The Altersis a game that straddles between a few different genres, so it’s a bit difficult to place it into one, clean categorization box. It’s a little bit of base-building, a dash of survival, a healthy dose of simulation, and a lot of people management all wrapped up into a dense sci-fi burrito.
Naturally, this makes figuring out which games The Alters compares most closely to a bit tricky as well. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone who checks the game out and enjoys it also wants to find some similar titles to jump into afterward as well, so let’s try to nail down what makes the game tick so we can find you some more suggestions.
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There’s a clear task loop in The Alters that will latch onto a certain part of a specific gamer’s mind that feels rewarded by checking things off a to-do list, problem-solving, and working the balancing act of social obligations, all the while.
The games below don’t all satisfy every single similar box as far as what combines to make The Alters, but each brings at least one primary aspect to the table that you’ll be able to latch onto if you’ve enjoyed everything you’ve experienced with Jan and crew on board your forlorn space base.
10This War Of Mine
The Obvious Choice
This War of Mine
Over a decade before launching The Alters, 11 Bit Studios releasedThis War of Mine. Despite covering completely different subject matter, it’s not too difficult at all to see a lot of the same DNA between the two titles.
In both, you’ll be navigating grid-style views of buildings/bases and fighting to survive in worlds that don’t really seem to want you in them anymore.Challenging moral choices are around every single corner in This War Of Mine, not unlike how The Alters isn’t shy to delve into questions of ethics in the name of survival.
I personally vibe more with some of the humor and lighthearted moments that The Alters was able to weave into such a dire circumstance for a narrative. Still, This War Is Mine is a journey worth taking for those of you willing to dive into a game with a much bleaker feel from the same dev team.
9State Of Decay 2
Emotions, Bases, And Zombies
State of Decay 2
If you survived the over-saturation of zombie media content in the 2010s and still crave more of the undead,State of Decay 2parallels The Alters in many ways despite the massive genre change. That is, if you can accept that State of Decay 2 will force substantially more combat upon you in comparison.
Aside from that, there’s actually a lot to like if you were into The Alters.Base-building is a focus, and you’ll be able to customize your digs to give you and your squad the best odds possibleof surviving a dangerous situation out of your control.
There’s a definite loop of going out on a run, gathering resources, and fortifying your base in order to juggle a happiness meter for everyone you’ve brought back to camp. It can be overwhelming at times, but you’re surely already used to the stress of survival by now anyway.
8Project Highrise
Rooms In A Grid Times Infinity
Project Highrise
On a personal level, I feel like I spent an abnormal amount of time in The Alters adjusting and swapping around the modules of my base. Once I found out that the clock didn’t run while I was editing my layout, it was truly game on.
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There’s just something satisfying about seeing every rectangular shape snap into place beside all the others, maximizing your allotted building space to its limit. If you want more of that mundane but somehow rewarding architectural vibe,Project Highriseshould be on your list.
Here, you’ll need tocraft the coolest skyscraper possible while also juggling the demands of the residents or businesses that you allow to reside inside. It’s like managing the living space for all your Jans, but multiplied by about a thousand.
A Planet That Wants To Kill You
Yeah,Returnalis much more combat-oriented than The Alters. And sure, Ipersonallynever put together a flawless run of this super-punishing Roguelike myself. But it still doesn’t take a wunderkind third-person shooter gamer to see that there are definite shared vibes between The Alters and Returnal.
While The Alters isn’t anactualtime loop like the one Selene is stuck inside in Returnal, it doeskindof feel at times like Jan is waking up day after day for another work shift before going to bed and starting the same “loop” over again. All of this takes place in a gritty, almost groundedfeeling sci-fi setting that both games share as well.
While you won’t bump into rooms full of bullet-hell-capable aliens in The Alters,the planet’s surface is absolutely reminiscent of Atropos. The anomalies and the unique way that Jan disposes of them also feel like a mechanic that we could’ve seen in Returnal.
6Fallout Shelter
If You Liked The Module Management
Fallout Shelter
You might thinkFallout Shelteris on the list simply because it’s another game that deals with grid-based base-building. While thatisthe simplest comparison you’re able to make between the two games, the similarities go deeper here once again.
It’s not just about the base-building. You need tomanage the health and well-being of everyone who lives inside your vault, while also determining when the risk of sending a dweller into the dangerous world outside is worth the possible reward.
There’s a feeling in The Alters of constant anxiety since you can’t be everywhere at once to keep tabs on all your residents, which is a feeling you’ll face as The Overseer in Fallout Shelter as well. The Alters isn’t an action game, and Fallout Shelter is even less of one. Still, there’s enough here to check out if you want to try your hand at Vault-Tec management next.
5Subnautica
Isolation And Survival Under The Sea
Subnautica
Their settings couldn’t really feel more different besides both taking place on alien planets, but The Alters andSubnauticaareextremelysimilar when you stop to take a closer look. Subnautica is just a little bit… wetter.
In both games,you’re marooned on a hostile planet and are desperately trying to find a way home. Throughout this whole process, you’ll be required to gather resources to simply be able to survive another day. There’s more of a feeling of isolation and impending doom overall in Subnautica, but that’s mainly just thanks to Jan having a few buddies to play beer pong with along the way.
Weirdly enough, before even putting together just how similar these two games actually were, I found myself listening to the amazing Subnautica soundtrack in the background during a few of my play sessions with The Alters. The vibes fit perfectly, and it eventually finally dawned on me why that was.
All You Can Manage
RimWorldis a healthy bit more of an actual sim game than The Alters, but you could still definitely be into it if you want a sci-fi game with evenmorethings to manage. There’s also the core difference that RimWorld is based more on space colonization, while The Alters is more about getting the heck off your space rock.
Still, there are a lot of further comparisons to make.RimWorld has extremely deep mechanics of monitoring and maintaining the well-being of your sometimes unruly residents, all while resource farming enough goods to continue improving your space settlement to best care for the general population.
You’ll need to hunker down during random environmental threats, once again in another sci-fi world full of some ethical choices you’ll have to make as well. RimWorld is ultimately amuchsteeper time investment than The Alters, so make sure you’ve got the spare hours to really sink your teeth into this one to get the most out of it.
3Spiritfarer
Spiritfarer
At first glance,Spiritfarer’s adorable, cutesy, downrightcozyart style won’t remind you of The Alters at all, but the actual similarities are pretty striking once you dig into it. The main difference is that Spiritfarer is based around accepting death, while The Alters is about preventing it until another day.
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The grid-based ship building, of course, is once again the easiest comparison to make here, but there’s more to the story.Spiritfarer will ask you to look after and take care of the voyagers on your ship, and you’ll need to manage and juggle their needs and surroundingsin order to keep them happy until their time to move on finally comes.
This one won’t be for every fan of The Alters, but if you’re like me and can swing between hard sci-fi and cozy/cuddly on a whim with no qualms, Spiritfarer is simply lovely.
2No Man’s Sky
Harvest, Build, Repeat
No Man’s Sky
There aren’t many of us out there, but I’m someone who genuinely loved vanillaNo Man’s Skywhen it originallylaunched in its primitive, highly limited, single-player form. Forme, the game has now morphed intoaninsanelydeep and layered procedural sci-fi sandbox game that’s gotten a bit too complex, but it could be just what you need after The Alters.
No Man’s Sky is absolutely much more exploration-heavy than The Alters, but depending on how you want to play it, you can scratch a lot of the same itches here once again. No Man’s Sky hasintenselevels of sci-fi base buildingand resource collection that can keep you occupied for a genuine infinite amount of time if you want it to.
The Alters strands you on one planet while No Man’s Sky truly opens the cosmos and allows you to go anywhere you could possibly imagine, but the survival/base-builder fans will still have plenty to love between both games.
1Death Stranding
The Closest Vibe
Death Stranding
Thedevelopers of The Alters themselvesdon’t see a ton of actual similarity between their game andDeath Strandingoutside of aesthetics. I’d still argue that the visual and tonal comparison is so strong at times that the two games really are much closer than 11 Bit Studios may even realize themselves.
Your spacesuit, the planet itself, the mostly invisible anomalies, the typically serious but sometimes goofy tone, the resource management, and more make these two games heavily linked in my mind. The Alters is not evencloseto a Death Stranding ripoff whatsoever, but the similar vibe is obvious.
Even the phone conversations you have in The Alters in the communications room reminded me of the hologram dialogue sections of Death Stranding. The only question is: does Conan O’Brien show up in The Alters too?
Spoiler Alert: Conan O’Brien does not show up in The Alters.
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