Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer to meet Jan and his army of alternate selves. The developer behind Frostpunk 2 and This War of Mine, 11 bit studios, has officially delayed The Alters from its planned fourth-quarter 2024 release to the slightly less festive first quarter of 2025.
In a statement that feels very “let’s fix this before people start rage-quitting,” 11 bit studios’ president, Przemysław Marszał, confirmed the delay was all about ensuring the game doesn’t launch with any glaring “whoops, we missed that” moments.
“The production schedule for The Alters was very tight,” Marszał explained, hinting at the risk of a launch-day disaster. “After so many years of production, the risk that the game will have any shortcomings is unnecessary for us.”
For those not in the loop, The Alters is a survival game coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, and it’ll be available on Microsoft’s Game Pass right from the start.
The game follows Jan, a down-on-his-luck space miner who crash-lands on a planet so inhospitable that even your No Man’s Sky character would wince.
Alone and without a team, Jan’s only chance for survival is to create alternate versions of himself, called Alters, by messing with his past decisions. It’s like The Sims but with a cosmic twist, where instead of deciding whether to buy a new couch, you’re wondering which version of yourself would be best at surviving a scorched planet with murderous weather.
If you’ve played This War of Mine, then you already know the kind of emotional rollercoaster you’re in for. Jan’s not just battling the elements; he’s battling himself, literally and figuratively.
Rapidium, a mysterious, plot-convenient substance, lets Jan use a Quantum Computer to create these Alters, allowing him to tackle this high-stakes survival scenario as a whole team of “Jans” with different skills, personalities, and probably a few existential crises.
While the delay might sting a bit, it’s likely for the best. After all, The Alters isn’t exactly a game where you want bugs. Imagine summoning an alternate version of yourself, only for it to glitch out and start doing cartwheels into the sun.
Not ideal. Plus, after Frostpunk 2 launched, breaking even in sales but still causing a stock market dip for 11 bit studios, it’s clear they want The Alters to land with a bit more polish, and hopefully fewer financial hiccups.