Self-cloning sci-fi survival game The Alters might look like a harrowing psychological experience, but at least you and your alt-universe selves can have a dance party

We've spent the better part of the last two years excited for The Alters, a sci-fi survival game with a killer premise from the developers of Frostpunk. As the lone survivor of a failed space expedition, you decide to use a bit of alien material to pull versions of yourself from parallel timelines to help you escape certain death. The latest trailer for The Alters aired during today's PC Gaming Show 2025, and shockingly, it looks like being trapped on an alien planet with a few dozen copies of yourself can get a little intense.

The trailer sets its tone immediately with a voice over from one of the many incarnations of spaceman protagonist Jan Dolski, who says that he "knows the odds. Maybe it's time to consider the easy way out." Considering the ensuing minute and a half of footage showing Jan getting bullied by the worst weather conditions an extreme alien climate can produce, I can't blame him for theorizing.

Jan gets buffeted by sandstorms. He suffers through torrential downpours. He has to cross flows of molten lava. And throughout, he'll apparently have to navigate spatial and gravitational distortions from reality-warping alien matter. It looks like not all the threats are outside the Jans' home base, however, because the trailer ends with one specific Jan getting intentionally sealed outside the airlock by another, treacherous Jan. It's Jan vs Jan out here. Terrible stuff.

All of this said, a previous The Alters trailer showed a different Jan hacking off one of his own limbs as an existential protest about being ripped across timelines, so you know. Maybe it's better outside, actually? This latest preview does briefly show the Jans having a nice dance and karaoke session, though, so we at least know that the burgeoning Jan society is capable of some amount of camaraderie.

Hopefully it lasts.

It's been a longer wait for The Alters than initially expected thanks to a handful of delays, but we're now less than a week away from its release date: The Alters launches on June 13. You can wishlist it on Steam now.