Sci-fi base-building game The Alters turns Man vs Self into something else entirely, and its demo is back for a limited time

There have been many circumstances in which I wished I could clone myself to get something done, but none quite as dire as Jan Dolski's. As featured in this year's PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted, Dolski's predicament to save himself using… well, himself, begins next year when The Alters launches in Q1 2025.

The Alters Scientist - One of the many alternate universe types Jan Dolski can become. — (Image credit: 11 Bit Studios)

11 Bit Studios' latest trailer drives home more of what we already knew about The Alters. It's a weird-as-hell, emotional sci-fi adventure that sounds a lot like the setup for a psychological thriller. Dolksi—the unfortunate fellow at the center of everything—is a miner-turned-survival expert trying to escape a terribly inhospitable planet. As part of his exit strategy, he creates other versions of himself, and thus the Alters are born.

Some of us over at PC Gamer are quite smitten with the idea, myself included. I've chewed through more survival games than I'd like to admit this year, but since The Alters was pushed back from its original launch plan for this year, I reckon I'll feel up for it by the time this rolls around. It certainly helps this one is singleplayer—I'm not sure how many more survival games filled with chaotic villages of friends I can handle this year.

Honestly, if I'm ever marooned out in space on a desolate, radioactive rock, my worst option to make it out of there would be cloning myself. We'd all be screwed. Perhaps that's part of the point here, but we'll see when The Alters launches in the first few months of 2025. For now, you can wishlist it on Steam.

Andrea has been covering games for nearly a decade, picking up bylines at IGN, USA Today, Fanbyte, and Destructoid before joining the PC Gamer team in 2025. She's got a soft spot for older RPGs and is willing to try just about anything with a lovey-dovey "I can fix them" romance element. Her weekly to-do always includes a bit of MMO time, endlessly achievement hunting and raiding in Final Fantasy 14. Outside of those staples, she's often got a few survival-crafting games on rotation and loves a good scare in co-op horror games.