Live the life of an escaped worker, washed-up on a lawless station at the edge of an interstellar society. In this game, you will be “roleplaying in the ruins of interplanetary capitalism.”
From the same developer that brought us In Other Waters, and featuring the stunning character art of Guillaume Singelin, Citizen Sleeper is a narrative RPG set on Erlin’s Eye, a ruined space station that is home to thousands of people trying to survive on the edges of an interstellar capitalist society.
In Citizen Sleeper, you play as a sleeper—a digitized human consciousness in an artificial body, owned by a corporation that wants you back. Thrust amongst the unfamiliar and colorful inhabitants of the Eye, you need to build friendships, earn your keep, and navigate the factions of this strange metropolis, if you hope to survive to see the next cycle.
Erlin’s Eye is an abandoned station on the edge of a system in crisis. Run down, chaotic, unruly, and alive—it was founded by idealists in the shadow of a corporate collapse. Now it is held together by anarchic alliances, ramshackle factions and a shared desire to be free from the gravity of corporate control.
Gameplay-wise, during every cycle you’ll get up and choose what to do with your time. Toil in the yards, or take a bar shift. Search the markets for rare components or grab some street food. Make or break alliances, uncover truths and escape those that hunt you. Learn to survive and ultimately thrive, one cycle at a time.
Erlin’s Eye plays host to characters from all walks of life, trying to eke out an existence among the stars. Salvagers, engineers, hackers, bartenders, street-food vendors, each has a history which brought them here. You choose which of them you wish to help, and together you will shape your future.
The game’s publisher, Fellow Traveller, and developer Jump Over The Age shared a roadmap of free DLC episodes which will expand upon Citizen Sleeper.
The three new episodes will drop throughout 2022 and into 2023, deepening the lore of Citizen Sleeper and adding new characters, story and quest lines to discover on Erlin’s Eye.
Episode 1: FLUX
‘FLUX’ is to be the first episode and launches in July (date TBC) will kick-off a new story that expands across the three updates. As pressures in the Helion system bring the first ships of a refugee flotilla to Erlin’s Eye, you must help those on board to arrive safely on the station before the quarantine locks them out.
But fear not, you’re not alone. The first episode also introduces Eshe, a stubborn and driven spacer whose fate becomes entangled with the refugee ships. Her story will challenge players to rely on more than just the roll of dice to deal with a growing crisis that threatens the entire station.
You can hack into the station’s cloud to access decades of digital data, uncover new areas and unlock secrets. This is your unique power, and with it you can change your future. Corporate secrets, rogue AIs and troves of lost data await those willing to dive into the depths of the station’s networks.
Essen-Arp: to them you are just property, one more asset in a portfolio that stretches across the stars. You are the product of an abusive system, in a universe where humanity’s expansion is marked by exploitation and extraction. Escape the makers of your decaying body, and chart your own path in a richly imagined, deeply relevant sci-fi world which explores ideas of precarity, personhood and freedom.
Citizen Sleeper isinspired by tabletop RPGs and uses dice, clocks and drive to create a player-led experience, where you choose your path in a rich and responsive world.
First up we have…Action Dice: Each cycle you roll your dice. Assign them to vast range of actions available on the station. With every action, choose what, and who, matters to you, shaping the lives of those around you, and ultimately the future of the station.
Next up are Ticking Clocks: Clocks track both your actions and the actions of others across the station. From becoming a local at the Overlook Bar to protecting a friend from Yatagan enforcers, clocks allow you to track your own progress and the influence you have on the world around you.
And then there’s Drive + Skills: Follow drives not quests, allowing you to pick and choose the stories and activities that matter to you. As you do, you will shape your character’s five skills (Engineer, Interface, Endure, Intuit and Engage), unlocking perks and bonuses that reflect and change how you choose to live in this world.
Citizen Sleeper is currently available on PC (Steam, GOG, Epic, Humble)..
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