After the release of The Alters in June 2025, many players were wondering what exactly 11 Bit Studios would do next with the IP, if anything at all. Announced end of last year, and releasing today, we now know it’s The Alters: Last Variable, an expansion that follows Jan Scientist, with a new storyline, Alters, and research. Whether the expansion lives up to the lofty 10/10 score we gave the base game is yet to be seen, but full details are below.
Per 11 Bit Studios:
11 bit studios and The Alters development team are proud to present The Alters: Last Variable – a roughly 20-hour expansion to the award-winning, personal survival sci-fi game, out now on all platforms.
Jan Dolski’s mission didn’t end when the credits rolled on The Alters. Well, perhaps more to the point, Jan Scientist’s mission didn’t end. In this powerful new storyline, packed with new mechanics, new Alter types, and more, players will assist this particular version of Jan in conducting the research of a lifetime.
The Oasis – a lush paradise emerging from desolation – becomes Jan’s obsession. One he cannot comprehend alone. So once again, he must assemble a crew from alternate versions of himself. A Geologist. A Biologist. A Chemist. A Physicist.
Science is everything for these Jans. But can we really understand everything?
The Alters: Last Variable is out now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S:
- The next story focuses on Jan Scientist(s): Jan Scientists, with their perfectly aligned minds, can offer the expertise needed to unravel the phenomenon of the Oasis.
- Explore new regions and terraform them: Each transformation shifts the landscape, spawns new resources, and awakens the planet’s defensive mechanism – more frequent earthquakes, severe radiation waves, and other threats.
- Expand underground and survive cycles: Build in different soil types, construct new components, and research new modules like the Cryosleep Chamber, which will buy you more time and let you witness the long-term effects of your scientific actions.
- Develop new tech and set field labs: Each planetary cooldown offers a brief window to explore a dramatically changed surface, and Field Labs introduces new assignments for alters to continue their work while you cryosleep.
11 Bit Studios are not holding back on what is clearly becoming a flagship IP, and we’ll wait to see if the quality of the expansion meets the incredible time players had with the base game. During our chat with Alex Jordan, actor for all the different Jans, at Gamescom two years ago, he said he looked at the game through the filter of ‘what next?’, and after the release of The Alters: Last Variable, we’re also wondering that too.
The Alters: Last Variable is available today on PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S, and PC.
Will you be picking up The Alters: Last Variable? Other than Jan Scientist, who would you have liked the expansion to follow? Let us know in the comments below!
For your next read, check out the details on Arknights: Endfield’s Homecoming update, or Reverse: 1999’s collaboration with Atomic Heart.
Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!
