"You're going to make it." I've heard people say some variation of that to me a few times. Sometimes when the line between hope and hopelessness is so thin it may as well not even exist, it's hard to imagine any future, let alone a positive one. The sentiment of that phrase is also core to what Citizen Sleeper is all about. It's a game that asks you not only to "make it", but what "making it" even means.
At first, it means "survive". You have to do it one day at a time, excruciatingly and with very little to show for your efforts. It means begging for scraps, suffering with a body that is constantly on the verge of collapse. It means doing anything you can to keep yourself going with no luxuries or goal in sight. It means being alone and far from any home you've known. Why bother?
Your body isn't even really yours, neither is your mind. You're a "sleeper", a robotic replica containing a copy of the consciousness belonging to someone who was once equally as desperate as you, whose body is currently in stasis light years from where you are now. You've escaped the job they doomed you to in order to pay off their debts, and now there's no turning back.
Survival is the obvious motivator, but in the course of finding your feet and learning more about The Eye - the ring-shaped station you've crashed on - something starts to change. Your goals slowly start to evolve as you make connections, as you learn about yourself, and start to realise that you have nothing else beyond what's ahead of you. You're a long way from home, so you better make a new one.
It's a terrifying freedom, and one still encumbered with danger. But that shift from merely getting through each day and having enough strength to wake up the next, to actually starting to see a possible life in your future, that's the moment Citizen Sleeper is building towards.
When it comes will be different for every player. You'll find one person who you don't want to give up on, or a community you feel at home in, a job that makes more sense to you than anything else ever has. Maybe it'll happen when you're feeding a stray cat in the derelict apartment you've just spent days cleaning out.
Through the many stories and intrigues you get involved in, you meet a lot of vivid, lovable characters and you start to connect. The incredible writing made me sink deep into each new corner of The Eye and its many fascinating inhabitants. It's a delight to explore and become a part of its often bizarre ecosystem, as the game subtly holds a mirror up to yourself
While this is a very mechanics driven rpg where you level up your attributes, the main progression is internal and subjective. It's in understanding where you want your story to go and how you'd like it to end. Many of the storylines in Citizen Sleeper left me with a bittersweet, sometimes even hollow, feeling. It's a brutally heart-wrenching experience at times, but it's also such a living one. It knows that the struggles of life are painfully real and can't always be overcome with the power of friendship. But it also knows that without friendships, without connections, and without hope, why bother? If we have those things, or at least work towards gaining them, that's when we have a chance of making it. Whatever that means to you.
At first, it means "survive". You have to do it one day at a time, excruciatingly and with very little to show for your efforts. It means begging for scraps, suffering with a body that is constantly on the verge of collapse. It means doing anything you can to keep yourself going with no luxuries or goal in sight. It means being alone and far from any home you've known. Why bother?
Your body isn't even really yours, neither is your mind. You're a "sleeper", a robotic replica containing a copy of the consciousness belonging to someone who was once equally as desperate as you, whose body is currently in stasis light years from where you are now. You've escaped the job they doomed you to in order to pay off their debts, and now there's no turning back.
Survival is the obvious motivator, but in the course of finding your feet and learning more about The Eye - the ring-shaped station you've crashed on - something starts to change. Your goals slowly start to evolve as you make connections, as you learn about yourself, and start to realise that you have nothing else beyond what's ahead of you. You're a long way from home, so you better make a new one.
It's a terrifying freedom, and one still encumbered with danger. But that shift from merely getting through each day and having enough strength to wake up the next, to actually starting to see a possible life in your future, that's the moment Citizen Sleeper is building towards.
When it comes will be different for every player. You'll find one person who you don't want to give up on, or a community you feel at home in, a job that makes more sense to you than anything else ever has. Maybe it'll happen when you're feeding a stray cat in the derelict apartment you've just spent days cleaning out.
Through the many stories and intrigues you get involved in, you meet a lot of vivid, lovable characters and you start to connect. The incredible writing made me sink deep into each new corner of The Eye and its many fascinating inhabitants. It's a delight to explore and become a part of its often bizarre ecosystem, as the game subtly holds a mirror up to yourself
While this is a very mechanics driven rpg where you level up your attributes, the main progression is internal and subjective. It's in understanding where you want your story to go and how you'd like it to end. Many of the storylines in Citizen Sleeper left me with a bittersweet, sometimes even hollow, feeling. It's a brutally heart-wrenching experience at times, but it's also such a living one. It knows that the struggles of life are painfully real and can't always be overcome with the power of friendship. But it also knows that without friendships, without connections, and without hope, why bother? If we have those things, or at least work towards gaining them, that's when we have a chance of making it. Whatever that means to you.