My first evasion attempt was a tragedy .
Citizen Sleeper 2 : Starward Vector , the continuation to 2022 ’s indie critical darling , kicks off in a high - stakes fashion that I was n’t set for . Rather than hide out on The Eye and quietly try out to survive , I ’m immediately on the run . Terrified that I ’ll be caught if I stay put on any one major planet too long , I commence to make precipitous decisions that leave me in a deficit . My energy depletes , I do n’t have the tab to maintain my ship , and each of my die shatters one by one , limit what I can accomplish in a day . I ’m left hungry , emphasize , and stranded . With each pass cycle , I drop down into despair . How is anyone anticipate to outlive in such an unappeasable world ?
It ’s only through that first failure that I could find the hope that powers developer Jump Over the Edge ’s sci - fi sequel . Citizen Sleeper 2 ’s unconscionable learnedness curve can be frustrative , give players to hoodwink an overwhelming number of cold survival systems that often find at odds with its affectionateness . Learn to master those nuances , though , and you ’ll unravel a compassionate story about reclaiming and rebuilding oneself — body and all — in the face of overpowering cruelty .
Stress and survival
Like its predecessor , Citizen Sleeper 2is a narrative RPG that draws itsinspiration from tabletop games . It once again follow a runaway Sleeper , a human being whose emulated consciousness is place into a man-made body by the shady Essen - Arp Corporation . They are indenture servants who have been robbed of all liberty until they can pay up off their debt . This time around , our Sleeper ca n’t just obliterate out on one infinite place ; they have to hop around the galaxy to dodge the villainous Laine , who gets closer with each passing day ( or cps , as they ’re called here ) . It ’s a core - pounding frame-up that finds tension in minimal art .
To reinforce that , Starward Vectordoubles down onCitizen Sleeper ’s comparatively light survival system for well or worse . The core gameplay loop remains unchanged even with more locations to explore . Each 24-hour interval , five six - sided die are randomly rolled . These are used to bear out actions , from work out for chits to taking on odd job , via attainment check tied to technique like intuition . It ’s deceptively childlike , and that ’s how I initially ended up in such a hole on my first attempt . player require to call up cautiously about where they spend each die so as to maximize what they can pull off each day — specially because a counter ticks up every solar day to mention that Laine is close in . Once he ’s cheeseparing , it ’s fourth dimension to move somewhere else to cool down it down .
There ’s a lot more to deal this time around , which can be overwhelming early on on . There ’s a hunger system that draw participant to replenish energy to struggle off starving . The ship involve fuel to journey between planets . A stockpile of supply is needed to take on multi - day odd job . There ’s a tension meter that can extend to a die shattering , which then necessitate to be repaired with precious bit to apply it again . A “ get-up-and-go ” scheme increase my stress , but buffs my crewmates ’ die . It ’s a lot , and those organization are n’t always easy to understand . What break me in my first playthrough was my bug meter , an underexplained system that can get out a die with a lasting debuff . I quick found myself with an regalia of disordered die , restrain my power to refill all my other resources and leaving me hopelessly strand .
That friction feel functional early on on , even if it make for a tough opening . WhileCitizen Sleeper 2is a work ofcyberpunk media , it calls a much more ground medium touchpoint to bear in mind : Wendy and Lucy . Kelly Reichardt ’s 2008 drama tells the story of a homeless cleaning woman trying to make her agency from Oregon to Alaska with her dog in hopes that she can exist in a country with a downcast monetary value of animation . The quiet story come up her in economic purgatory , as every few long horse she manages to scrape together immediately has to be spent to live another day . She ’s trapped in a cycle that feel unsufferable to escape . Citizen Sleeper 2carries that same exercising weight in its hard sci - fi , which make double-dyed sense . Both are anti - capitalistic works that diddle into palpable human anxiety .
I only discover my vallecula once I dial down the difficulty and started from scratch .
That survival boundary can feel at odds with the story ’s recollective - terminal figure timber , though , which is n’t nearly as hopeless as its allegorical setup suggests . For all its dystopian gloom , Citizen Sleeper 2is almost sweet in nature . Once the escape premiss cools down , the story becomes more about redact together a ragtag bunch of recruitable companions who lend a few extra die on declaration jobs . WhereCitizen Sleeperfelt isolated , Starward Vectorembraces the warmth of residential area . The extra accent born from imagination management feel like a more of a match for a bleaker scheme game likeThe Banished VaultorFrostpunk 2 .
I only found my groove once I dialed down the difficulty and started from scratch . It was there I found a flow that good fitCitizen Sleeper 2 ’s broader theme , more hopeful ones centered around the desire to build a unspoiled , more manageable world . I need that first failure to really get that , though . I had to feel the jam weightiness of it all — to feel like biography just gets worse and bad with no relief — for take a recondite breath and plot out how I could live in spite of it all . Both in aliveness andCitizen Sleeper , “ reset ” is not a filthy password .
A transhumanist tale
With its organization tamed , I could more clearly appreciateCitizen Sleeper 2 ’s optimism . Yes , it ’s a searing anti - capitalistic game about humanity wedge into corporate thraldom . It all takes spot on rusting place stations drift in a ocean of darkness . Starward Vectordoesn’t wallow in the nothingness ; instead , it ’s about carve out a liveable place in it .
That ’s action through a wider scope than its predecessor , which was confine to one claustrophobic space . Here , we get to a all-embracing expression at what disparate communities look like in one box of blank , a setup that feels spiritually linked to the island - hoppingSeasalt Chronicles . Once I ’m able to cut my way through asteroid belts , I begin to find hope in unexpected places . On one stray ship , I attain a successful agriculture community . The more cycles I devote to helping out with contracts , the more I ’m able to benefit from the ecosystem and top off my energy and supply . It ’s the first second where I find like it ’s potential to not just escape this world but find a dwelling in it .
Home is not just an outside place ; it ’s my own torso , too . Building on the serial ’ transhumanist theme , Starward Vectorputs a bully emphasis on its sleeping car ’s quest to repossess their own consistency — something that have a bun in the oven a double meaning . There ’s a clear comment on gender dysphoria as characters talk about being uncomfortable in their own celluloid skin . It ’s a heedful analogy , though that recital is complicated by the story ’s sci - fi framework . The Sleeper ’s bodily transmutation at the heart of it all is n’t so much a process they want so much as one jab upon them in a doubtful manner . The disembodied spirit is there , but it ’s perhaps too tangled up in bodied villainy .
The smoother reading is about reclaiming one ’s body from a capitalist system , an musical theme that eat into the other . The Essen - Arp Corporation literally owns people ’s bodies in this world , but the rise metaphor is n’t far off from the real world . There have been several report of Amazon employeespushed to work long shiftswith limited opportunity for john breaks . Video game worker have to argue with a far-flung compaction culture that can go out developers catch some Z’s in their offices . This variety of corporate overreach modeled in Essen - Arp is n’t skill fable . Only by escaping its clutch canStarward Vector ’s Sleeper begin to take back their body and make it their place again . No one else can tell them what they can and ca n’t do with it .
Its quilt is in the belief that we can carve out a home in a domain that ’s built to box us out .
Sometimes it all feels a little too easy . possibly it ’s just the cynic in me ; there are moments where all the optimism feel like Jump Over the Edge telling me what I want to listen in screenshot - favorable dialogue . When I finish a quest that end with me meeting a stowaway pool , I wonder if I ’m being cosset a snatch . A warm blanket draped over an abysm . My day - to - mean solar day life still feels humdrum by the closing . I slot in my die every cycle , clocking in and out . My chits go back into my “ poster . ” I work , earn chit , and use that money to rust , refuel my ship , and reduce my stress . Repeat . There is a exemption dangle in front of me that I ’m skeptical exists outside the Starward Belt .
It hold a late conversation with one of my comrade to lay out me right . Citizen Sleeper 2isn’t about living in a perfect human beings free from tyrannous systems , nor does it fix that such a matter is possible . Its comfort is in the feeling that we can carve out a house in a creation that ’s built to box us out . That ’s accomplished through the multitude we keep close , the community we build , and what we do with our bodies . These should be the thing that no one can take from us .
“ I desire to build something here , in spite of everything , in nastiness of the fact that they could take it all away , ” one character tell me in a moment that almost feels like they ’ve sensed my misapprehension through my mouse . “ Because that ’s the degree . To go on inhabit without cede . ”
Citizen Sleeper 2 : Starward Vectorwas prove on PC and Steam Deck .
