In a lot of ways,The Altersis a natural progression from 11 Bit Studios' previous works. It’s a high-stakes survival game, much likeThis War of MineandFrostpunk, but it’s also got a little extra seasoning to it:The Altersis far more narratively driven than its predecessors, with a structured plot, cinematic delivery, and stronger central concept, being far more than just another post-apocalypse nightmare.
Yes,The Altersis a unique release from the consistently unique 11 Bit Studios, proving that the Polish company has more than a few tricks up its sleeve. Interestingly,The Altersapproaches replayability differentlythan the aforementioned survival games, which present a number of specific scenarios for players to engage in time and again, each time seeking greater efficiency and better overall performance. In the case ofFrostpunkspecifically—a game that represents a major slice ofThe Alters' creative roots—there’s also an endless mode, which offers players the opportunity to play around with various in-game systems to their hearts' content. This is a great way to squeeze all the juice out of a game likeFrostpunk, and hopefully,The Alterswill get something similar.
Why The Alters Ought To Get an Endless Mode
Endless Mode Would Let Alters Players Exercise Their Skill and Expertise
In the wake ofThe Alters' release, and as players are starting to complete the main campaign, there’s been some demand for a new game plus feature. This makes sense, of course, as it’s tough to spend dozens of hours grinding for new gear, researching new technologies, and setting up the perfect network of outposts, only to have all that hard work wiped away at the end of a run. With new game plus,The Alterscould allow players to leverage their previous accomplishments from the start of the game, potentially offering a more rewarding, if quite easy, experience.
But whether this is truly the best option for anewAltersgame modeis questionable. UnlikeFrostpunk, where players build outward from a single location, orFrostpunk 2, where players control several locations simultaneously,The Altersis broken up into three acts, each precisely designed to uphold its narrative and gameplay loop. In other words, it wouldn’t actually be very useful for players to start the game over with late-game technologies already researched, for instance, since there’d be no use for them early in the game. Like a traditional adventure game, progression is tied to a predetermined structure.
This is where an endless mode could come into play. Instead of giving players everything they earned at the start of the same campaign, perhaps afutureAltersexpansioncould add an entirely different game mode, wherein players have access to only one, large location, which they must optimize for all it’s worth. In this hypothetical new game mode, players could reach the fullest potential of the survival sandbox, getting several Alters together and populating a large region with outposts, farms, and the like. They could enjoy the experience of maximum optimization, pushing the game’s systems to their absolute limits.
The Alterswill expand with DLC next year, so perhaps some sort of endless mode will be added then.
The Alters' endless mode could also open up new opportunities for customization and personalization. Once a base starts thriving, players could decorate it with a number of cosmetics or even non-essential modules, like a bar or game room. This would allow for a new kind ofphilosophical fantasy withinThe Alters, one that is more about self-expression and long-spanning strategy than deep narrative themes.
