Quick Links
Spoiler Warning! Heavy spoilers for The Alters below — proceed with caution!InThe Alters, players must make several major decisions to ensure their survival and thesuccess of the Rapidium mission. Each of these choices carries significant consequences for the rest of the playthrough, irreversibly changing aspects such as available technologies, entire modules, which Alters are awakened, and their relationships with the original Jan Dolski.
Perhaps the most impactful decision in all ofThe Altersis tied to their sickness, as playersmust choose how to treat a brain conditionaffecting the Alters before it’s too late. This leads to a split among the Alters, withseveral of them permanently leaving the base. But is it possible to bring the rebel Alters back later in the game and make them accept the player’s decision? Let’s find out.
Why & When The Alters Split
Around themiddle of Act 2ofThe Alters, it is revealed that all Alters suffer from a unique brain condition caused by the accelerated growth process enabled by Rapidium technology. Players have limited time during Act 2 to address this critical issue, choosing one of two possible treatment paths via theTabula Rasa Alter: either trusting Maxwell and using this Alter as a brain tissue donor, or relying on Jan’s ex, Lena Berg, for a solution involving corporate brain implants.
Do not go for Maxwell’s cure via Tabula Rasa if you want to bring Technician back to the base in Act 3.
Each option comes with its own benefits and drawbacks, but more importantly, it’simpossible to satisfy every Alter with the chosen path, leading to the conflict of values fork. Depending on the decision, several Alters will betray the original Jan at the end of Act 2, stealing supplies and leaving the base permanently. Up to four Alters can leave,with Jan Technician acting as their leaderand departing no matter what choice is made.
Where To Find The Rebels' Shelter In Act 3
Despite Technician and the other Alters leaving the base, they seeminglyhelp Jan Dolski guide the baseout of the storm using a guiding light. Their shelter can be located as soon as Act 3 of the game begins. It’s possible to find the rebels' base on the very first day, as they stopped not too far from the player’s starting position on a new explorable map.
To find the rebel Alters' base, players need to head directly right from the base entrance, following the trail left behind. Soon, the rebel base will appear on the left — look for ahigh pillar in the distance with visible lamps on it. Alternatively, players can follow their base’s trail until they come upon truck tracks going left, revealing the direction the rebels took. Following these tracks, players will eventually discover a network of caves, through which it’s possible to reach the rebel Alters' new shelter. This will alsounlock the missable “I Found You” achievement.
Navigate carefully, as the path is littered with anomalies, including the previously unseenprism anomaly, which can make exploration tricky.
Rebel Negotiations & Optional Tasks In Act 3
Upon reaching the rebel base, players will only interact with Jan Technician, who explains thatsurviving outside the main base is extremely difficult, but he has a plan to build a proper shelter. If players are willing to assist the departed Alters, they’ll unlock a new optional multistep task:The Aftermath.
First, players need tocraft a Supply Package via the Workshop, despite the rebel Alters taking a significant portion of the resources gathered during Act 2 when they left. The next step is to connect their shelter to the main base usingPylons, which can be done fairly quickly and without much trouble.
Players can ignore the rebels entirely and choose not to search for them in Act 3, missing the"I Found You" trophy. This has no impact on the main objectives. The fate of the rebel Alters in this case remains unknown, and none of them will return to the base.
Can You Bring All Rebels Back To The Base In Act 3?
For players who chose Maxwell’s cure and treated Tabula Rasa only as brain tissue donor, the short answer is no. When speaking with Jan Technician in Act 3, he repeatedly emphasizes that the original Jan Dolski’s mistakes in treating his “brother” like that have consequences, and he doesn’t believe anything good can come from sticking with him. In each new conversation, Technician reminds the player that nothing will change his mind. While players are welcome to try,there’s ultimately no turnaround here if Maxwell’s path was chosen in Act 2.
Depending on the help provided and dialogue choices in Act 3, players can influence their relationship with Technician, leading to a more respectful, warm parting, with Technician sharing his mother’s last words for Janek as a farewell. But no matter what players do or say in Act 3,it’s not possible to convince Technician to returnto the base. Fortunately, depending on how extensively players support the rebels, as well as their previous relationships,some Alters may eventually returnto the base. They may come to peaceful terms with Jan Dolski and can be assigned to work again. In our case, Refiner, who left the base alongside Technician, later returned, inspired by the thought of Ben from his memories, even though he confessed that he was still upset about the cure decision.
Things can be different for players who side with Lenawhen curing the Alters' brain disease. Jan Technician and some other Alters still rebel initially after learning that the implants she provided for the cure contain tracking devices that may allow the corporation to learn about the Alters' existence and potentially track them down when they return. However, in Act 3, Lena contacts Jan Dolski to inform him that she can disable the trackers in the Alters' brains.
Upon learning about the possibility for the Alters to be free on Earth, players must talk to Technician again (providing a Supply Package to rebels prior to that), and depending on their dialogue choices,they can finally convince Jan Technician to come backand help with the barrier in the sky that prevents the rescue party ship from landing. This finally marks the long-awaited reuniting of all the created Alters, not only ensuring the fullest crew possible for Act 3’s ending, but alsounlocking the missable “Reunited” trophyand making it possible for players to bring all the Alters back to Earth.
