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The Altersasks you to make a lot of choices throughout its story. Most of them are immediate and personal, and they impact the survival of the mobile base and its crew, but a few big decisions, especially in the second half of the game, have a dramatic effect on how Jan’s tale ends.
This guide breaks down all the important choices you’ll have to make, and how each can affect the epilogue when the adventure is over. Sometimes a little change can make a big difference, but other endings require a full playthrough to see.
This guide contains spoilers. We recommend finishing the game at least once on your own before reading further.
Rapidium
The first major factor that impacts the ending ishow much Rapidium you gatherbefore the rescue ship arrives. you’re able to buildup to five Rapidium Arksthroughout the campaign; one to start, and then another for each Base Expansion upgrade you construct. The more Rapidium Arks you build, the greater the success of Project Dolly and the better impact it has for life on Earth… in most cases.
Rapidium’s unstable quantum state means thatonly Rapidium stored in Arks will survive the journey back to Earth.It doesn’t matter how much you have stockpiled in your regular storage - only the number of Rapidium Arks counts at the end of the game.
In all but Maxwell’s ending (see below), the majority of the Rapidium ends up in the hands of Ally Corporation, who hoards it for research purposes. If you bring home plenty of extra,they allow licensed franchisees to develop technology with it,lessening the impact of the global food crisis. If Lucas helps you during your escape,he ensures that extra Rapidium gets into the hands of independent startupswho start solving the food crisis immediately.
Check in with Lucas each time you build a Rapidium Ark; having him on your side by the end of Act 2 is important, and building Arks is the way to make that happen. attempt to have a minimum of 3 finished before activating the Neutralizer Towers if you want his help later.
Maxwell Versus Agatha
Throughout the first two Acts, Maxwell is adamant thatnobody on Earth can find out about the Alters.If you keep the secret from Lena (effectively restricting you to using Maxwell’s treatment for the Alters' brain condition in Act 2), Maxwell continues to be your patron in Act 3. If Lena finds out about the Alters and develops the neural implants, though, shereports Maxwell to the boardand gets him fired, forcing you to work with Ally Corporation’s COO, Agatha, from that point forward.
Mechanically, Act 3 progresses the same way for both characters, with one very important exception;the Technician and any other Alters who leave the base will only return if you used the neural implants, meaning that siding with Maxwell means permanently alienating them. The ending sequence, however, is the same; your patron will threaten you if you attempt to save the Alters by deviating from the extraction plan. You can either sabotage the rescue ship to save your Alters, or let the soldiers act uninterrupted, ultimately giving up the Alters to Maxwell or Agatha.
Maxwell’s Ending
If you allow Maxwell to oversee the rescue mission as planned, hesteals all of the Rapidium you’ve gatheredand uses it to resurrect his neuroscience experiment, Project Elah. The global food crisis worsens, and the Alters are imprisoned as test subjects. Lucas abandons Maxwell’s scheme and goes home to focus on humanitarian projects, and Jan gets a new identity and a comfortable life but is beholden to Maxwell forever.
Agatha’s Ending
If you allow Agatha and the Corporation to bring the rescue ship home unimpeded,Lena is promoted to Head of Rapidium Technologiesbut shuts Jan out of her life since he sold out the Alters. The corporation uses Jan as the face of its newest propaganda effort, and the Alters disappear without a trace. The implication is that they have been killed, but Jan receives amysterious encoded emailjust as he leaves his apartment that suggests otherwise; ultimately, the fate of the Alters is unknown.
Saving The Alters
If you are willing to risk defying Maxwell or Agatha, you cansave the Altersby sabotaging the rescue team, as your crew discusses before lighting the beacon. Even if you don’t plan to save the Alters, you still have to make them think you’re going to do so bypreparing for the rescue team’s arrival:
You can prepare every possible option, but you can only choose one when the rescue team arrives. Preparing every alternative makes it easier toload your save and see other outcomes.
However you handle the situation,neutralizing the guards and hijacking the rescue shipwill force Jan to return to Earth a criminal, but it ensures that the Alters escape to safety.
Should You Use Explosive Charges Or Sleeping Gas?
The Explosive Charges are cheaper to make and don’t require you to research and build an additional upgrade. If youplant them around the basebefore meeting the rescue team, you candetonate them to kill the soldiers.Doing so willmake Jan’s sentence worse, as it adds four counts of murder to his trial.
The Sleeping Gas takes longer to execute, so if you’re up against the game’s time limit you may not have a choice, butthere is no drawback to neutralizing the guards this way.The only real reason to use the explosives isfor the Achievement / Trophythat you can unlock for doing so.
Should You Trust Lucas?
If you’ve earned Lucas' trust, he’ll offer to guide the rescue ship remotely to a safe location via the Remote Access Terminal. Letting him help not onlyensures that Rapidium is more fairly distributed back on Earth, as described above, but it also gives you an alibi. Lucastestifies that hijacking the ship was entirely his own idea, orshifts the blame to Maxwell, taking the heat for Jan and reducing his overall sentence.
If you use the Autopilot System to redirect the ship yourself, Lucas won’t be able to cover for you, and Jan will have to include the hijacking count in his plea deal.
The Botanist
If you’re working with Agatha and have completed the Botanist’s storyline by Act 3, he’ll ask you to come and talk to him toward the end of the game. If you do, he’ll proposeswitching places at the last minute, sending the Botanist to Earth as Jan Dolski while Jan Prime escapes with the Alters.
If you don’t shut the idea down, the Botanist willalways be the last Alter you say goodbye towhen the crew is going into cryosleep. At that point, you’ll have the opportunity toswap places, playing as the Botanist for the ending sequence.
The Botanist doesn’t have access to any of the dialogue options that Jan Prime gains from Lessons Learned, but other than that and his vocal inflection, the sequence with the soldiers is identical.
Betrayal
If you don’t interfere with the soldiers while playing as the Botanist, hetakes Jan’s place on trial,revealing himself only to Lena. He’s able to get a minimal sentence thanks to her influence and his cooperation with Agatha, butLena calls him to ask what happened to the real Jan.Regardless of what he says, Lena realizes what the Botanist did, and demands that he be transparent with her, which he does before ending the call.
Trading Places
Agatha makes good on her threat to fire Lena since “Jan” didn’t cooperate, and the Botanist chats with Lena as he prepares for his sentencing. They discuss the possibility of a future together and wonder what Jan Prime is up to in his new life.
