranded on a planet that will kill him in 72 days when its deadly sun reaches his position. Your mobile base can move, but not fast enough. To outrun extinction, you need a crew. And since there is nobody else around, you create them from yourself.

Using a mysterious technology called the Rapidium, Jan can grow alternate versions of himself. Not copies. Versions. Each alter is Jan, but shaped by a different pivotal life decision. One might be the Jan who stayed in college instead of dropping out. Another might be the Jan who never left his hometown. These differences determine each alter's personality, skills, and how they interact with you.

Base Building With Emotional Consequences

The gameplay loop combines survival base management with narrative choice. You gather resources, expand your mobile base, and assign alters to tasks like mining, engineering, or piloting. Standard survival stuff, on the surface.

But every alter has their own perspective on life. They will question Jan's decisions. They will argue with each other. Some will resent being created at all. Managing your crew is not just about skill distribution. It is about keeping a bunch of people who are all technically you from falling apart emotionally.

What 11 Bit Studios Does Best

If you played Frostpunk or This War of Mine, you know 11 bit studios does not make feel-good games. They make games that put pressure on your choices until something breaks. The Alters continues that tradition.

The difference here is the intimacy. Instead of managing a faceless population, you are managing versions of one person. Every hard call hits closer to home because you are, in a sense, sacrificing yourself to save yourself.

Gameplay Tips Before You Start

Prioritize alters with complementary skills. Early on, you need engineering and piloting covered. Do not create three alters who are all good at the same thing.

Listen to conversations. The alters will talk to each other and to Jan. These exchanges reveal mechanical hints about what they need and emotional context that affects morale.

Time pressure is real but manageable. The 72-day deadline sounds stressful, and it is. But the game is designed around it. You have enough time if you stay focused. Panicking leads to bad decisions.

Some alters will not get along. Certain life-path combinations create tension. This is intentional. Managing conflict is part of the challenge.

How Long Does It Take?

A single playthrough runs roughly 15 to 20 hours depending on how much you explore the narrative branches. The game has multiple endings based on your choices, so replay value exists if you want to see different outcomes.

Should You Play It?

If you enjoy survival management games that make you think about the people behind the resource bars, yes. If you liked Frostpunk but wanted something more personal, definitely yes. The Alters is not a relaxing experience, but it is a memorable one.

Now available on Game Pass Premium, there is no better time to find out what version of yourself you would create to survive.