Science fiction has a long history of using non-human subjects to depict moving human stories. Because of its deep examination of individuality and community in a world where everything seems fragile, 2022’s Citizen Sleeper almost immediately earned a spot alongside films like Blade Runner. The compelling, system-hopping plot of this sequel continuously reaches the same high points. A consequence of its tabletop-inspired design, redesigned survival systems, new multilayered crew missions, and an enhanced sense of tension in every dice roll makes Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector more engaging more often, even though it can be extremely slow-paced, repetitive, and full of walls of text.
Compared to well-known role-playing games like Final Fantasy or Dungeons & Dragon, Citizen Sleeper’s RPG features are more akin to pen-and-paper systems like Blades in the Dark and Ironsworn. Your lack of interaction with your statistics from a planning and preparation standpoint is the clearest indication of this. Everything you do is influenced by your level of skill, and the key to making the right decisions is allocating the few dice you have for the tasks at hand. However, there is not much you can do to change how these roles turn out or protect yourself from potential repercussions outside of that.
This restriction has the potential to be liberating. You spend far less time attempting to protect yourself against Citizen Sleeper’s whims and more time learning to go with the flow, celebrating your victories, and swallowing your losses, as you do not have the opportunity to get bogged down in the details as more complex RPGs provide. In a way that seems as fresh as the first time, Starward Vector remains true to the notion that great drama emerges when you can not simply min-max your way through hardship. I embraced this drama since it addressed my problem with the passivity of the prior game and forced me to go through every possibility every time.
The brand-new crew systems in Citizen Sleeper 2 are effectively utilized.
There are still three classes for Your Sleeper, the android lead who is a machine in body but a mental replica of a long-dead person. I went with the Extractor, which was dreadfully unsuited for more delicate and technical tasks but well-suited for enduring physical labor and excelling at plunging headfirst into dangerous settings. To make the dice-rolling parts of Citizen Sleeper 2 more flimsy, the strengths and weaknesses of each class are presented somewhat differently here than in the original.
You cannot enhance your dump stat, which is the lowest of the five accessible on your character sheet. Additionally, you will receive a -2 penalty if you use your dice on any action that relies on that value, such as the Extractor’s Inuit skill. It can be disastrous on the rare occasion when the only option to succeed a check is to roll at such a significant disadvantage, but most actions include at least two alternate stats that could be used to attempt a task.
Utilizing its brand-new crew systems, Citizen Sleeper 2 puts your hangers-on to the test throughout more complex scenes. Up to two crew members can accompany you on specific missions, such as searching an asteroid for potable water or scrapping old, abandoned ships in space. Each crew member has a pair of dice that you can use to give assignments to them. For example, smashing open a ship’s hull to allow a more hardware-inclined ally to locate the mainframe and prepare it for your hacker to grab some data is an example of a mission that takes longer and involves numerous cycles of stages.
Your Sleeper’s new Push skills, such as the Extractor’s Rally, which boosts their die but also stresses everyone out, can be tactical godsends, and it is useful to mix and change crew to bolster up your weaknesses. Many of these specific duties can cause a crisis outside of supply limits, adding another layer of time constraints to your work before an unanticipated disaster destroys your efforts. Without a doubt, these were the most entertaining aspects of Citizen Sleeper 2. I had to think on my feet the most, prepare the most before shipping, and regret it the most when I failed.
The old condition system has been replaced by the new Stress meter, which can be a little more harsh even though it has similar effects on your dice from cycle to cycle. Every time you fail a check or something else bad happens, stress points are accumulated instead of a status bar that slowly ticks down, preventing you from rolling dice as the meter shrinks so you can roll again once your condition returns to normal. As your Stress rises, so does the quantity of numbers you will be penalized for rolling every round. For instance, if your Stress meter is past the halfway mark and any of your dice display between a 1 and 3, they all receive damage.
The first game was severely lacking in a sense of danger.
Each dice can sustain three hits before breaking, at which time they cannot be used again until they are fixed, which calls for resources that are not particularly uncommon but are not always available. I have been trapped mid-mission on a few occasions, downing a few dice and using up the last of my remaining ones. Although these are annoying moments, they do contribute a sense of peril that the original game lacked. Later in the game, when moving about is less difficult, it is also less of an issue.
Almost every mission (called Drives here) involves making connections and building relationships with people. Community building in the static space station of Erlin’s Eye was a core value of the original plot, and Starward Vector re-emphasizes this message in its system-spanning journey both in story and gameplay. It’s a message that feels even more important these days, as well: solidarity among like-minded people and a collective wit and will to fight for change can help overcome the limitations of class and resources when up against seemingly impossible odds.
Overall, the writing itself is pleasing. It is not overly poetic or detailed, giving your imagination enough room to fill the gaps between the words and your thoughts. When depicting tense exploratory sequences, it can be straightforward and abrasive. When analyzing ideas of personhood centered on the android protagonist and personal agency, it also excels at weaving intricate webs of existential and philosophical conflict. This is because multiple external agitators attempt to take control of you in various, occasionally terrifying ways. Nevertheless, its scenes of frantic gunfights and daring escapes fall short in contrast, thus it lacks the same impact regarding the physical conflict.
Verdict
Sleeper 2 of Citizen: Starward Although it does not have to, Vector stays very close to what made the original one a cult favorite. Finding and enhancing community in the face of tremendous obstacles, expressing personhood to oneself and others, and the complex nature of control over one’s self when that self is a machine that can be restarted and hacked are all explored in this moving and fascinating novel. It is not exactly heart-pounding because of its visual novel-like interface, which primarily consists of reading and dice rolling, but the updated character classes and stats, new crew missions, and stress mechanics give players just enough input and a sense of precarity to keep them interested.
