Citizen Sleeper

A beautifully written and thought provoking narrative RPG

Citizen Sleeper crafts a gorgeously written and thoughtfully conceptualized Cyberpunk world using RPG mechanics inspired by the best in tabletop gaming.

The Eye isn’t perfect and, in the end, it wasn’t my home. But it is the place where I discovered a different one. Citizen Sleeper elicits feelings like that incredibly well, while providing a practically catered experience that will stick with me, long after my departure from Erlin’s Eye.

We’ve probably made life measurably worse for ourselves by building systems that feed on labor and thrive on diminishing returns. But while playing by the rules and struggling to get by is painful, there is still something innately precious about living and building what you can with the hand you’re dealt. That’s what I felt Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector was trying to communicate over the time I spent with it. It’s a conversation about selfness as much as it is a cool sci-fi video game about machines and dice. It challenges you with harsh conditions and constant dread while telling you a ...

When I booted up Citizen Sleeper for the first time, it immediately enthralled me with its premise. Its dystopian transhumanist pitch – surviving as a digitized consciousness of a human body implanted into a robot designed to work for a mega-corporation – is refreshing in the cyberpunk genre of games. Its slick, clean, and unique art style, coupled with its score, a Tycho-esque take on sci-fi beats, told me I was in for a good time, assuming the gameplay would click. And at first, I wasn't sure if it was going to because its early moments are overwhelming, with a barrage of new mechanics and s...

Absolutely overflowing with evocative characters, situations and stunning world building, Citizen Sleeper effortlessly punches its ticket as one of the best narrative adventures on PS5. Sure enough, the lo-fi presentation and plodding tabletop mechanics won't be for everyone, but for everyone else Citizen Sleeper is a beautifully written, often emotional cyberpunk adventure that will linger long in the mind long after completion.

From its interesting design ideas to its rich world-building, Jump Over The Age's Citizen Sleeper is one of 2022's best surprises.

Wake up! Time to dice.

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When I reached the credits of Citizen Sleeper, I looked back at those first underwhelming hours differently. The lack of choices I felt when getting adjusted to the station felt like a consequence of being trapped in a system far larger than myself, rather than an undercooked game mechanic, which only made the later moments when I was able to assert some agency more powerful. I still wish Citizen Sleeper’s resource management sold the fragility of your life on the fringes of space better, but its narrative stakes more than make up for its lack of mechanical ones. In the end, the choice of wher...

Waking up in an abandoned spaceship on the outskirts of a lawless station at the edge of an interstellar society, Sleeper discovers they’ve escaped the evil clutches of their creator Essen-Arp. However, trapped in a decaying artificial body that was never designed to attain freedom, Sleeper must find a way to survive, but who can they trust on this volatile station, and can they ever truly hide from Essen-Arp?

Occasionally turning subtext into text, Citizen Sleeper's real magic is found in the boundless warmth of its characters - and the humanity of its own design.