An Impactful story. Charming Characters, and Delightful Dice Decisions… This, is Citizen
Sleeper 2.
3 years ago. Jump Over The Age. a one person studio headed up by Gareth Damien Martin
released into the world Citizen Sleeper. An RPG with a dice focused system that to me
remains one of the most polished ways to interact with a game I think I’ve seen. Take dice,
slot in to actions, higher number, better result. It’s easy to understand, with all the complexity
and depth you’d want. Citizen Sleeper, it’s dice system and it’s handling of heavier talking
points such as anarchy, choice, addiction, capitalism, the gig economy and a whole host
more ended up being one of the standout games of 2022 for me.
3 years later Citizen Sleeper 2 brings us a new story, new characters and an updated dice
system. Before we go any further. You don’t need to have played Citizen Sleeper 1 to
understand or enjoy anything that happens in 2. Playing the first will just give certain things
that come up a bit more depth and impact. Damn, I should have turned that in to a 10 minute
stand alone video. (Insert thumbnail of clickbait video you could have made)
Ok ok, on with the show. You, Sleeper, are property. Sucks I know, thems the breaks. In the
distant future those with debt are put to sleep, have their minds transferred in to a synthetic
body and work to pay it off. One quick personal rebellion against this idea later, and you’re
free ((Show Free on the screen)). It’s easy enough to draw comparisons between Citizen
Sleeper 2 and its predecessor, it looks the same, slotting dice in is the same and… That’s
odd don’t remember it doing that. ((Glitch Dice)).
Just like your sleeper, the dice system has undergone some changes. Rather than just being
a way to interact with the world around you, it feels more like an extension, another system
of your body. As you push yourself harder incurring more stress your dice will lose health.
Too much damage, they’ll break, which can lead to glitching. It adds complexity and a push
your luck style design, how much stress are you willing to incur, how close to that edge are
you willing to get? Will you fall? It’s an incredibly succinct way to explain the situation you’re
in. Broken, fractured, and trying to survive.
There’s a level of precision and care applied to most of Citizen Sleeper that adds weight to
aspects that could otherwise be meaningless. It’s a blessing and a curse, duality bouncing
off itself. It never feels overwhelming at times, except that the whole thing can feel
overwhelming. A poignant reminder of the fragility of life, and how we try to carve out
meaning. When you’re playing a game designed shows you the indomitable human spirit in
harsh environments that’s by intent. You can cram as many expressions as you want here.
Freedom isn’t free. Survival but at what cost. It’s not all bleak corporate misery though.
There’s beauty to be found. From abandoned facilities left before, the carved out, industrial
working facilities, all the way to the bustling neon lights of civilised stations. Hope can be
found, a flower growing through the concrete of capitalist oppression. It can be a bouncing
off point though. Remember, some play games to escape. Not be reminded of the chaos and
pressure.
It can certainly make you feel the pressure at times, watching your dice health slowly drop as
you push closer to that end goal of your current mission. You can keep your stress low. Use
your push skill sparingly if you choose. Only use higher numbers on those dangerous tasks.
The strategy here is lowering those risks by levelling up your skills to boost your numbers on
certain tasks, and picking the right crew members to take with you on missions to fill in your
weak spots. Those aspects combined with your push skill, give you a toolbelt of choice as to
how you want to approach the story, and the situations.
But what if it fails. What if you roll badly on a day. Or a crew member gets so much stress
they bail for the rest of the mission what then? Citizen Sleeper 2 does a masterful job of
making high stakes situations feel just like that. The tight timing on missions, combined with
optional tasks you could do during them to pocket some extra chits if you’re on a hot streak
means it’s easy to over-extend or feel like you want to push a little harder not for yourself,
but for your crew. It’s all up to you. Your story. Your choice.
You see. Choice permeates everything in Citizen Sleeper 2 and which die in which hole is
only the beginning. You’re not trapped in a single location this time around. Where you travel
to and in what order is up to you. So too is who you take with you. Your ship. Your crew.
Unsurprisingly every character you come across has their journey, their own story and
demons. It brought forth the word sonder. The feeling you have when you realise that every
individual you meet has a life as full and real as yours. It’s not uncommon in games for
characters to leave, and have their stories progress before swinging back in to your orbit. I
think it’s rare to be consistently surrounded by characters you care about. To see them
struggle with similar issues about how others see them, and their identity to themselves. To
build up a crew not only of characters with traits that you like. To end up creating your own
family. Relying on each other as a support net to just try and scrape some sort of survival
and meaning out of the chaos. That’s special.
You end up with a world that feels lived in, by characters you want to risk your dice and
health to help. You can start playing Citizen Sleeper 2 focusing on mechanics, but you’ll find
yourself at odds sooner or later as the characters stories start breaking through that
hardened shell. At one point I found myself actually risking failing a mission because I was
trying to use our food supplies to care for a stowaway. I knew it was silly, but it felt like the
right thing to do at the time.
There’s a lot to love about Citizen Sleeper 2, If you’re a fan of the first one seeing the
universe and lore expanded, new locales, new faces mixed with some familiar ones layered
with an evolved dice system and a stunning soundtrack by Amos Roddy bringing even more
life to the world will give you more than enough. If you’re new to this, like I said at the top,
you don’t need to play the first game, you’re fine here. If you liked tabletop style games that
utilize dice, or you’re a fan of character based games and aren’t worried about being hit by
an emotional sledgehammer, Citizen Sleeper 2 is a great journey to go on. If you bounce off
this game it’s most likely either going to be because of the dice system just not being your
thing, or that you were looking for a lighter game and that’s fine. It’s very easy to not be in
the mood or the right headspace for some of the things that are on show here. Waiting until
you are is going to give you a much better experience.
Citizen Sleeper 2 is £20.99 or $25. A single playthrough will take you around 12 hours. And
during this review run, we unlocked 15 out of 30 achievements. At quick glance you could
get them all in 2 runs, or 1 with some save shenanigans. But this isn’t the kind of game
where that should be your first priority.
Citizen Sleeper 2 is our first review of 2025, and will be one we’re still talking about at the
end of the year. An emotionally impactful sojourn in the far reaches of space. Citizen Sleeper
2 is a game that tasks you with some heavy questions, but gives you the friends, and dice to
try and answer them.
