Sights & Sounds
- Excellent character designs. Everyone you encounter is really visually interesting and unique
- Nice, mostly chill electronic music throughout
Story & Vibes
- The story is so good. I found myself following every sidequest I could find just to keep learning more about the world
- I completed the Flux DLC and enjoyed it as well
- There are many endings to the game, and most of them are pretty great. One thing to keep in mind is that you should take every opportunity to see endings, even if they would appear to end your playthrough early. You can always continue from the decision point once you're bounced back to the menu
- The mood is a desperate one. Your body is continually degrading, so a sense of urgency hangs over the early game. By the end, though, you'll be so resource rich that it won't really matter
Playability & Replayability
- The game is largely played by dispensing your dice into actions every day. These may be jobs to earn money or supplies, activities to recover health and energy, or story-related tasks
- Your stat tree can help you with these rolls as well as providing you with other passive perks
- Other than that, it's mostly kicking back and enjoying the story and visuals
- I'll definitely be returning to get the endings I missed as well as playing through the upcoming DLCs
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Not a very graphically intense game, but it ran flawlessly and without bugs
Final Verdict
- 9/10. If you're a fan of a good sci-fi story and either enjoy or don't mind some light resource management, I'd recommend this game regardless of price
- Excellent character designs. Everyone you encounter is really visually interesting and unique
- Nice, mostly chill electronic music throughout
Story & Vibes
- The story is so good. I found myself following every sidequest I could find just to keep learning more about the world
- I completed the Flux DLC and enjoyed it as well
- There are many endings to the game, and most of them are pretty great. One thing to keep in mind is that you should take every opportunity to see endings, even if they would appear to end your playthrough early. You can always continue from the decision point once you're bounced back to the menu
- The mood is a desperate one. Your body is continually degrading, so a sense of urgency hangs over the early game. By the end, though, you'll be so resource rich that it won't really matter
Playability & Replayability
- The game is largely played by dispensing your dice into actions every day. These may be jobs to earn money or supplies, activities to recover health and energy, or story-related tasks
- Your stat tree can help you with these rolls as well as providing you with other passive perks
- Other than that, it's mostly kicking back and enjoying the story and visuals
- I'll definitely be returning to get the endings I missed as well as playing through the upcoming DLCs
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Not a very graphically intense game, but it ran flawlessly and without bugs
Final Verdict
- 9/10. If you're a fan of a good sci-fi story and either enjoy or don't mind some light resource management, I'd recommend this game regardless of price
7 Comments
@RedBackLoggd: The part that really struck a chord with me was how the resource scarcity and time management elements added weight to each narrative branch. Going out of your way to help someone actually impacts your own character's survival and your ability to pursue other possible ways off the colony. It makes the decision feel consequential. You can still see all 8 or so endings in a single playthrough with careful resource management, thankfully. The most memorable for me was probably the weirdest one, probably because of the cool hacking plotline you have to follow to get there.
Sure, the characters were well-rounded, a few plot arcs featured some great suspense and excitement, and the transhumanist themes really raised some thoughtful questions. But I think what really made Citizen Sleeper stand out was 1) how the urgency added spice to the story instead of frustration, and 2) how much lore and world-building there is considering the length. It's dense, complex, and pensive experience that really absorbed me for a few days.
Sure, the characters were well-rounded, a few plot arcs featured some great suspense and excitement, and the transhumanist themes really raised some thoughtful questions. But I think what really made Citizen Sleeper stand out was 1) how the urgency added spice to the story instead of frustration, and 2) how much lore and world-building there is considering the length. It's dense, complex, and pensive experience that really absorbed me for a few days.
Wait I'm confused - how can you experience all 8 endings in a single playthrough if an ending, by its very nature, caps a playthrough?
That's really interesting to hear how time management added to the experience for you. I think it's tough for me because I absolutely hate when a game puts a time limit on you, no matter how small, and it's one of the reasons I haven't been able to get into Majora's Mask or Pikmin or Shenmue, and I fear that it may dissuade me from doing Citizen Sleeper - how would you convicne someone like me to give this a go amidst that fear?
That's really interesting to hear how time management added to the experience for you. I think it's tough for me because I absolutely hate when a game puts a time limit on you, no matter how small, and it's one of the reasons I haven't been able to get into Majora's Mask or Pikmin or Shenmue, and I fear that it may dissuade me from doing Citizen Sleeper - how would you convicne someone like me to give this a go amidst that fear?
@RedBackLoggd: Seeing an ending and rolling credits takes you back to the main menu. If you continue your saved game, you're bounced right back to an auto save right before the decision point that initiated that ending. You're free to pursue other plotlines normally from that point
As far as convincing someone who doesn't like time management elements, that's a tough one. Because time is managed by an action economy system, it's more like you have a certain number of turns per day to plan out. Luckily, your skill tree can increase the number of turns you can take per day, reduce the number of turns certain tasks take, and improve resource gathering efficiency, so time management actually becomes easier as the game goes on. In this way, time becomes just another resource to track (like currency or food), and good planning/skill investment grants plenty of freedom to see all of what the game has to offer. You're still walking a tightrope, but there's just enough slack to permit some mistakes.
As far as convincing someone who doesn't like time management elements, that's a tough one. Because time is managed by an action economy system, it's more like you have a certain number of turns per day to plan out. Luckily, your skill tree can increase the number of turns you can take per day, reduce the number of turns certain tasks take, and improve resource gathering efficiency, so time management actually becomes easier as the game goes on. In this way, time becomes just another resource to track (like currency or food), and good planning/skill investment grants plenty of freedom to see all of what the game has to offer. You're still walking a tightrope, but there's just enough slack to permit some mistakes.
Oh, so you can end the game faster than with other endings? It's not like they all happen at the same time based on prior decisions?
Well, when you phrase it like that - that it's not this omniscient timer but a part of the game's standard day-to-day management, that actually makes it more enticing for me for sure. It's also great to hear that they do give some leeway as far as making mistakes as I imagine I'd be making a ton of those haha
Well, when you phrase it like that - that it's not this omniscient timer but a part of the game's standard day-to-day management, that actually makes it more enticing for me for sure. It's also great to hear that they do give some leeway as far as making mistakes as I imagine I'd be making a ton of those haha
@RedBackLoggd: That's correct; if I recall correctly, I encountered the first possible ending about 2-3 hours into my playthrough. Without delving into spoilers, I was given the opportunity to escape the colony in a sneaky fashion early on. Even though there were a few other loose narrative threads still hanging, I took my chances and got out of there. It was a welcome surprise to load my save and find that I could keep going. Glad I kept going as there's two additional possible endings that arise from that arc that were much more edifying.
Wow, that's really cool, and definitely a throwback to those older RPGs where you could complete things faster if you knew certain tricks.
RedBackLoggd
12 days ago