The recently-added day one Xbox Game Pass game The Alters has earned rave reviews from critics, cementing itself as one of the highest-rated new game releases of the year so far. 2025 has been a wildly impressive year for Xbox Game Pass, with many already calling it the best year that the service has seen so far.
The Xbox Game Pass wins in 2025 have been nonstop, with early-year hits like Citizen Sleeper 2 to more recent successes like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Xbox Game Pass has added one hit new game after another, ensuring that subscribers constantly have some new high-quality releases to play. And now yet another day one Xbox Game Pass game can be added to that pile.
June 17 is Going to Be a Big Day for Xbox Game Pass
June 2025 is set to be a big month for Xbox Game Pass, but one day stands out as a particularly exciting one for subscribers.
The Alters is a day one Xbox Game Pass game that has earned an impressive 86 overall rating. This makes it one of the highest-rated new game releases of the year and one of the best-reviewed games added to Xbox Game Pass in 2025 so far. The Alters is a unique sci-fi survival game where players explore a hostile planet in search of resources that they can use to expand their base, manned by their own clones. The Alters reviews praise the game's survival gameplay mechanics and story, with some going as far as to label it a potential Game of the Year contender.
The Alters is One of the Year's Best-Reviewed Game Pass Games
Luckily, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can try The Alters without even buying the game. The Alters is available right now to those signed up for PC Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, giving subscribers the chance to play it in its entirety without paying anything beyond what they already do for their subscription. While there have been arguments made that day one Xbox Game Pass games devalue new game releases, there is no denying that they provide Game Pass with incredible value.
The Alters is the latest hit game added to the Xbox Game Pass library, but there are even more new titles coming to the service this summer. In the near future, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can look forward to games like FBC: Firebreak on June 17 and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers on July 24. In August, Gears of War: Reloaded hits Game Pass, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There should be plenty more new Game Pass releases in the next few months, and it will be exciting to see if they can keep the service's momentum going strong.
The Alters
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 86 /100 Critics Rec: 94%
- Released
- June 13, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- 11 Bit Studios
- Publisher(s)
- 11 Bit Studios
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Strategy, Management
