Award-Winning Survival Game Expands with New Story
The Alters: Last Variable is an expansion to The Alters, in which Jan Scientist wakens from cryosleep with a singular purpose – to solve the mystery of the Oasis. Launching July 13th on all platforms, this twenty-hour expansion deepens the game’s personal survival mechanics and thought-provoking sci-fi narrative. The same qualities that earned the base game a DICE Award for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year and a BAFTA nomination for Best Narrative.
Years have passed since Jan Scientist refused to leave the planet. The world has transformed around him and he realises what he’s always feared – this work cannot be done alone. So he begins creating again, versions of himself shaped by different expertise. A Geologist. A Biologist. A Chemist. A Physicist. Together, they cover every possibility that needs to be studied.
Across years-long planetary cycles, Jan must terraform barren sectors into habitable zones, extract and refine exotic substances, and unlock research tiers to push the boundaries of scientific understanding. Yet discovery comes at a cost – the planet responds with escalating threats: earthquakes, radiation surges, and the passage of time itself. Field labs offer the given Alters refuge to conduct research during surface expeditions, but ageing without cryosleep’s protection remains inevitable.
As his team struggles under the weight of differing philosophies, each convinced their own version of science is correct, Jan faces an impossible choice. Will they fracture under the pressure, or conduct research that could define a legacy?
Developed by 11 bit studios, The Alters: Last Variables launches July 23th, 2026 on PC, PlayStation5, and Xbox Series X|S. Key features include:
- Story focusing on Jan Scientist(s) – With their perfectly aligned minds, they can offer the expertise needed to unravel the phenomenon of the Oasis
- Explore New Regions to Terraform – Each transformation shifts the landscape, spawning new resources and awaking the planet’s defence mechanisms
- Underground Expansion and Survival Cycles – Build in different soil types and construct new components. Research new modules like the Cryosleep Chamber to buy you more time and witness the long-term effects of your scientific actions
- Develop New Tech and Set Field Labs – Each planetary cooldown offers a brief window to explore a dramatically changed surface, and Field Labs introduces new assignments for alters to continue their work while you cryosleep
