The Alters may be one of the best survival games of 2025, but it makes you ask the age-old question: “How do you live with yourself?” Personally, I live with myself through a mixture of self-deprecation and disappointing my parents, but The Alters did make me question myself – that is, when I wasn’t mining for resources and avoiding certain death. If you’ve not played it yet, now is a good time to pick it up, as it just hit its lowest ever price.
Somehow, The Alters manages to entertain me for hours on end as much as it does make me ask existential questions about myself. While it doesn’t reach the complexities of some of the best strategy games, a lot of elements are focused on resource management and leading a group of like-minded (almost same-minded) survivors, and learning how to prioritize. It’s like you’re a supermarket team manager that’s been put into a life-or-death situation.
You play as Jan Dolski, a space miner and the lone remaining member of a mining ship, which has been damaged by a mysterious force. However, this planet is home to Rapidium, a super-rare element, so you’ve gotta get mining. With the help of some bizarre science, you’ll be able to create copies of Jan, all of which have different roles, thanks to changes to their memories and life paths.
While the best space games task you with discovering the secrets of the universe, The Alters uses sci-fi as a way to handle internal dilemmas and prompt you to think about the different ways your life could have turned out. Despite being seen as tools for progressing the game and its story, Jan’s clones all have different feelings and emotions for you to handle. As far as they’re concerned, they’re just as much of Dolski as the main character is.
Each Alter has its own specialties, allowing you to put them in the right places in the base in order to move forward and hopefully avoid the ‘scorching death’ that is coming. As you progress your research, earn new technology, and things get trickier, you’ll see the main story continue with plenty of drama, which is a delicious icing on this great survival action cake.
While there’s been plenty of hits this year that are worthy of the best PC games list – I’m looking at you, Expedition 33 – The Alters is highly underrated and underloved. Right now, you can grab it for just $21.51 / £18.14 at Fanatical, 39% off the usual price, and it’s well worth it at that price. Heck, I’d recommend buying it even if it wasn’t on sale.
So, if you’re looking at the upcoming PC games list and struggling to find anything unique enough for you, The Alters will certainly offer you a great time. However, if you want something a little less story-focused, the best sandbox games have plenty of survival-focused experiences that are more about creativity or freedom.
While I imagine there’s nothing better than having countless clones of me in the PCGamesN Discord server, that’s not the case. But there are plenty of other fans of survival and strategy games chatting away, so make sure to join in on the conversation.
