Citizen Sleeper

Last updated

Citizen Sleeper
Citizen Sleeper cover art.jpg
Developer(s) Jump Over the Age
Publisher(s) Fellow Traveller
Designer(s) Gareth Damian Martin
Artist(s) Guillaume Singelin
Writer(s) Gareth Damian Martin
Composer(s) Amos Roddy
Platform(s)
Release
  • macOS, Windows, Switch, Xbox One, Series X/S
  • 5 May 2022
  • PS4, PS5
  • 31 March 2023
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

Citizen Sleeper is a 2022 role-playing video game by Jump Over the Age and published by Fellow Traveller for macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 5 May 2022. It was also released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on 31 March 2023.

Contents

A sequel, titled Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, was released on 31 January 2025.

Plot

In Citizen Sleeper, the player character is a "Sleeper," a human whose mind has been digitized and has been put into a robot body to be controlled by the Essen-Arp corporation. [1] The player's Sleeper has escaped indentured servitude on a freighter and has arrived at a space station called the Eye, where they fight for both survival and freedom. [2] The player meets a number of different people who represent different factions and interests. [3] The game features multiple endings depending on the choices of the player. [3]

Gameplay

In order to progress the plot, survive, and escape the Eye, the player rolls a number of dice each in-game day. These dice are then placed into different tasks, where higher numbers generally indicate better outcomes. [3] Lower numbers generally are useful on the data-cloud side of the station, which allow the player to gather intelligence on the activities of the various factions. [3] Higher numbers generally lead to better outcomes throughout the rest of the game. [3] The player must constantly work in order to feed themselves and care for their degrading robot body which requires specialized materials to upkeep. [1]

Development

Citizen Sleeper was created and developed by Gareth Damian Martin, through their London-based [4] one-person game development studio Jump Over The Age. [5] Character artwork was designed by Guillaume Singelin. [6] When Martin first began their work as a developer, they conceived of two games: In Other Waters and a game about being a thief in a fantasy city trying to survive hardships and poverty while getting involved in the political situation there. [7] The latter changed to a sci-fi setting and became the basis for Citizen Sleeper. [7]

During development, Martin focused on the intimate feeling of people coming together, and their own experiences as a non-binary person struggling to make ends meet in a city through the gig economy. [5] When playing science-fiction games like the Mass Effect series, Martin found themselves drawn to the side characters. "As science fiction stories drag the narrative toward explosive quests, I want to stay with these people living ordinary lives in extraordinary settings." [7] They cited Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor as an example of the kind of story they were aiming towards, which showed how science-fiction could be a great space for slice of life gaming experiences. [7]

Contemporary experiences of Uber and other gig economy and debt experiences drove the direction of how Martin portrayed capitalism in the game. [7] Martin said, "I wanted to tell a story at capitalism's periphery, where so many of us have learned how to exist." [7] They also focused on how life can be incredibly precarious for people living at the periphery of capitalism, and they were inspired by Anna Tsing's The Mushroom at the End of the World among other works. [7] [8]

The developers announced three additional DLC packs, available for download at no additional cost. The first DLC, Flux, was released in July 2022, the second chapter, Refuge, was released in October 2022, and the final chapter, Purge, was released in March 2023. [9] [10] [11]

Reception

Citizen Sleeper received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. [12] [13] [14] At its release, Polygon named Citizen Sleeper among the best games of 2022. [20]

Reviewers praised Citizen Sleeper's writing, with a number of reviewers remarking on the well-drawn characters found in the game. [6] [3] The Guardian 's Lewis Packwood called the writing "gloriously evocative and compelling" and noted that the picture that is painted in the game feels "intriguing and unique." [6] Polygon 's Alexis Ong called the game's ability to remove the player from chasing concrete objectives as part of the plot its "greatest strength.". [20] IndieGameReviewer wrote "The dual layer of a virtual ghost world and an unfathomable wet one create a simply sublime and rare experience," giving it 3rd position on its top 10 games of 2022. [21]

Critics praised the game's streamlined mechanics. Eurogamer 's Chris Tapsell described the game's mechanics as creating a "wonderful elegance" in a positive review. [2]

The game's three free DLC chapters received positive notes from critics. Polygon's Nicole Clark noted that the first chapter, Flux, caused her to change how she played the game by encouraging her to create systems to help the community of The Eye at-large instead of just her character's friends. [9] The Gamer's Ben Sludge felt that the second chapter lacked urgency, but that the third made up for the second's more lackadaisical pacing. [10] [11]

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryResultRef
2022 The Game Awards Games for ImpactNominated [22]
2023 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Role-Playing Game of the Year Nominated [23]
23rd Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year Honorable mention [24]
Social Impact AwardWon
Best NarrativeHonorable mention
Independent Games Festival Seumas McNally Grand Prize Honorable mention [25]
Excellence in NarrativeNominated
Excellence in DesignHonorable mention
19th British Academy Games Awards British Game Nominated [26]
Game Beyond Entertainment Nominated
Narrative Nominated
Original Property Nominated

An art book titled Citizen Sleeper: Design Works was published by Lost in Cult in 2024. [27] The same company also released a tabletop role-playing game called Cycles of the Eye, co-designed by Gareth Damian Martin. [27]

Helion Dispatches, a serialized, text-based narrative bridging the events of the first game and its sequel was released on Martin's Substack. [28] [29]

Sequel

A sequel, titled Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, was announced for Windows in June 2023. [30] A port for Xbox Series was unveiled in August the same year, [31] which was followed by a Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 port in June 2024. [32] The sequel was released on 31 January 2025. [32]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 LeBlanc, Wesley (May 23, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper Review". Game Informer . GameStop Corp. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Tapsell, Chris (May 5, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper review - a gentle, cerebral game of belonging and survival". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on June 7, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Macgregor, Jody (May 5, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper review". PC Gamer . Future plc . Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  4. ↑ "In Other Waters Limited Edition Ships Today For Nintendo Switch™️". Gamespress. August 26, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Citizen Sleeper Dev Wants To See Cyberpunk Genre Freed From Stagnation". Kotaku. May 20, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Packwood, Lewis (May 4, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper review – an evocative cyberpunk survival sim". The Guardian . Guardian Media Group plc. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Russell, Laurence. "The Creator of 'Citizen Sleeper' Was Inspired by Our Modern Dystopia". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  8. ↑ Valentine, Rebekah (May 14, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper Offers Hope In the Midst of a Capitalist Space Hellscape". IGN. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  9. 1 2 Clark, Nicole (July 28, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper's first DLC recontextualizes the RPG's tough decisions". Polygon. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  10. 1 2 Sledge, Ben (October 26, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper: Refuge Tells More Great Stories, But Lacks Urgency". TheGamer. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Sledge, Ben (March 30, 2023). "Citizen Sleeper Purge Review: The End". TheGamer. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  12. 1 2 "Citizen Sleeper for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  13. 1 2 "Citizen Sleeper for Switch Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  14. 1 2 "Citizen Sleeper for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  15. ↑ Van Allen, Eric (May 5, 2022). "Review: Citizen Sleeper". Destructoid . Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  16. ↑ Vogel, Mitch (May 9, 2022). "Mini Review: Citizen Sleeper - A Tabletop RPG-Inspired Gem You Shouldn't Sleep On". Nintendo Life . Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  17. ↑ Loades, Jordan (May 25, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  18. ↑ Tekaia, Pascal (August 1, 2022). "Citizen Sleeper Review". RPGamer. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  19. ↑ Musgrave, Shaun (May 10, 2022). "SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring 'Citizen Sleeper' and 'As Far As The Eye', Plus New Releases and Sales". TouchArcade . Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  20. 1 2 Mahardy, Mike (March 2, 2022). "The best video games of 2022, so far". Polygon . Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  21. ↑ Indie-Game-Freak (December 31, 2022). "The Best Indie Games of 2022 – Our Top 10". IndieGameReviewer.com.
  22. ↑ Tyler Colp (December 9, 2022). "The Game Awards 2022 results: All the winners". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  23. ↑ Kim, Matt (January 12, 2023). "26th Annual DICE Awards Game of the Year Nominees Announced". IGN . Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  24. ↑ Bankhurst, Adam (February 23, 2023). "DICE Awards 2023 Winners: The Full List". IGN . Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  25. ↑ Mejia, Ozzie (January 24, 2023). "Independent Games Festival Awards 2023 finalists revealed". Shacknews . Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  26. ↑ Wood, Anthony (March 2, 2023). "BAFTA Games Awards 2023 Nominations Announced". IGN . Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  27. 1 2 "Citizen Sleeper : Design Works". Lost In Cult. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  28. ↑ Sledge, Ben (June 12, 2023). "Citizen Sleeper 2's Pirate Radio Station Is More Exciting Than The Game Itself". TheGamer. Retrieved January 31, 2025.
  29. ↑ Martin, Gareth Damian. "Helion Dispatches". Jump Over the Age Newsletter. Retrieved January 31, 2025.
  30. ↑ Wales, Matt (June 12, 2023). "Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector officially unveiled". Eurogamer . Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  31. ↑ Romano, Sal (August 24, 2023). "Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector adds Xbox Series version". Gematsu. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  32. 1 2 Reuben, Nic (December 5, 2024). "Spacefaring RPG Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector gets a release date: January 31st 2025". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved December 5, 2024.

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