Citizen Sleeper

Generally positive experience and I don't regret the money or the time but it does such a convincing job in its opening presentations that its hard to accept how shallow, short and limited the game becomes not long later. Doubtful I'll return to this in spite of free episodic additional content because you can't address internal shallowness by tacking new stuff on at the end. But I played it for 7 hours straight so I definitely enjoyed it for a time. The good Lush art work/atmosphere/audio Great sci fi setting allowing for lots of cool ideas to be introduced Generally high quality of understanding of those ideas Neat game play loop that is both kind of tense and incredibly forgiving Enjoyed story focus on life choices over big stuff happening The bad Short, Sets itself up to be kind of epic and just as you get going you'll realise its over Limited. Above I say it introduces lots of cool ideas, but that's as far as is goes, Nothing introduced is explored in even moderate depth. No replay value. The lack of depth means I had no interest going back through as a different character type, Additional story (Free DLC) tacked on to the end in a way that made it really hard to engage with.

Everything you read about this game is true. All of the reviews, good and bad, are right. Is the game touching and beautiful? Yes. Is it also annoying and repetitive? Also yes. The things that are unquestionably good are straightforward: the music is great, nice and soothing and pleasant. The UI is straightforward and easy to use. And the setting itself, is a real neat one if you like sci-fi. The gameplay is simple; is it 'a struggle to survive'? No, not really. It's less a game about managing resources and more about collecting them. It's more strategic than challenging: once you know where everything is and how to get it, it's pretty easy. The fun (if you enjoy this sort of thing) comes from accumulating items, getting what you need when you need it. The dice-rolling system adds a bit of randomness, but if you're smart, you're not gonna have trouble surviving on the Eye. The most 'difficult' part is the start of the game, but no matter what class you pick you'll be able to do and see it all with relative ease (although hacking is so blatantly useful the best 'starting class' is obvious). The meat of why this game is so divisive: the writing. This game's writing is like a pendulum that swings between terrible and fantastic. The overarching plot is solid, but the entire game and story is made up of separate narratives that intertwine. Some are great, some are atrocious. There is a bartender whose 'friendship' feels incredibly forced. There is a father and daughter whose are a bit cliche but are still touching. There is a mechanic I hated who made me want to stop playing. There is a mercenary captain who made me KEEP playing. The vending machine, and the gardener woman, are actually interesting. Is this game 'the next Disco Elysium'? God no. Is it a pile of total trash? Absolutely not. When I beat it, I felt okay, but a little indifferent overall...but I kept coming back to it. Kept thinking about it. For all its flaws, it stuck with me, the good and the bad.

Bought this game because it was compared to Disco Elysium and ended up very disappointed. No trace of interesting, nuanced or amusing characters here. In DE, I was studying every line of dialogue and agonising over which response to pick. In Citizen Sleeper, you can pick replies at random and it'll make absolutely no difference. Zero. It's one of those games designed to give you an illusion that your choices matter. And it barely even makes an effort to pretend that they do. Odd setting too. It's a supposed gritty space future, yet every character looks to be about 12 and acts like a high school drama queen. Most of them wouldn't look out of place in Overwatch, or Marvel's What If. (Remember frat boy Thor, or Tony Stark who looks like he hasn't started puberty yet? It's the same here) In short, if you enjoy playing Overwatch for its plot, or liked What If but wished it had less action and nonstop text, this might be a game for you.

A great story with brilliant execution. I didn't know what to expect when i picked this up, but being a fan of most things rpg/story driven i thought i'd give it a try. I'm definitely not disappointed. The art style reminds me in many way of the Amiga demoscene. Lots of slick graphic design that's quite reminiscent of the stuff the black lotus put out. It reminds me in many ways of the old Steve Jackson (citadel of chaos, house of hell) and Jamie Thompson (falcon 1, 2 ,3 & 4) RPG books from the 80s, where you had to make decisions as the story unfolded, turn to the relevant page and either reach the end or die trying - with a bit of dice play and some simple stats thrown in here and there. You let your imagination run wild and lose yourself in the stories of those books, and this game is no different. You want to see what happens and end up doing one more cycle - then another - just to see where it leads and what happens next. It's definitely bleak to begin with. The odds are stacked against you big time, and things so far as i've got haven't got better, although a few glimmers of hope are there to cling to. I'm only a couple of hours in and probably nowhere near the end, but so far i've loved it, both for the game itself and the nostalgia trip of the format. I also click with the numerous references in the game to the nihilistic aspects of big corp dead ender profit at any cost of current times. If you enjoy a good story and a chill game that's well executed and keeps you wanting to see where it's all going then give it a try. It's a simple game to play. It has a deep setting and story. Happy to have picked this up fuill price and supported the devs. They clearly had a passion for what they were doing with this and it shows.

I think the title says it all. I'm not one for story driven games, but this gem grabbed me and i just couldn't let go. With a cast of wonderful characters and a rich story the game is built for you to just lose yourself for a while. I love science fiction and the universe that has been created here offers so much and, what makes it even better, is the presentation. The art is beautiful and the music even better (If you can, I recommend you pick up the soundtrack, its stellar) the gameplay mechanics, while a little full on at first, quickly become simple to grasp and exploit. What makes it even better is the fact that they're different, or are to me anyway, so it was an entirely new experience. I liken the game to taking a swim in a warm, rich cup of Tea: stimulating, rich, full of flavour and, sometimes bitter, it just begs you to have another cup. Honestly, Its one of those games that I felt sad I had to finish. I wanted it to go on forever. I miss its warmth. Don't hesitate to pick it up. You won't regret it.