The Steam Awards 2025 nomination phase is officially open, and 11 bit studios is calling on the community to support The Alters in a specific category: Most Innovative Gameplay. With the deadline set for December 1, 2025, players have just a week to cast their votes for Jan Dolski's psychological survival struggle.
Why the "Innovative" Label Fits
It is rare for a survival game to reinvent the wheel regarding crew management, but that is exactly where 11 bit studios pushed the genre boundaries. In most titles, you recruit NPCs with generic stats. In The Alters, you are recruiting yourself—or rather, versions of yourself that could have been.
The core loop revolves around Jan Dolski, a simple worker stranded on a hostile planet. To survive, he doesn't just craft tools; he uses the fantastical element of Rapidium to create alternate versions of himself. These aren't mindless drones. They are fully realized individuals with their own memories, regrets, and skills derived from different life paths Jan didn't take. Managing the emotional baggage of a crew made entirely of your own "what-ifs" creates a social dynamic we simply haven't seen in base-builders before.
This mechanic transforms standard resource management into a psychological puzzle. You aren't just balancing hunger and oxygen; you're balancing the egos and traumas of a man split across the multiverse. This distinct approach to narrative-driven gameplay is the primary reason the studio is targeting the innovation category specifically.
When does voting for the Steam Awards close?
If you want to see Jan and his many selves secure a spot on the final ballot, you need to act quickly. The nomination window closes on December 1, 2025. You can head over to the Steam store page now to cast your nomination for the Most Innovative Gameplay category.