The Alters: Last Variable Screenshot
Image: 11 Bit Studios

Despite catching plenty of (deserved) flak for sneaking in bits of AI-generated background art and subtitle text, The Alters (from Frostpunk studio 11 Bit Studios) has remained high on my to-play list. I've just not found the time for it. Seems I'll have to carve out an even larger block for it now, as the long-awaited Last Variable expansion landed today, boasting another twenty hours of existentially unsettling problems to be solved, branching off from one of the many possible endings from the main game.

For those late to the party, The Alters is a cinematic, story-driven sci-fi management game about Jan, a lone engineer in charge of an extraterrestrial research mission, piloting a rolling base through a hostile world full of strange anomalies. But being just one guy who needs to be in several places at once, Jan starts recruiting versions of himself from parallel timelines to fill out the crew. Drama inevitably ensues, along with 11 Bit's favorite thing - tough moral choices with no clear right answer.

The Last Variable expansion picks up from one ending branch where the Scientist version of Jan decides to stay behind on the planet and continue his work. And so, he needs to raise another, more scientifically minded crew. A new set of personalities and characters to clash with, in a very different environment. The expansion is set in the Oasis, a green, lush and evolving pocket of life in an otherwise dead landscape.

But the scorching environmental cycle continues, and staying in one place means that the team of Jan Scientists have to decide who goes into cryo-sleep to wait out the environmental collapse and rebirth, and who has to stay topside in a field lab, overseeing projects and growing noticeably older. Much like Jan's branching timelines, it seems likely that this expansion has a plethora of possible finales to find.

The Alters: Last Variable is out now on Steam for £12.79/$15, while the base game is available for half price until July 27th, down from £26.55/$30. Given that this expansion is an extension of just one branch of the game's multiple possible endings, you'll probably want to play the main story before you even consider picking up any DLC. It's also worth noting that the AI stuff has since been removed. Not ideal, but not a dealbreaker for me, at least.