Citizen Sleeper took me unexpectedly in 2022, giving me a uncommon new online game expertise, each mechanically and narratively, and my dice-centric role-playing journey has caught with me since. I nonetheless take into consideration my Sleeper and what they’re to this point. In a 12 months the place Elden Ring did not launch, it will have been my sport of the 12 months with a bullet – learn my Citizen Sleeper evaluate right here to search out out why. Now, slightly greater than two years later, I’ve performed elements of the opening hour of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector and discover myself determined to play extra. It brings again its unbelievable sci-fi rating, cyberpunk (but distinct) visible fashion, and thought-provoking and stress-inducing writing. It infuses all the pieces I really like concerning the first Citizen Sleeper with new mechanics that gasoline the sport’s central decision-making processes.
Like the primary sport, I assign my Sleeper considered one of three lessons. I am going with the Operator, which the sport describes as bodily fragile however nice at working in interfaces and laptop programs. Instantly, I discover the chosen class performs a extra vital position in how your expertise will play out as a result of the Operator lacks entry to a complete talent. This implies I am routinely at a drawback with any motion requiring mentioned talent. Nevertheless, I’ve entry to the Reboot talent that permits me to reset my system, which mechanically means I achieve a cube reroll. It is a dangerous talent, as I might roll a good decrease quantity, placing no matter motion is at hand additional into jeopardy. I might additionally roll a considerably higher quantity, too, although.
The story picks up after my Sleeper has been helped by their pal Serafin. I’ve just lately rebooted my total system, ending my dependence on the Stabilizer drug that performs a significant position in Citizen Sleeper and the gang chief Laine, who provides it to me. It is these kinds of touchstones to the primary sport gamers will discover within the sequel, which is its personal standalone story. Nevertheless, the reboot was only a partial success. Certain, I now not want Stabilizer, however my synthetic physique is malfunctioning. Serafin and I flee on a ship referred to as the Rig, which we steal from Laine and take to Hexport.
Laine, sad with all the pieces we have achieved, is after us by means of gang members, bounties, and extra. He is somebody my Sleeper as soon as noticed as a protector, a savior even, however now, they know him as “a pursuer, a tormentor, a nightmare.” I am unable to assist however discover the setup for Citizen Sleeper 2 is almost an identical to the primary sport – a Sleeper whose physique is combating towards them is on the run from somebody greater than them. Gareth Damian Martin, the only developer at one-person studio Leap Over The Age (although Martin has some assist in creating Citizen Sleeper 2), says that is intentional.
“I am an enormous fan of noir storytelling,” Martin tells me. “I assume it is a bit of old style storytelling, however I like the thought about an extraordinary one who’s getting sucked into extraordinary circumstances attempting to improvise their manner via it.”
They are saying they wished to alter it up a bit for the sequel – as an alternative of operating from a company conglomerate, you are operating from a singular particular person and his gang of underlings. Martin says they really feel the result’s a narrative that is a “bit extra intimate and intimidating, and in a manner, weirdly scarier as a result of it feels slightly extra harmful.”
Laine
After deciding on my Sleeper, I am thrown proper into the cube motion that returns from the primary sport. Serafin goes to test on one thing, in order that they process me with going to the Hexport Docks to select up some small gigs. I put a 5-dice (the upper the quantity, the extra seemingly the motion I assign the cube to finally ends up with a optimistic end result versus a impartial or expensive adverse one) on a “Chat to Crews” operate right here to get some tips about potential crew recruits and contacts. Nevertheless, regardless of the excessive optimistic likelihood with a 5-dice, I get a impartial end result and solely get materials. From right here, I discover the world extra and finally unveil a brand new location after finishing sufficient actions at a special spot. It is “The Bends,” and I can gamble some Cryo (forex) within the Star and Stoker sport or purchase some fries to revive my vitality.
You lose one phase out of your vitality bar for every cycle or day of motion (largely decided by your operating out of cube). If this bar is empty, you starve and achieve one stress bar per cycle. It is right here I be taught Martin has taken a recurring feeling from the primary sport – the stress one experiences whereas enjoying and its impact in your decision-making – and turned it into an precise in-game mechanic aptly named stress. This dictates how a lot harm your cube will take when rolled. Injury a cube thrice, and it breaks till it is fastened.
Stress joins one other new mechanic referred to as Glitch, which I do not expertise in my hands-on demo however witness in a hands-off preview performed by Martin. If you happen to roll your cube when you have some Glitch, which, like Stress, is represented within the U.I., you may roll Glitch cube. These have an 80% likelihood for a adverse end result however a 20% likelihood for the very best end result, as soon as extra enjoying into the risk-and-reward really feel permeating the sport. You achieve Glitch based mostly on the way you restore or heal your physique – scrap elements may yield extra Glitch, whereas extra premium sources yield little to none. Collectively, these mechanics add an thrilling however demanding new layer to every determination you make with cube.
“While you search for there [at your U.I. bar], there’s this type of sport of plates spinning,” Martin tells me. “The large a part of these plates is definitely you coping with the services and capabilities of your physique. Even if you heal considered one of your cube slots, you are having to take care of the truth that you take on Glitch, and subsequently, you’ve got acquired to consider, ‘Do I am going on a job proper now once I’ve acquired this degree of Glitch or do I relaxation a bit?’ Generally, that is related to me including a bit extra mechanical heft to the sport, particularly in relation to gamers who aren’t essentially drawn to the role-playing with out some sort of mechanical help for that.”
Martin hopes these further layers of mechanics present new pathways for role-playing. With Citizen Sleeper, they seen some gamers would lean into the role-playing side, earning money and choices based mostly on how their Sleeper may. Nevertheless, some gamers mentioned, “I wish to make cash wherever I take advantage of cash.” It was strictly mechanical for them.
“I all the time felt like, ‘Oh, that is a disgrace as a result of I need you to interact with this character that you simply’re enjoying and the story they’re telling,’ so this time round, if I need gamers to consider how they need to take care of one thing, there is a mechanical impact,” Martin says.
As there is not any level in spoiling the narrative occasions that transpire on this preview construct, given how narrative-focused the sequence is, I’ll soar forward to a different new mechanic: Contracts. After selecting one up on the Hexport contract board, I be taught these high-risk, high-reward jobs drastically increase the scope of Citizen Sleeper 2. Not like the primary sport, which primarily takes place on a singular house station referred to as the Eye, Citizen Sleeper 2 provides gamers entry to a big star map with numerous factors of curiosity.
Earlier than embarking on this contract, the sport warns me to make sure I’ve sufficient gasoline to journey to the contract, provides to maintain my Sleeper and crew going, and that I take the chance to scout out new freelance crew members to hitch. Your crew performs a big position each in the principle narrative of Citizen Sleeper 2 and these contracts, which Martin describes as vignettes or episodes impressed by, for instance, sub-arcs in sequence like Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, or different sci-fi greats. They are saying you may do two or three contracts and see the identical character repeatedly, or there is likely to be contracts the place you meet a personality for the primary and final time. Regardless, it is concerning the “little story” you get from these contracts. Some are excessive depth, others are extra laid again, Martin says. The one I do in my preview falls into the previous.
After traversing throughout house to a safety drone with one thing inside I want, I be taught that mentioned drone is rigged to blow. 4 errors and the contract may very well be over on account of an explosion. As such, I need to disable elements of the drone in a semi-sequential order whereas sustaining a balancing act of cube, provides (and vitality), and extra. Provides, of which I can carry a most of 5 at this level and do earlier than leaving for this contract, routinely replenish vitality after every cycle throughout a contract. While you run out of provides, your vitality will deplete every cycle, and as your vitality depletes, your cube worsen, jeopardizing the mission at hand. That is why making ready forward of time for a contract is crucial.
Nevertheless, with a drone rigged to blow after 4 errors, I am unable to threat utilizing low-number cube with excessive possibilities of failure or my low-number crew cube, which, like mine, take into impact our talent proficiencies and can be utilized alongside my very own Sleeper’s cube. Not eager to threat the low-number cube, I finish cycles prematurely, crossing my fingers that I roll some higher-number cube the subsequent day. Happily, I do and full the contract. Some intriguing story stuff occurs once I return to Hexport that I will not spoil right here, and my demo is over.
Throughout the preview Martin performs, I see much more of the mechanical and narrative synergy (and stress) of Citizen Sleeper 2 at play. You may make the most of Push to get cube bonuses, however doing so instantly provides to your Stress meter. The talent tree is extra expansive and customizable, designed with freedom in thoughts relatively than guiding gamers towards a selected construct. All the pieces I see excites me.
Martin says they’re midway via creating the sport and already at 120,000 phrases – Citizen Sleeper and its DLC totals 180,000 phrases, promising a wealthy storytelling expertise within the sequel. There is a bigger push from Martin to lean into Citizen Sleeper’s tabletop inspirations and its cyberpunk themes. Citizen Sleeper 2 is, on paper, a basic instance of extra story, extra programs, extra to do. However critically, Martin is not simply going greater, as an alternative fastidiously curating an expertise that strikes sharply on the coronary heart of what made the primary sport work so effectively: the oh-so-fine steadiness between success and failure and the stress that lives between the 2. If the heart-pumping I felt throughout my hour with the sport is any indication, Martin has rolled a powerful set of cube on this first preview cycle for this sequel.