It’s cool to be kind inCitizen Sleeper.
What really grabs you, though, is how this is reflected in the nature of Citizen Sleeper itself.
This may sound clunky; believe me when I tell you that’s my fault.
Citizen Sleeper is the opposite.
A rare game that knows how to get out of its own way.
So, back to the nature of it.
It’s a lot to juggle, for a thing that seems so simple at a glance.
At first it’s the people of Citizen Sleeper.
(Quick example: I was a Machinist, so I had +1 Engineering from the off.
Do as you wish, having cast off your chains.
Build yourself a more humane and truly meaningful life.
Setting out to prove a point means building walls around yourself, anticipating comebacks, pre-countering counter arguments.
This shouldn’t matter - it’s fun!
But it couldn’t.
There is real anguish and intimacy here, real experience, real softness, pensiveness, complexity of thought.
The trap here is to conclude that the game, therefore, can’t work.
Yes, Citizen Sleeper is keen to convince at times.
Its mist-grey, Neuromancer Matrix is a haze of mental interpretation.
Its characters - dock workers, bartenders, chefs, gangsters, botanists, AIs - are fundamentally alive.
