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Games like The Alters

11 bit studios · 2025 · Windows

Steam: 90 % positive of 15,621 reviews, as of Oct 28

Experience an award-winning, story-driven sci-fi survival game. Help Jan Dolski, the survivor of an ill-fated space expedition, create alternative versions of himself to escape a hostile planet and tackle personal turmoil with his unconventional crew.

24 games that play like The Alters and 24 that look like it. Closest by gameplay: ASTRONEER, Stranded: Alien Dawn and The Planet Crafter.

Player tags

  • Survival
  • Base-Building
  • Management
  • Sci-fi
  • Exploration
  • Strategy
  • Action-Adventure
  • Resource Management
Map region: Survival & Crafting
Open on Steam ↗

Steam reviews

What players say

Players mostly praise its story, characters and original clone concept, while criticising its time pressure, repetitive resource gathering and shallow base-building.

Most reviewers recommend The Alters, and many praise the story above everything else: the cloned versions of the main character each have their own personality and history, and the choices they lead to feel like they matter. Players also like the mix of base-building, exploration and resource management, the lead voice acting, and the premise of managing a crew made of yourself. The criticism mostly concerns the gameplay around the story. Timed days in each area create stress for some, resource gathering becomes tedious in the second half, and the management systems feel simple, with one clearly best approach. Some find the narrative conveniently forced or the endings similar. Recent reviews are a little more mixed than the very high overall rating suggests, with several newer players finding it more repetitive or stressful.

Praised

  • Story and choices

    Players praise the narrative, the moral dilemmas and how the alters' backstories shape decisions.

    Many players
  • Characters and voice acting

    Each alter has a distinct personality, and the lead voice actor is praised for voicing all of them.

    Many players
  • Original clone concept

    Reviewers call the premise unique and say it works well as a core mechanic.

    Many players
  • Base-building and exploration mix

    The blend of base-building, exploration and resource gathering is seen as satisfying and well integrated.

    Some players

Criticised

  • Time pressure

    The limited days per area create stress and clash with players who want to relax.

    Many players
  • Repetitive resource gathering

    Gathering resources becomes tedious, especially in the second half and on replays.

    Many players
  • Shallow management systems

    Base-building and resource systems are simple, with one clearly best approach and few meaningful strategies.

    Some players
  • Talkative and whiny crew

    Long dialogue and complaining crew members wear on some players as the group grows.

    Some players
Who it suits
Suits players who want a narrative-driven sci-fi story with moral choices and are happy with light base-building and resource management.
Who should skip it
Players who want deep strategy, relaxed play without timers, or endless replay will likely be frustrated.

Short vs. long playtime: Players with well over 50 hours more often find the resource gathering and repeated runs repetitive, while shorter-playtime reviewers focus on the story and the clone concept.

Summarised by AI from 61 Steam reviews (English, helpful and recent), as of Oct 28, 2026.

Best matches

Plays and looks like The Alters

Close to it by gameplay and by look, so it appears in both lists below.

By gameplay

Plays like The Alters

Matched from Steam descriptions and player tags. The tags under each game are the ones both games share.

More matches

  1. Terraformental96 % positive of 377
  2. Astrometica: Prologue88 % positive of 1,309Shared: Survival · Base-Building · Sci-fi
  3. Stardeus86 % positive of 1,437Shared: Survival · Base-Building · Management
  4. Beyond Contact70 % positive of 1,013Shared: Survival · Base-Building · Sci-fi
  5. The Invincible86 % positive of 10,484Shared: Sci-fi · Space · Science
  6. StarRupture80 % positive of 12,562
  7. Osiris: New Dawn53 % positive of 15,077Shared: Survival · Base-Building · Sci-fi
  8. Empyrion - Galactic Survival77 % positive of 29,240Shared: Survival · Sci-fi · Exploration
  9. Surviving Mars76 % positive of 29,321Shared: Survival · Base-Building · Management
  10. Forever Skies77 % positive of 8,206Shared: Survival · Base-Building · Sci-fi
  11. SYMMETRY53 % positive of 147Shared: Survival · Management · Sci-fi
  12. Ostranauts76 % positive of 3,217Shared: Survival · Sci-fi · Exploration

By look

Looks like The Alters

Matched from screenshots. Each card shows the screenshot closest to the look of this game.

More matches

  1. Breathedge 285 % positive of 1,784
  2. Star Trek: Resurgence88 % positive of 3,186
  3. Dune: Awakening72 % positive of 69,008
  4. Deadzone: Rogue82 % positive of 15,301
  5. Nemesis: Lockdown66 % positive of 738
  6. Marathon80 % positive of 45,462
  7. USAC: Code Breach90 % positive of 1,073
  8. The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation61 % positive of 399
  9. 1000xRESIST94 % positive of 5,413
  10. Hardspace: Shipbreaker89 % positive of 19,537
  11. Aphelion63 % positive of 320
  12. System Shock89 % positive of 9,887

At a glance

What games like The Alters have in common

  • The tags they share most often with The Alters: Survival (19 of 24), Base-Building (16) and Sci-fi (15).
  • They came out between 2016 and 2026, 3 of them after The Alters (2025).
  • Best rated by Steam players: RimWorld (97 % positive of 210,869).

How these matches work

Matches come from embeddings of Steam descriptions, player tags and screenshots, computed offline. “Plays like” compares what the games are about and how players tag them; “Looks like” compares their screenshots. The share of positive reviews is based on Steam user reviews.

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