On July 13 , The Alters: Last Variable, the long-awaited 20-hour expansion of The Alters, the award-winning sci-fi survival game, will arrive, and today 11 Bit Studios reveals its gameplay, showing the situations we will have to deal with in this full-bodied DLC.

At the center of this new chapter we will find Jan Scientist, who will wake up from his cryogenic sleep with a single and precise goal: to solve the mysteries hidden by the Oasis. Years have passed since the protagonist refused to leave the planet, and the world around him has changed radically. Jan will realize that he cannot carry out this immense work alone, thus deciding to give life to new versions of himself, each shaped with specific skills. We will therefore have to coordinate a Geologist, a Biologist, a Chemist and a Physicist to cover every single possibility of study. However, this team will have to contend with profoundly different and conflicting scientific philosophies, putting us at a crucial crossroads: will the team give in under the pressure, or will it be able to carry out research destined to define an entire legacy?

On the gameplay front, the expansion will test us through planetary cycles that extend for years. Our task will be to transform arid sectors into habitable zones, extract and refine exotic substances, and unlock new levels of research to push the limits of scientific understanding. However, every action we take will have a cost: the planet will react with increasingly insidious threats, including earthquakes, waves of radiation and the inexorable passage of time. Building underground shelters and laboratories will be crucial to protect the various alterations, although aging outside cryogenic chambers will remain an inevitable consequence.

To address these challenges, The Alters will introduce several new gameplay. We will have to expand our bases underground by building in different types of terrain and developing new technologies, among which the Cryogenic Chamber stands out, an essential module to gain precious time and observe the long-term effects of our actions. In addition, Field Labs will provide a safe haven during expeditions to the surface, introducing new assignments for alterations while we are in hibernation. Finally, each period of cooling of the planet will offer us a brief window to explore drastically changed surfaces, where each transformation of the landscape will generate new resources but will also awaken the planet's complex defense mechanisms.

We leave you to the video: enjoy!