Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector Reviews
Citizen Sleeper 2's broader scope stretches its mechanics thin, even while its story flourishes.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector fine tunes the slow-paced, dice-heavy gameplay of the original with its new and aptly named stress system and multi-stage, multi-character missions.
With a new found sense of tension, and showpiece Contract missions, Citizen Sleeper is transformed. This follow-up has improved the RPG formula in every way.
The writing is as striking as it is illustrative, which is so important in a text-based game. The RPG mechanics have been fleshed out, iterated, doubled down upon. It’s Citizen Sleeper, but more. I’m just not sure if I wanted less.
Citizen Sleeper 2's space and stations can be cold and cruel, and the vast corporate machine never ceases its churning, but there is a certain romance to everyone moving forward with their lives and loves – often in spite of all this – and it is hard to not be charmed.
The strength of the Citizen Sleeper series, especially in this sophomore release, is realizing this very message. Home isn’t where you await the next cycle to begin but where you have the freedom and space to make mistakes.
Cowboy Bebop and Firefly influence an even bigger, more ambitious cyberpunk noir RPG
It’s incredibly grounded, and something I wish we would see more of in sci-fi. Citizen Sleeper’s world belongs to its junkyard scavengers, grubby engineers, repair technicians, cargo haulers, and everyone else on this ramshackle asteroid belt.
With more dicey systems and crew management than the first Citizen Sleeper, this sequel risks losing some of its storytelling heart, even if it remains a well-crafted sci-fi world.
Citizen Sleeper 2 is an excellent example of a polished sequel, continuing all the things that made its predecessor a beloved indie darling while building upon and expanding those systems with some new and interesting ideas of its own. The decision-driven narrative, tense RPG systems, and incredible soundtrack all come together to make for a game that is almost impossible to put down once you get pulled in. Newcomers who want to see what all the fuss is about will enjoy this as much as players who loved the first game - Citizen Sleeper 2 stands tall as a worthy follow-up.
It features complex but fun dice mechanics, a choose-your-own-adventure playstyle, and many memorable characters to interact with. If you're able to push through the initial learning curve, you'll find a worthy and long-lasting VN experience.
A fantastic sequel which succeeds in providing a mechanically deeper role-playing experience, while still being one of the best-written games around
I really enjoyed Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, especially travelling between different locations. The new dice system is a bit too much, though, and little would have been lost if only one of the broken or glitched dice concepts was used. The story and writing are still great, though being spread across a wider setting means it does lose some of the magic of the original.
Citizen Sleeper 2 isn’t about living in a perfect world free from oppressive systems, nor does it posit that such a thing is possible. Its comfort is in the belief that we can carve out a home in a world that’s built to box us out. That’s accomplished through the people we keep close, the communities we build, and what we do with our bodies. These should be the things that no one can take from us.
It challenges you with harsh conditions and constant dread while telling you a story about what work does to a body, practically forcing you to reflect on your own history. It doesn’t reward you with hope or simple optimism, but it does offer validation. In this case, that might be better.
The first Citizen Sleeper used beautiful, haunting lines of prose to thread together a deep, engrossing world, and its sequel builds on that with refined gameplay and more locations to explore. It's almost the perfect sequel to one of my favorite Xbox Game Pass titles, but a wider world does mean a little less depth as well.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is a valid sequel that shares its predecessor's compelling setting and some of its characters, while also introducing new mechanics. Stress could perhaps have been better handled, being essentially neglegible most of the time and nerve-wracking during the new time-limited contracts, but that's pretty much the only real criticism I can move at the game.
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In large part due to its stellar characters and writing, Citizen Sleeper 2 stands as a remarkable achievement not only in the video game space, but in the sci-fi genre as a whole.
The main thrust of gathering a motley crew and exploring a small slice of the game's universe is great, and with various classes and upgrades to choose from, there's plenty of reason to replay too.
Citizen Sleeper 2 is everything you could want from a sequel, building on its predecessor's strengths in storytelling and character design while also bringing new complexity to the dice and clocks that govern its capitalist dystopia.