The Alters Made Me Break a Years-Old Habit

You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks, right? Because I might as well be the oldest, grumpiest, and just-done-with-all-things Great Pyrenees in the world, who would rather stare you in the face with the most dead drooping eyes you’ve ever seen, than do something new. I like my routine, I like the way my life works, and I hate breaking from my regularly scheduled programming. That includes my specific gaming habits, such as how, when, and where, all that, but The Alters has made me break this routine. Why am I actually excited by this prospect instead of bemoaning it? I don’t know what kind of dog I am anymore.

Alright, this is a confession: I do not play MOST games more than once and NEVER back to back. There are a handful of exceptions to the former but, to my memory, never of the latter. I consider a good remaster/remake a different game and obviously multiplayer games don’t count, but replay value for single-player games (which I mostly play) means very little to me. Name a popular single-player game, and I can probably tell you how many times I’ve played it: once. The original Oblivion? Got all the achievements way back when and never touched it again. And I LOVE that game. I am struggling to play through the Oblivion Remaster because of this. Fallout: New Vegas? All-timer. Same. Skyrim? I may have played one of the remasters, but I honestly don’t think so. Witcher? Once. GTAs? Once. Red Deads? Once. Really, throw a dart at a springboard of video games and I will probably have played it only once. Something is hardwired in my brain to chase new games to play, fitting that “new” into my routine of “old.”

And The Alters broke me.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ALTERS

I Went Running Back to The Alters

I wrapped up my first playthrough of The Alters a few days ago and was quite satisfied. I had my plan lined out from there. I was planning to play Date Everything because of its incredible cast, I am trying out Dragon Age: Origins on my Steam Deck (that’s one of the exceptions), and I still need to finish Persona 5 Royal. And there I was, somewhere between making a Dwarf in Dragon Age and dating my bed in Date Everything, when the urge to play The Alters again hit. I just beat it; that thought should not exist. And to be perfectly clear: it may be rare for me to replay anything, but it’s pretty much non-existent for me to ever play anything for my entertainment back to back. My brain just can’t do that.

There I was though, crash-landing on a planet with actor Alex Jordan in my ear. Plans formed in my head to check out The Alters I didn’t in my first playthrough, focusing on the Botanist, Doctor, and Shrink this time around (alongside the Scientist and Technician of course). The thought kept pushing me through The Alters prologue and Act 1 into Act 2, while there’s a voice in my head telling me I’m going to bounce off this. I waited, I waited for the urge to leave, but it hasn’t come yet. It’s been in the back of my mind all day while I’m away from my console. After work, I am going to do my normal daily stuff. I may play Phasmophobia or Date Everything for an hour or two, but then the game I settle in with for the night is going to be The Alters.

My Favorite Alters

Miner
Technician
Worker
Scientist
Guard
Botanist
Doctor
Refiner
Shrink

I just can’t fully explain why I am playing it again. I am entirely perplexed. That’s not because of The Alters itself, of course. Some of my favorite games in the world I’ve only ever played once. The Alters itself is a fantastic game, uniquely marrying a strong narrative to engaging resource management gameplay. I adore each of the Jans I’ve met so far, with the nuance captured by Alex Jordan’s performance being an absolute highlight in The Alters. It’s one of my favorite games so far this year out of everything I’ve played; it just balances everything so well. Part of me wants to say it’s because of its choice-driven nature, because a playthrough can be so incredibly different, and that may be partially true. However, I already know how many of The Alters choices play out because of the internet.

Part of me wonders if it’s the “what if” nature of The Alters, where I can’t dodge the thoughts about my own lifepath while playing it. That’s certainly appealing, but I don’t know. I just know I’m a naturally obsessive man who has a history of channeling that obsession into video games in very specific ways. The Alters has said, “Hey, you’re doubling up on this obsession.” That has never happened, and I need Joshua Scientist to explain this to me, although I seriously doubt science would have ever played a role in my life at any point. 2+2 is hard, ya know?

Long story short: it’s fantastic and you should play it.

Play The Alters, And Tell Me Why I’m Playing It Again

Even then, it is so unlike me to immediately play a game more than once. I’ve always been hardwired for the next big thing. I am hardwired for there to be some form of progression in everything I do, and doing the same thing more than once is not progression in my head. Yes, yes, I ruminate. Yes, yes, I hyperfocus. Games are a constant source for both of those things, but it’s always the next game. Here I am, so obsessed with The Alters that I am breaking a habit that has existed for decades. Replays separated by years is one thing, however rare it is, but starting another playthrough just days after I beat the Alters? Wild.

But here I am, about to upgrade my Quantum Computer in The Alters so I can get the Doctor next and then the Shrink. I know the layouts of the maps quite well and am speeding along with certain features, like setting up my outposts, and I am avoiding the accidental altercide ending I received in my Alters preview. My entire personality, history, and routine tell me I should not be playing The Alters again, but here I am, with everything in me telling me to ignore that and play The Alters.

“What if I played Alters one more time?” is a thought my brain is not wired to have. Years of habit and routine, as manageable as possible, have made everything in me recoil against that left and right with other games. It’s a habit I can’t break, and The Alters broke it. I am incredibly surprised and a little confused, but of course, all things come to an end. The Alters playthrough 2 will end eventually, and I will perhaps be back on regularly scheduled programming. If I somehow, again, immediately go back for The Alters playthrough 3, there might be a new habit I have to kick.