Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector – Spirit from the Machine

Three years ago, the first part of Citizen Sleeper received a lot of positive feedback and became one of the main releases of 2022 for those who appreciate deep narratives. It is clear that we, Ukrainians, were not in the mood for entertainment at the time, to put it mildly. However, even in wartime, games did not disappear and continued to fulfill, among other things, a certain therapeutic function: they distracted and calmed us down. Subjectively, the hypnotic rhythm of Citizen Sleeper helped me a lot even then. Over time, the project's status has only strengthened. Even despite its genre specificity - in fact, we are now talking about a very niche text RPG - Citizen Sleeper has managed to boast an impressive figure of more than a million players. And now the sequel that many people have been waiting for, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, has been released.

But first, let's remember how it all started. Citizen Sleeper was born out of Gareth Damian Martin's reflections on the realities of modern capitalism, which, on the one hand, offers various beautiful economic benefits to the public, but on the other hand, often forces people to work wherever, however, and take up various "odd jobs" and temporary offers just to cover at least their basic needs (in English, there is a term for this: Gig Economy). What can we say about any benefits?

Another source of inspiration for Martin was tabletop role-playing games, where he spied interesting ways to use dice, event timers, and so-called drives - goals, desires of the characters. In particular, many ideas were suggested by the already cult TTRPG Blades in the Dark. By the way, M87 Games studio is currently working on its official Ukrainian localization slowly but systematically.

This is how the gloomy fantasy world of Citizen Sleeper was created, where large corporations first gave humanity the stars, i.e. provided the opportunity to colonize space, but then brought everything to a global crisis(something that reminds us of this - ed.) Today, on the remnants of the past greatness, everyone, whether a simple worker or a cunning "corporation," is trying to find a warmer place. And since there are few such places left, it is not surprising that the rules of being in this world are characterized by maximum pragmatism.

The main character is a sleeper, an android with human consciousness, a slave to the corporate system. He doesn't belong to himself, but he longs for freedom and independence. He literally has to prove his right to exist every day (a cycle in gaming terminology). And how much strength it has is determined by the results that cyclically fall on the dice. And it's just a perfect metaphor for the kind of volatility of our abilities in real life. Sometimes you have a day when you roll sixes and fives, manage to do a bunch of things, and you seem to be able to party until the morning. And sometimes you get a one or two, everything falls apart, and all you can really do is drag yourself along until the evening. Of course, you want to do more. But objectively, there is no way.

The gameplay of Citizen Sleeper is a constant chain of questions and decisions about how to use the cubes available to you. Where to invest them, spend them, what for? How and where will the skills of the hero's class come in handy, giving certain bonuses when performing actions? What should you do first: try to find out new rumors in a local bar, scavenge in a junkyard and earn some money, or sell the parts you've already acquired (but they may be needed to repair the hero's mechanical body)? You are constantly evaluating what exactly, what resources and effects you can get from each possible investment. And it's not just about positive gains, there can be various penalties.

Just like in the original game, these basic mechanics work flawlessly in Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector. But now the cubes can break and require resources to repair, as well as glitch, temporarily giving extremely low results. In addition, Starward Vector also has a game stress system that creates additional problems for the hero in addition to the troubles with the dice. All of these changes are quite witty and thematic, but the sequel presents them in the story prologue in a somewhat hasty and clumsy manner. It's as if the game wants to show its differences from the first part as soon as possible, but at the same time it gets a little lost and confused.

And here's the time to note that Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is, in principle, difficult to recommend to those who have not seen the original, are not familiar with its plot. The second part grows comprehensively from the first and doesn't bother with explanations. It seems that a Starward Vector player should know who the slipshods are, where they come from, what the general dynamics of relations between different factions and social groups are, and so on, from the start. Bonus points for those who have completed all the DLC for the first part, as well as read the short series of essays Helion Dispatches that connects the games to each other. If you are not aware of the events of the original, you will lose a lot of impressions, because Starward Vector constantly gives references to the original source.

I would also like to mention the genre specificity mentioned above. Don't be fooled by the stylish minimalist graphic design (before he started his career as a game developer, Gareth Martin's field was interface design). Citizen Sleeper is primarily a game about reading. All plot events, conversations, character reflections, etc. are exclusively text, which requires a certain amount of concentration and knowledge of English (unfortunately, there is no localization at the moment). At the same time, the text is quite complicated, with a lot of terms and rarely used words, so keep this in mind.

If these requirements don't scare you, I can reassure you that in Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, just like in the original game, after a rough start, it's relatively easy to reach a certain plateau of the protagonist's abilities, and then to level up his skills to such heights that most challenges are no longer intimidating. Then you realize that some of the game's innovations turned out to be a bit formal. All these glitches, stress, and broken dice can be a bit of a pain when you're playing on the maximum difficulty and in a hurry, but in general, they don't really affect the experience.

Instead, I really liked the idea of a ship-team-contracts. Yes, that's right, with a hyphen, because these mechanics work in a strong synergy. Unlike the first part, which took place entirely on a huge space station, the protagonist in Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is not tied to one place, but can fly a ship between several small ones. Usually these are some space colonies or bases. And where there is a ship, there is, of course, a crew. At first, there are only two on board: the protagonist and his partner. But over time, you can add new characters to the team (and even another slider!), each with their own specialization.

The skills of the heroes and their cubes help to fulfill contracts - these are separate adventures that can be taken in different places. Contracts are a great way to change the dynamics of the game: they are always on a hard timer, there is no second attempt, and there is always an element of uncertainty. You never know exactly what awaits you. Suddenly, competitors may appear or the security system may turn on the seemingly dead ship you are exploring... Therefore, you need to be prepared for the mission and choose the right partners. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector conveys these recommendations quite clearly through the narrative - you can simply understand from the context of the contract what kind of specialists you are likely to need.

Most of the contracts are conditioned by the plot, which is devoted to the protagonist's attempts to get rid of third-party control over his systems, to win freedom (or escape). This is a rather classic but interesting cyberpunk thriller with most of the scenario moves, missions, and situations expected from the genre.

But, of course, there are also optional tasks, mostly related to your crew. In general, the variety of personal stories and characters here is enough to provide a purely narrative interest in studying them, and not just extra points to improve your character's skills. Although the partners are somehow too obviously divided into main and secondary ones. The former have a well-thought-out long personal arch and stronger ties to the protagonist. Supporting characters, on the other hand, have much shorter stories, and somewhere closer to the ending, they have a chance to turn into extras - you simply forget about their presence in the team. Especially if there is no need for their skills.

It also seemed that the overall direction of the sequel prevented some of the partners from revealing themselves. The thing is that Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector - unlike the first game - doesn't offer options for the ending of the plot, but confidently pulls it towards a single denouement. Where the original gradually branched out the narrative into separate endings, the sequel focuses on a clearly defined dramatic ending. And not all the characters and events "fit" into it well enough.

As a result, Starward Vector feels like a much less personal story. In general, good directing, unfortunately, devalues freedom and suppresses the role-playing element, and does not allow you to consciously choose a tasteful ending. Here, you simply live through an interesting but steady plot, rather than "writing" your own. This makes the sequel seem weaker. Even though Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is a good game objectively, since it exists in a certain semantic symbiosis with the original, it cannot be considered separately. And comparisons will often not be in its favor.