The Alters: Last Variable

Note: This DLC follows the ending where Jan Scientist stays behind on the planet. Average playtime is estimated at 20 hours. The Alters next story focuses on Jan Scientist(s) Jan Scientist can finally pursue his true calling. While the other Jans left, he chose to stay and lead a team of new specialists - assembled by himself, from himself. Only a scientific crew of altered Jan Scientists, with their perfectly aligned minds, can offer the expertise needed to unravel the phenomenon of the Oasis. Studying nature's survival here in space is a life-defining opportunity. However, the flawless, goal-oriented plan of the Jan Scientists might not be so apparent to Jan Geologist, Biologist, Chemist, or Physicist. Explore new regions and terraform them The Oasis, a lush paradise that shouldn't exist, becomes the mystery Jan obsessively tries to solve. Terraforming the map’s nine arenas is the key to unlocking it, forcing the landscape to yield its answers. But with each seemingly right step on a research path, the planet seems to respond with more implacable earthquakes and radiation, as some secrets would lie ahead that we shouldn’t discover. Expand underground and survive cycles The biggest hurdles are years-long planetary cycles of scorching sunrises that force you back underground. Setting a functional underground base requires building in different soil types, constructing new components, and researching new modules like the Cryosleep Chamber, which buys you more time and lets you witness the long-term effects of your scientific actions. Still, even in cryo-slumber, increasingly vicious cycles wear down your crew’s readiness to work. Develop new tech and set field labs Each planetary cooldown offers a brief window to freely explore a dramatically changed surface. Terraformed landscape opens new building possibilities, spawns bonus-providing pickeables, and allows you to evolve your research-essential technology. To achieve that, you will extract and refine new planetary resources, while even more specialised structures let you transform, combine, and amplify what you gather. Field Labs introduce new assignments for alters to continue their work while you cryosleep. But will they change once faced with the vulnerability of ageing?