Writing in video games is a finite amount of content. There is always an end to a quest line, a limit to the amount of dialogue one character has, and an acceptance of the fact that there must be a conclusion to any interaction or story. Citizen Sleeper is a game that makes you comfortable with that ending and with the choices you make along the way. Though its world is detached from our own by ways of an inner-space colony reeling from a structural and societal collapse, it hits close to home.
Citizen Sleeper is a mix between visual novel, life simulation, strategy, and a light RPG. Every day, called "cycles" spent on the ring-shaped ship you call home, you are given a set of rolled dice. These dice, labeled from 1-6 determine the outcomes of any actions you can take during the day. Some days you will roll mostly 4-6, and others you will barely scrape by with 1s and 2s. Depending on your condition, you get a set amount of these dice to spend how you see fit on actions around the ship. Every "action" is tied to a person or job on the space station, from helping tear down scrap in the yard, to snooping in some dangerous areas, to even putting time into building up your own home. There are a plethora of options right from go, and it gives you a great sense of purpose and choice in determining which tasks to prioritize. While this may not be for everyone, I appreciated how the game found efficient places to use even the bad rolls in helpful places.
The game also uses a set of wheels to visualize how close you are to completing (or failing) a task. As you push through cycles, certain meters will have consequences, and balancing the tasks to keep all your eggs in one basket is a stressful, but welcome element to the game's strategy, and ultimately pulls you into feeling like a second-class citizen just trying to keep your head above water. The game frontloads a lot of information on you, from its aforementioned dice rolls and deteriorating body and energy meters, to the simple skill tree that grants new abilities as you complete requests. However, once you get the hang of maintaining your body, money, and work, Citizen Sleeper becomes an addictive loop that is difficult to put down.
Many of the tasks you can complete around the Eye are for the game's diverse cast, which range from a doctor trying to unseat her captives to a father and daughter attempting to escape their poverty. You sympathize with many of these people, the victims of a class-based society, as you work to give them not only hope, but a friend. Like all of the writing in the game, the dialogue of these stray souls are pensive, cautious, and fully realized. Even your responses, while short, allow you build a relationship with the various Citizens, as well as a personality for yourself. It's worth it to see every story this game throws at you, and you can find new characters in the most unexpected places. There are multiple endings depending on clear, binary choices you make throughout the game, but I was able to see a few thanks to some endings pulling you right back into the station. I loved the way my story ended, but I wish there was a manual save option so I didn't have to play through much of the same content again just to see the other side of my decisions. That said, despite only a few impactful decisions, I was impressed at the freedom of the narrative, as there is no one critical path; further emphasizing the game's desire to let the player see what they want to see.
The entire runtime of Citizen Sleeper takes place on the circular station. Accompanied by a soft, ambient score of synthwave, you interface with the various areas and slowly expand the territory you can explore. Sorting through all your tasks works well enough, but I wish you could move from each of the sections of the station a little easier, and that the game's quest tracker was a little more helpful. If the icons were able to be accessed from a menu or straight from the quest log itself, it would save a lot of wasted moments manually checking each objective. On the other hand, I did like seeing the station evolve over time, and wish I could've seen more interiors or locations from around the lives of the NPCs.
Citizen Sleeper's main hook is living in its world for a few hours. It's not the most mechanically deep or gameplay heavy experience, but its literature is fascinating, diving into its dystopic ideas with an emotional and intimate approach. If you are a fan of forging your own path and taking the leap into the unknown, you may just want to stowaway for a few hours and give this one a shot.
Edit: I'm adding this section after all 3 DLC episodes released and WOW. After an already fantastic game, returning to the world of the Eye was not only seamless, but despite several possible endings built in the base game, the DLC gives the finality to the game that I didn't know I needed. Like the base game, it's a set of risks and choices that interweave more fascinating characters into one of the most realized sci-fi worlds I've ever seen. I love the opporttunity that these new episodes add to Citizen Sleeper and can see new players sinking right into the "third act" ideas of the story. Masterful for a masterpiece.
Citizen Sleeper is a mix between visual novel, life simulation, strategy, and a light RPG. Every day, called "cycles" spent on the ring-shaped ship you call home, you are given a set of rolled dice. These dice, labeled from 1-6 determine the outcomes of any actions you can take during the day. Some days you will roll mostly 4-6, and others you will barely scrape by with 1s and 2s. Depending on your condition, you get a set amount of these dice to spend how you see fit on actions around the ship. Every "action" is tied to a person or job on the space station, from helping tear down scrap in the yard, to snooping in some dangerous areas, to even putting time into building up your own home. There are a plethora of options right from go, and it gives you a great sense of purpose and choice in determining which tasks to prioritize. While this may not be for everyone, I appreciated how the game found efficient places to use even the bad rolls in helpful places.
The game also uses a set of wheels to visualize how close you are to completing (or failing) a task. As you push through cycles, certain meters will have consequences, and balancing the tasks to keep all your eggs in one basket is a stressful, but welcome element to the game's strategy, and ultimately pulls you into feeling like a second-class citizen just trying to keep your head above water. The game frontloads a lot of information on you, from its aforementioned dice rolls and deteriorating body and energy meters, to the simple skill tree that grants new abilities as you complete requests. However, once you get the hang of maintaining your body, money, and work, Citizen Sleeper becomes an addictive loop that is difficult to put down.
Many of the tasks you can complete around the Eye are for the game's diverse cast, which range from a doctor trying to unseat her captives to a father and daughter attempting to escape their poverty. You sympathize with many of these people, the victims of a class-based society, as you work to give them not only hope, but a friend. Like all of the writing in the game, the dialogue of these stray souls are pensive, cautious, and fully realized. Even your responses, while short, allow you build a relationship with the various Citizens, as well as a personality for yourself. It's worth it to see every story this game throws at you, and you can find new characters in the most unexpected places. There are multiple endings depending on clear, binary choices you make throughout the game, but I was able to see a few thanks to some endings pulling you right back into the station. I loved the way my story ended, but I wish there was a manual save option so I didn't have to play through much of the same content again just to see the other side of my decisions. That said, despite only a few impactful decisions, I was impressed at the freedom of the narrative, as there is no one critical path; further emphasizing the game's desire to let the player see what they want to see.
The entire runtime of Citizen Sleeper takes place on the circular station. Accompanied by a soft, ambient score of synthwave, you interface with the various areas and slowly expand the territory you can explore. Sorting through all your tasks works well enough, but I wish you could move from each of the sections of the station a little easier, and that the game's quest tracker was a little more helpful. If the icons were able to be accessed from a menu or straight from the quest log itself, it would save a lot of wasted moments manually checking each objective. On the other hand, I did like seeing the station evolve over time, and wish I could've seen more interiors or locations from around the lives of the NPCs.
Citizen Sleeper's main hook is living in its world for a few hours. It's not the most mechanically deep or gameplay heavy experience, but its literature is fascinating, diving into its dystopic ideas with an emotional and intimate approach. If you are a fan of forging your own path and taking the leap into the unknown, you may just want to stowaway for a few hours and give this one a shot.
Edit: I'm adding this section after all 3 DLC episodes released and WOW. After an already fantastic game, returning to the world of the Eye was not only seamless, but despite several possible endings built in the base game, the DLC gives the finality to the game that I didn't know I needed. Like the base game, it's a set of risks and choices that interweave more fascinating characters into one of the most realized sci-fi worlds I've ever seen. I love the opporttunity that these new episodes add to Citizen Sleeper and can see new players sinking right into the "third act" ideas of the story. Masterful for a masterpiece.