The Alters gets a 20-hour story expansion this July — a clone cloning clones

Spoiler warning: this article contains plot details from The Alters.

11 Bit Studios has revealed a gameplay trailer for Last Variable, a standalone story expansion for its 2025 sci-fi survival game The Alters. The DLC arrives July 13 on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. At roughly 20 hours long, it matches the length of the base game — a significant chunk of content by any measure.

The setup

Last Variable follows Jan Scientist, one of the protagonist's clones, who stays behind on the desolate planet after the base game's ending. Alone and overwhelmed, he does the only logical thing: he clones himself again. Players get four new scientist alters — Geologist, Biologist, Physicist, and Chemist — each with competing philosophies and their own story arcs. The official description hints at friction: Jan Scientist's survival plan may not look so perfect to the others.

The expansion introduces underground base-building, new structures, and terraforming across nine map arenas to transform the Oasis into habitable zones. The planet pushes back with escalating earthquakes and radiation, and a brutal surface sun forces players underground for long stretches. A new cryo chamber module lets Jan pause time to see the long-term results of his research.

Trust, rebuilt or not

The Alters sold 280,000 copies by July 2025, with 78% of sales from the US market. That success came with a bruise: weeks after launch, it emerged that 11 Bit had used undisclosed AI-generated text in roughly 0.3% of the game's copy — primarily licensed movie subtitles and one placeholder asset — in violation of Steam's disclosure policy. The studio issued a public apology and committed to retroactive fixes, per Game Informer's AI controversy coverage. Last Variable's marketing makes no mention of updated AI safeguards.

The bar is also higher now. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — a French-made RPG released in April 2025 — has sold 8 million units and won nine Game Awards, setting a new benchmark for ambitious narrative-driven indie games in the US market. Last Variable is arriving into that shadow.

Pricing for the expansion has not been announced; 11 Bit says details will follow closer to the July 13 release date.