Versatile Space Adventure--Citizen Sleeper

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how I ran into a list of game recommendations in an odd place--namely National Public Radio (NPR).  Despite being a bit skeptical of the source I decided to check out some of the titles on their list...and, guess what?  So far they've been 2/2!  Both games I've decided to check out have been winners (**see my review of Norco).  Last night I finished my first playthrough of Citizen Sleeper and was very impressed.

What is it?

A story-based RPG of the more textual variety.  The story centers around your character a "sleeper"--a robot with a mind that is the emulation of a human mind--who has escaped from a strictly controlled corporate world and crash landed on an independent space station.  Your goal is to survive, to elude the corporation who isn't happy to have lost its property, and to find a path for the future.

Pros:

+ The writing is top notch.  The characters you meet are interesting and have many layers--they're not simply "good" or "bad" but have complex motivations.  I know that some people are turned off by games that require a lot of reading, but the writing is so good in Sleeper that it's very enjoyable.

A daily activity at the shipyard.

+ The gameplay is deceptively simple but requires making many choices about how to spend your limited daily resources.  Your character starts each day (called a "cycle") with a certain number of dice (the number of dice you receive is dependent on the condition of your body--something that is a key part of the story).  The numbers on the dice reflect the probability of a certain outcome--a low number die (1 or 2) means you have a 50% chance at a neutral outcome or a 50% chance at a negative outcome; higher numbered dice increase your chance of getting a positive or neutral outcome and decrease (or, in the case of a 5 or 6--completely eliminate) the chance of a negative outcome.

The map is scattered with many opportunities to explore the station and discover more locations or more about the station itself.  Each activity you choose requires you to use your dice and many activities require you to spend multiple cycles to unlock them.  As you unlock locations you run into the cast of colorful characters who populate the station--they offer up storylines you can choose to participate in (or not).

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed trying to puzzle out how best to spend my dice every day.

+ Very replayable.  I finished up my first playthrough in about 6 hours.  That seems short but there were many other options or paths I could've taken that would result in different outcomes.

Another factor that contributes to the replayability factor is the option to choose different classes.  Each class has a certain set of talents which add a positive modifier to your dice rolls for certain activities--for example, I chose engineer for my first playthrough so I started with a +1 modifier to all engineering activities.  Since I had that positive modifier on engineering activities, I tended to seek them out--my character spent quite a bit of time in the shipyard.  Throughout the game you earn experience points and can earn new talent points that can improve the talents you have and offer special skills as a bonus or can be used to unlock other abilities.

I am looking forward to choosing a different class for my next playthrough and experiencing new story paths.

+ There's a cat!  I like cats and you can find a feline friend at a certain location.

+ Additional FREE content is being added!  Three episodic story branches are in the process of being added to the core game.  One episode, called "Flux," is already out (sadly I missed it because I didn't know how close to the end of the game I was) and another is scheduled to be added at the end of October.  It's always nice when free stuff gets added to games!

Cons:

-I don't really have any cons as I found Citizen Sleeper to be a really great game.  If you're one of those people who are anti-reading in games...well, you're missing out, but just go play Call of Duty or something.

Recommendation:

I would highly recommend Citizen Sleeper.  The writing and story are top notch and there are so many choices to be made.  The fact that there are numerous outcomes makes subsequent playthroughs very appealing.  I bought it on sale (for $15.99) but it's definitely worth full price.