Citizen Sleeper 2 Wants You To Fail Your Way To A Better Story

Ahead of the release of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, I spoke to developer Gareth Damian Martin about what it's been like to come back to the world of the dice-driven RPG in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 world and how this sequel ensures the action remains interesting even during failure. Citizen Sleeper 2 uses a very aggressive auto-save feature, preventing players from recovering from their mistakes or circumnavigating difficult rolls through save-scumming. As Damian Martin puts it, they're "trying to be a game master for a million people," and that means honoring player's choices and incentivizing them to keep going even when it might feel like the deck is stacked against them.

In Citizen Sleeper 2, you once again play as a sleeper, sentient android that's an emulation of a human mind that's then housed in an artificial body. The story begins with your body on the fritz and a bounty placed on your head, and no immediate means to repair yourself or escape the asteroid belt-located settlement you find yourself on. You pick a class to curate your ideal playstyle and then set out, using dice rolls to determine the outcome of the choices you make and shape the relationships with the crew you begin to recruit. Each class now also has its own unique push ability, allowing you to potentially reroll the dice in certain circumstances to transform a failure into success.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector launches on Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, PS5, Switch, and PC on January 31.

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