Citizen Sleeper is a cyberpunk RPG developed by Jump Over The Age and published by Fellow Traveler. You are an escaped Sleeper, an indentured servant to a corporation in a borrowed body. Having sold your human body, your digitized consciousness lives on in an artificial form only kept alive through proprietary medicine. As you manage to make it to Erlin’s Eye, a space station home to thousands of people, you must hide from the corporation that wants you back. And make some friends along the way.

In Citizen Sleeper you are known just as Sleeper, a doomed shell of a person. You travel around Erlin’s Eye, meet new people, and complete quests. While doing so, you just also watch your hunger and condition which represent the fragile state of your dying body. Mechanically, the game is focused on narrative, however the narrative is measured in several ways. Each day you are given a dice pool with between one and six randomly generated six-sided dice. Most actions require a die to perform, and the higher the die, the better your chances of success. Your character can also level up to gain special abilities or increase stats, that in turn affect the chance of success. There are also long term trackers of success that measure your narrative progress, usually unlocking something new when you fill them up.

The world-building within Citizen Sleeper is exquisite. Erlin’s Eye is completely filled with interesting characters and events that keep you hooked. The way the characters and the world interact with each other is dynamic, often influencing other areas within the game. Within the game, it is easy to find characters to relate to and root for—making your progress all the more rewarding. It is also an incredibly diverse game. Characters of all identities and backgrounds are present on Erlin’s Eye. This makes it an especially welcoming RPG experience for those who are used to not being represented in RPGs. 

From a gameplay level, Citizen Sleeper is addictive. The dice pool and success tracker system means that character and story advancement is very tangible. As a result, it is so easy to tell yourself, “Just one more day!” as you are always unlocking new places to explore and people to talk to. The interface is also very dynamic and unique, which makes for an intriguing experience. Also of note, the game continues to be updated. New story acts are coming out on a regular basis. These acts are free DLC that are a continuation of the previous story. 

One of my biggest critiques is that not many of your choices seem to matter. This is especially true in dialogue sequences. There are several times throughout the game where you must choose one of several mutually exclusive options, however those are few and far between. This isn’t the biggest issue, as long as you know most of the options don’t matter for the large scale narrative. Along these lines, I would also love to see more character customization either cosmetically or in the upgrade process.

I would also add that it is not always clear what to do to advance a particular storyline. I know some people prefer to deduce the next step through dialogue and evidence. However, when there are so many locations to go to, I would have found it more helpful to have a more robust quest tracking system. I missed out on one of the few big story choices because I misinterpreted the dialogue and then didn’t complete the quest in time. It worked out fine (I got an achievement), but it was a confusing interaction that would have been helped by better quest notes or the ability to re-read what someone said previously. 

Citizen Sleeper is a truly stellar RPG that combines addictive mechanics with both robust and diverse storytelling. It is certainly well worth the $20 on Steam. Any fan of RPGs and science fiction story telling should fall in love with this game!

(4.8 / 5)

As a note, the publisher Jump Over the Age accepts pitches for games at all stages of development. If you have a concept for an innovative narrative game send them a pitch!