Frostpunk Dev's very cool and quiet survival game, where you manage relationships with alternate universe selves, is delayed until next year

I was pleasantly surprised when I played The Alters in the same preview event that I tried to establish turbocommunism with Frostpunk 2 (it could have been successful) earlier this year. I don't like games that claim to be survival-anything. I have enough trouble surviving in real life.

The Alters, a sort of Subnautica and Midnight Suns where instead of Wolverine or Blade you are juggling relationships with several clones a working-class Polish guy, actually hooked me. It's based on cloning, essentially, alternate-universe versions. The one in which you become a scientist to research tech and the one in which you become a miner to gather resources. They all have their weird stories. In this life, you stayed with the woman you love, in another, you went to college, in a third, you stood up to an abusive father, etc.

A great idea. I'd like to see more. Unfortunately, I will have to wait a lot longer than I expected. The game was originally scheduled to release this year but has been pushed to "Q1 2025." In a post in character shared on X, “The Everything App”, the developers at 11 bit studios stated that they were "using this additional time to optimize all critical systems and ensure every aspect of your trip is as seamless as you can."

In a less-charming but more straightforward statement, Przemyslaw Marzal, 11 bit's president, told the Polish outlet Bankier.pl that (this is machine translated) "there was uncertainty as to whether developers would have enough to time to finish all the work to the quality we expect" and that taking such a risk was "unnecessary," given how long it had already taken to cook the game.

I'm both disappointed and happy about the delays. I'm disappointed because I really liked what I saw in The Alters, and I would like to have it sooner. But I'm also glad because I want the developers to take all the time necessary to make sure everything is perfect before it goes out.