The Alters

Draconian EULA with vast overreach that isn't listed on the store page.

I'm a fan of the Devs, the meta story elements and the genre. So I really really wanted to like this. But sadly it's overall "nice try, mixed result". Some ideas are really interesting and engaging. But especially the execution of the *main* gameplay loop can easily be summarized as TEDIOUS AS ♥♥♥♥. I could not even get myself to finish the game, despite grinding (oh sooooo much grinding) through Act2 and hence had enough on store to breeze through the remaining story (3 Acts in total). But they managed to even *up* the tediousness towards the end of the game (Yes, it's a word)! TLDR: Tedious to the end. Zero sense of achievement, Just wanted to get this one over with. Sad since this one had great potential.

This game surpassed my expectations twice now. First, the base game and now the DLC that's almost size of the base game itself. Both had me glued to the screen in the best way possible.

I expected exploration and survival, while this is unpredictable bots' mood management simulator. That is to say there's more talking than exploration happening.

Очень душевное приключение, хорошая история и приятные игровые механики. Неосознанно завершил на самую хорошую концовку, порадовался, что в ней некоторые Яны тусят и присылают открытки Яну, пока Ян разгребает проблемы других Янов, которые наплодил другой Ян. В общем, крайне рекомендую

[h1]Обзор для Сереги:[/h1] Игра от создателей FrostPunk и это чувствуется, на максимальной сложности каждый день ощущается как последний. Очень нравится сюжет и как он геймплейно вплетается в игру, [spoiler]даже в спойлерах не охото спойлерить[/spoiler]. Интересная социальная составляющая и последствия ваших решений, моральные делемы постоянно ставят вас в неприятное положение и требуют встречаться с их последствиями. Исследовательский процесс цепляет, постоянно приходится бороться с внешней средой как на макро так и на микро уровне (улучшать базу, и исследовать местность пешком). Немного хромает оптимизация но может я переборщил с настройками. В целом крепкий проект один из лучших в своем году, если бы не экспедиция он бы спокойно потягался за игру года по моему мнение вместе с Dispatch, Hollow Knight: Silksong и SplitFiction.

Nothing is perfect, but I don't want to nitpick this game even a little bit. It gives a unique, addictive experience, its writing is clever and funny, and Alex Jordan as the main VO is a genius. Also, it may be one of the few games that leans fully into Unreal Engine's signature aesthetic pull — many developers don't realize that look is a choice rather than a default, but this team embraced it deliberately and made it gorgeous. Kudos to the team!! Just please try to avoid layoffs and market your games better. It definitely didn't get enough attention for such a fun, high-quality game.

Good core of a game and interesting presmise for a story, bogged down by way too much frustration and annoyance artificially injected as well as a social aspect that tries to have good characters but then overrides it all with constant repetitive annoyance and character-breaking interactions that just serve to complicate and lengthen the game. I didn't get through act 2 because the social aspect just became too ♥♥♥♥♥♥ to deal with. You go exploring? Act 1 was fun, but act 2 became a maze and every single corridor is full of things you need to stop for to deal with, over and over in exactly the same way. Then your battery is empty, better turn back, walk back and forth... instead of exploring being fun, it's just tedium and wasting a lot of time. Inventory management is very barebones and annoying. Everything takes (a lot of) space, but you need things built to deploy or as consumables. You'll often need more of a thing but oh you can't pick it up. Have to travel back to your base, delete some things you don't need. This is not a factory game, it shouldn't be so damn tight on storage space that you have to min/max it constantly. The "social aspect" however, completely breaks any and all enjoyment in the game. The alters are fundamentally "trying to be people" while also being mechanically manic depressive individuals that don't have any capability for logic and only exist to force the player to nanny them. They'll talk amongst themselves - and every single interaction will be negative, mood drops and you have to manage that. I had the scientist come to me at one point stating he wants to starts crunch hours (new quest) because "it would be so much more efficient". I did that. Unsurprisingly, everyone hated it. Cue rebellion. Same person tells me "we're tired of your mistakes, it's like you don't understand us. re-evaluate or the evaluation will be done for you.". I stop the crunch, do some things to improve mood. Then the same guy, again, gives me ♥♥♥♥ that he's disappointed i wouldn't keep up the crunch for two days straight. Regardles of actions, YOU LOSE, the characters will completely switch personality to ensure that. Fundamentally, they're 10-20% actual interesting character and 80-90% there just to make things difficult for you even if it doesn't make sense. (spoiler for act 2) Even the moral choices implied are all absurd because of the social personality switcheroo; people will eagerly state "oh no we can't create a mindless clone for a cure" and take the moral high ground over a cure for their impending death. But they'll then be super depressed about their impending death five seconds later as if there is nothing anyone can do. People don't behave like that; if people were desperate they would get over morally grey actions to save 4 (or more) people, they may be unhappy but they'll live with it. But they're not people, and they're not deseprate, they just are made to exist like bars do in many survival crafting games; to pad out the length of the game and introduce a hell of a lot of tedium. Regardless of your actions, this game makes sure you "fail" and then gives you ♥♥♥♥ for it, making it objective unenjoyable.