Source: 11 bit studios

Polish game publisher 11 bit studios announced that 'The Last Variable,' a new narrative expansion for the critically acclaimed mystery sci-fi adventure game 'The Alters,' will launch simultaneously worldwide on July 13 for PC and consoles.

This DLC follows the story of 'Jan Dolski,' a protagonist who chooses to stay behind on a hostile alien planet that everyone else has abandoned, all for the chance to conduct life-changing research. The core narrative revolves around the unique premise of having to cooperate with numerous versions of oneself to complete this research. To uncover the secrets of 'Oasis,' a mysterious entity on the planet, players must rely on the specialized expertise of Jan's clones—the 'Alters'—who are trained in fields such as geology, biology, chemistry, and physics.

Players command the 'Alters'—geniuses who share Jan's appearance but possess distinct thoughts and emotions. Despite having the same intellectual capacity, each Alter interprets situations differently based on their specific scientific perspective. The resulting clashes in perception and interpretation create deep psychological tension and narrative depth that go beyond simple cooperation.

Offering approximately 20 hours of gameplay, The Alters: The Last Variable introduces new game mechanics, an underground base-building system, and an advanced gameplay loop that involves terraforming parts of the planet into lush, oasis-like biomes. Each time the planet is terraformed, the terrain shifts and new resources emerge, but the planet's defense mechanisms—such as frequent earthquakes and severe radiation waves—also awaken to threaten the player.

Players must expand their underground base to suit various soil environments and construct new components and research modules. Notably, the newly added 'Cryo-Chamber' creates a unique flow of time. While the player enters cryosleep for years to escape the planet's intense heat, the Alters continue their research in the surface field labs.

However, because they age and change in the harsh environment without the protection of cryosleep, players will face the long-term consequences of their scientific choices and the changes wrought by the passage of time upon waking. During the brief cooling periods when the planet's heat subsides, players can explore the dramatically altered surface to develop new technologies and set up field labs to instruct the Alters to continue research tasks while the player is in cryosleep.

Featuring a deeper narrative and evolved survival mechanics, The Alters: The Last Variable is set for official release on July 13. More detailed information about the game and the new DLC can be found on the official 11 bit studios website.