I think at this point we can all agree that anything that comes from 11 bit studios will not be disappointing. Their past few years have been solid with releases like INDIKA, Frostpunk 2, and, of course, The Alters. The Alters introduced a unique sci-fi fantasy survival game to us with the ability to create new crew members with a Quantum Computer and an artificial womb. Winning our hearts in 2025, this brilliant game is now back in the form of a DLC called Last Variable. This DLC follows the main game and brings one of the most beloved characters back to the screen with some great mechanics. This is our review of the PC Steam version of The Alters: Last Variable, in which we convert a barren planet into a lush forest and try not to get burned in the sun.
The Alters: Last Variable is set many years after the original game, and all the original crew members are now back on Earth. All but one, Jan the Scientist, decided to stay behind and focus on discovering a special place called The Oasis. The game begins with the original Jan, now very old, waking up a brand-new Jan the Scientist Alter and briefing him on his work before dying. The brand-new Jan the Scientist Alter then takes charge and decides to continue the research on The Oasis. Instead of taking instructions from Earth this time around, the communications room has an AI bot called JanBot that the original Jan the Scientist left behind to guide the new Alter in order to continue the research.
Since this time around, our main Alter is Jan the Scientist, which means that all further Alters are based on his personality and traits. You get the chance of creating Alters, and each one comes with a special scientific background, such as a biologist, Geologist, Physicist, and Chemist. Each Alter also comes with special abilities that allow them to perform better while completing certain tasks and research projects. If you assign the right Alter to a task that is according to their skill, they will complete it in much less time, and if you assign them to research closer to their specialty, they will complete it in half the time, saving you precious time overall. To handle the Alters’ morale, you can create different modules for them, like a Contemplation Room, Gym, or even a Gaming Den.
The DLC brings the morale system of the base game with it as well, and how you handle each Alter will affect their mood and their productivity. New to the DLC is the new Rebellion System, where if an Alter becomes Rebellious, you will need special modules to calm them down before their productivity is restored. This creates special emphasis on building a base that caters to the crew as well, and not just the project. This is one of the core mechanics of the game, and I am happy that despite all Alters coming from a scientific mind, everyone has their own unique personalities that must be managed accordingly. It allows you to learn more about the Alters, and not just use them as tools for the research.
Much of the gameplay of The Alters: Last Variable, such as resource collection, managing the base, and creating new Alters, is exactly the same as that of the original The Alters, so if you want to read more about that, make sure to check out our The Alters review. What is new this time around is that instead of a moving circular base, our base is now a permanent underground facility, which can be expanded by adding new modules similar to the base game. This time around, we have some new modules to play around with, which are required for the new resources and the study of The Oasis.
To make things easy or hard on yourself, you can decide the difficulty of different mechanics at the start of your playthrough, including Economy and Action Elements. This chosen difficulty will determine how different tasks in the game will affect your gameplay. Once you kick off the story, the game does not bother with the basics, so it is best to start playing the DLC once you have at least played, if not completed, the base game. The game only has tutorials for the new mechanics added to the game. It took me a little time to remember the mechanics since I played it last year at its launch, but I was quickly done with the steady supply of Metals, Rapidium, and Organics. These resources are still the foundation of most of the crafting in the game.
Since the DLC is all about the exploration and analysis of The Oasis, there are some brand-new resources as well. The Oasis is essentially a lush green area in the middle of the barren planet. The entire planet has no life, and at night, radiation takes over, and after every set time, the sun comes up and burns everything. What is left untouched is The Oasis. It somehow manages to remain green, bustling with plants, water, and other greenery as though nothing happened. I will not spoil the story in this review too much, but this is the main premise of the game, and Jan the Scientist is trying to understand why The Oasis remains untouched by the deadly sun when everything else on the sun is burned to ashes.
Progress is slow-paced, where you start with the basics and then continue to grind for resources, research new items, and then place them down to collect advanced resources for even further research. A new Theory tab is now available in the Research Station, where you will perform all of the research requirements for your analysis of The Oasis. After laying down the basic setup of your base, you are required to prepare for advanced resource collection with specialized tools like the extractor and phasers, and transport them to a brand-new collection chamber, which works similarly to the organics chamber.
This time around, your focus is on collecting liquid resources for The Oasis project. New resources such as Phased Rapidium and Proxylium are collected through Extractors and processed further with facilities like the Phasers. Moving them around requires special pipes, which are deployed similarly to the pylons for metals and non-metals. Additional structures like Doublers and Mixers allow you to further develop advanced liquids, which are required for the highest tier of research and items.
As you explore The Oasis, you will collect special resources which must be analyzed in a new module called Sample Analysis Module, or SAM for short. This SAM-specific research requires special resources which are only found in The Oasis, and as you terraform additional sites, you gain access to higher-tier resources which in return grant you the ability to complete higher-tier research projects such as Advanced Drilling and more. The anomalies are still there, and you have to manage your tasks while avoiding them or taking them out.
All of this must be done between two cycles that Last Variable introduces to the game. The planet has a Cold Phase and a Hot Phase. During the Hot Phase, the sun comes up, and you cannot explore the surface. To survive this phase and ensure that Jan and your crew do not age during this period, the DLC brings a brand-new module, Cryochamber, where the entire crew can sleep this phase off. Once the Hot Phase is over, the crew can wake up again and continue with their research and tasks as if nothing had happened. You have to prepare for this phase as the base still requires organics and filters while the crew sleeps; otherwise, it can lead to unfavorable conditions and even death.
After waking up from the Hot Phase, the crew has to run a quick analysis on the base, repair damaged modules, and place down all of the resource collection rigs again unless the area is terraformed. This brings me to another important aspect of the Last Variable DLC. The DLC also introduces terraforming, which allows you to place down special structures called Terraformers in glowing tree-like nodes, and when the Hot Phase arrives, it terraforms the entire area around itself. This allows you to keep all of your mining rigs and pylons in that area, as, just like everything else in The Oasis, they do not get burned. This allows you to collect new, unique resources for your SAM and also create extensions of the original Oasis.
Naturally, as you continue the transformation, the planet resists change as well. Everything becomes tougher in the next cycle as you will face stronger Magnetic Storms, the crew morale will drop much quicker, modules get damaged quicker, and you get fewer days between cycles. The cycles can be managed as ultimately you no longer have to collect your deployed extractors, mining facilities, and pylons because they will not get destroyed by the sun. The other factors do come into play in force as frequent and powerful magnetic storms will force you to repair your modules continuously, but if you are clever, you can prepare for them early by doing particular research and take advantage of increased resource collection instead of just hiding in your base, trying to keep everything working.
In these lush green areas, you can deploy the brand-new Field Labs where your Alters can work, but with every passing cycle, they will age 13 years. This is worth it because it gives you access to some of the best upgrades and research bonuses, along with more slots for Alters. For me, this was fairly manageable because I played the game for a decent while before opting for another Terraforming. Most of the time, I only placed down new Terraformers when they were required by the game for progression. Otherwise, I focused on research, resource collection, and crafting important items for the base. With the Cryochambers, the DLC basically gets an infinite loop where the crew members cannot die of old age. You can take your time to complete it. The main story takes around 22-25 hours to complete, even if you take it slow.
For me, Terraforming is one of the strongest mechanics added to The Alters because it completely changes how you want to progress in the game. While it is enticing to continue converting the barren planet into a lush, green forest, the negative elements continue to stack, and the planet gets violent very quickly. Every cycle brings a sense of tension that the next time you step onto the planet, it will be harsher. You have to constantly worry about the basics like the resources required for cryosleep, the basic resources, as well as the advanced ones. Your Alters will also have their own demands in the mix
Since the base cannot be moved around, it means that all of the expansion takes place within its limits. You do get a few slots for basic expansion around your current base, but as you run out of space, you must complete advanced research to get rid of stone to build more modules. There are different new modules to build this time around, and you will need a lot of space and resources for everything. Instead of a large revolving wheel base, seeing the same thing in the underground does take some time to get used to, but it works very well due to the fact that Jan is not exploring an entire planet but rather focusing on The Oasis, which is located in a specific location. Moving around constantly does not make sense here.
This DLC also has a striking difference when it comes to visuals as well. While the base game was dull, with a barren landscape, Last Variable brings a lush green forest and greenery that you would not expect from the game. During my first playthrough, when I climbed the high wall and got to see it for the first time, it was nothing short of awe-inspiring. The developers are very sneaky as they hid the whole environment behind a huge wall that you needed to climb with the help of a hook. You certainly do not expect the sheer level of greenery and visual fidelity as soon as you reach the top.
Coming to the technical side of The Alters: Last Variable, I will be happy if the game is further optimized for performance. I encountered some framerate dips at different locations, and they were visible prominently in areas that were terraformed, especially when I first visited a newly terraformed area. This broke the immersion for me in plenty of locations. Apart from the frame dips, the character also got stuck while moving in invisible blockades on the ground. This was particularly annoying in different situations when I was trying to avoid the anomalies, and the character would just get stuck in something invisible. The game does need some more optimization currently.
The Last Variable is a challenging DLC because while it makes one thing easier, two things get tougher. It tones down the emotional element of your crew members but increases resource management, strategic planning of terraforming, and timely research. If you focus only on terraforming, you will end up with increased planet activity without the capacity of managing it, which results in an early death for you and your crew. In addition, if you focus on everything else but terraforming, you will be stuck in a continuous loop of deploying and picking up your facilities for every cycle. The DLC requires a delicate balance between all tasks, including your crew management, and that is the real challenge of the game.
I loved the original The Alters, and for me, Last Variable is an excellent way to experience it again. It brings enough fresh mechanics to the table so that the gameplay does not feel boring or repetitive. It pretty much retains the base game’s core gameplay loop, but there are enough new mechanics to keep things from getting boring. It also shows just how powerful the game engine really is as the whole planet changes itself completely right before your very eyes. What impressed me most about Last Variable is that it doesn’t feel like content that was cut from the original game. Instead, it feels like a genuine evolution of The Alters’ core ideas. Almost every new mechanic complements an existing one, making the DLC feel like a natural continuation rather than a disconnected side story.
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Final Verdict:
The Alters: Last Variable expands the original game in exactly the way a great DLC should. Rather than simply adding more content, it introduces meaningful mechanics that reshape how you approach exploration, base building, and resource management without losing the identity of the original game. Jan the Scientist proves to be an excellent protagonist, the terraforming system fundamentally changes long-term planning, and the new research mechanics keep progression engaging throughout. If you enjoyed The Alters, Last Variable is an easy recommendation and the perfect reason to return to one of the best survival strategy games in recent years.
Final Score: 9.0/10
Disclaimer: A PC Steam code for The Alters: Last Variable DLC was provided by Evolve PR on behalf of 11 bit studios for this review. For a detailed breakdown of our scoring and review process, please refer to our Review Policy.
