Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector Review (PS5)

Citzien Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is enthralling. The world combines hostility and hope, with people who do what they can to make a place for themselves. Tense encounters become captivating as your crew pushes against their limits to achieve what they desire. Whether it is knowledge, power, or freedom, the characters of this world push against restraints enforced upon them by this world and those who govern it. With dice systems that are willing to place short-term and long-term consequences on your character, this RPG combines dramatic and mechanical tension to create one of the best games I have played.  

On the run

You play as a sleeper, a synthetic android implanted with the copied consciousness of a human. Originally built for corporate servitude, this sleeper had escaped from their corporation and fell into the clutches of the gang leader Laine. In exchange for disabling the corporation’s tracking device and providing Stabilizer, a drug necessary for a sleeper’s survival, the sleeper was forced into working for Laine. After the sleeper is interrupted from an attempt to reboot and free themself from Laine and the Stabilizer, they must escape with another of Laine’s former workers, Serafin. On the run, the sleeper and Serafin must do what they can to survive in the Starward Belt. 

To survive, the sleeper must build a crew and take on work in the various settlements in the Belt. While doing so you meet a full cast of characters that like the first game range from sympathetic companions to monstrous antagonists. As you continue to work and interact with them, you have the opportunity to learn more about their desires, their past, or just their quirks. The opportunity to just exist with these characters is immensely satisfying as your crew is well-rounded and likable. Whether it is a headstrong courier or a kind mechanic, each character is a welcome addition to the crew. 

And this world is imaginative and gripping. Whether it is the inner conflicts within the various stations or the corporate war raging out of the system, it is easy to become involved with both your crew’s struggles and the surrounding issues. One of the challenges in Citizen Sleeper 2 is deciding how altruistic you can be. You are constantly put under pressure to take care of yourself, so helping others can feel like a sacrifice. There were points where I was pulled between staying loyal to my crew, helping the local population, and taking care of myself. These choices help reinforce that navigating this world can be difficult, especially if you choose to do so kindly.

The pressures and hostility are reinforced in the resource management that permeates Citizen Sleeper 2. While you may not need Stablizer, you do need supplies to eat, fuel to power your ship, components to make repairs, and money to buy all this stuff. On the small scale, just making enough money or scavenging enough supplies can be a challenge, especially if you are already exhausted from previous adventures. There were multiple times I was at the edge of my seat trying to earn enough to bounce back from a failed job. 

Power of dice

Success in these jobs is dictated by your skills and your dice. Every cycle you roll five six-sided dice and you use these dice to complete various skill checks. The higher the roll, the more likely you are to receive a positive outcome. Depending on your class, you will also have various skills that influence how effective you are at various tasks. If you have basic competency with engineering, your dice will function as normal, but if you are more skilled in engineering, you will receive a buff to your dice. If you are not skilled in engineering, you will receive a penalty to every dice you use. Finding tasks that align with your skill set is essential to completing jobs and surviving in the Starward Belt. 

The lack of money that comes from on-station jobs encourages you to take on contracts, off-site jobs that promise greater risks and rewards. You must manage both your fuel and supplies on these contracts, which dictate whether you can reach the job site and how long you can safely stay working. Your crew becomes a mechanical asset, as their skills help complement your own as you attempt the various tasks necessary to complete the job. In addition to managing your supplies, you must manage the stress levels of the crew as too much stress can cause crew members to no longer be able to function. Keeping your crew calm and fed can be difficult as these contracts are also more complex and time-consuming than the on-station jobs. There were multiple times that I scraped by with the skin of my teeth, leaving with both temporary wounds and permanent scars. 

Those wounds often come in the form of damage to your dice. As you fail skill checks or fail to eat, you receive stress. As stress increases, you receive damage to your dice and when the dice lose all of their health, they break. Repairing the dice requires scrap components or rare components for a cleaner fix. The repaired dice often come with glitches that influence future rolls. Your dice also serve as your health so if you lose all of your dice, you die. This causes more permanent glitches to your dice depending on the difficulty. These glitches provide consequences for failure that stick with you in meaningful ways. It places your narrative struggles in mechanical terms.

Your struggles, your crew members, and the world around you are portrayed mostly through text with the occasional portrait. The writing is evocative whether it is describing artificial consciousness, the personal struggles of one of your friends, or the cold machinery of a space station. I was constantly drawn to the writing and how well it paints these portraits through text. Citizen Sleeper 2’s writing is the primary draw of this game and is wonderful to experience.

Conclusion

Citizen Sleeper 2’s blend of strong writing with mechanical systems that provide meaningful consequences creates a phenomenal RPG. With an alluring world, a cast of likable characters, and text that creates better pictures than some of the best graphics I’ve seen, this is easily one of the finest RPGs that is out there.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector releases today.

William Dowell Contributor

William Dowell is a freelance writer with bylines on Unwinnable, Fanbyte, and Rock Paper Shotgun. When not writing, William maintains a career as a freelance musician.