4.5/5 ★ – Bengerman10's review of Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector.

After I was done with Citizen Sleeper 2, I stared at my Steam Deck screen for about five minutes. Then I placed it on my lap, looked up, and didn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the night. There is a lot of beauty in Citizen Sleeper 2 - it has a gorgeous UI, the music is melodic, sometimes wistful, sometimes somber, and the writing ever so gently presses you to think - not just once or twice, all the time. It's a game about identity, giving people second chances even when it's challenging, accepting responsibility, and perhaps most holistically, what it means to be human. Why we wake up in the morning, why we keep pursuing our dreams in the face of an ugly and defeating reality, and why all of it matters. Every once in a while, I'll play a game that prompts meta-textual analysis. When I play games, I like to focus on their hooks, progression systems, the level of challenge and mechanical focus. Sometimes when I play games, they stir something else in me - something that feels more important than that. Citizen Sleeper 2 was that game for me, and I was so disappointed to learn that most of its (very limited discussion) pertained to the mechanical changes between the first game and the sequel, some notes about its world building and strong writing, and what an atmospheric achievement Sleeper 2 is. And all of that is worthwhile to discuss, to be sure. But for me, this game was really ABOUT something. It was the best kind of art, the kind that gestures but doesn't point directly. Every time I thought I knew what this game was trying to say, it would swerve me somewhere else - take me to a different corner of my mind that I hadn't explored. And so when I think about Citizen Sleeper 2, I don't think really think about it in terms of what it was accomplishing mechanically (which all felt strong and perfectly aided its storytelling), I think about what it had to say about taking care of people and the self-doubt, responsibility, and weight that comes with it. It made me think about the people in my life, the challenges they are facing and how they are trying to carve a life out for themselves in the face of oppression and pain. It made me think about my own recent health problems and my body and what it means to be alive. It's a game about community and community being what drives our decision making and sense of purpose. To say that Citizen Sleeper 2 was impactful for me would be an understatement. Though, underneath all of that, there still is a really strong structure that makes everything spin. We used to talk about ludonarrative all the time (shoutouts to the Ludonarrative Podcast) and Citizen Sleeper 2 fits the bill perfectly - especially on the hardest, permadeath difficulty, you're constantly having to make decisions based on resources versus helping out people around the Starboard Vector. Often times the most challenging decisions come at low-points in the playthrough, where you're lacking funds or resources, and turning someone down for help is more about self-sufficiency and survival than it is not wanting to do a quest. Sleeper 2 also introduces a "pursuit" mechanic in which the game's leading antagonist is chasing you from planet to planet, and your stay in each location has to be quick and efficient. Smartly, Sleeper 2 adapts to this by adding a crew-based system, so home is where the heart is so to speak, and it never feels isolating while planet hopping. If anything, having an opportunity to meet so many delightfully designed characters and having to pick which ones were worth helping versus not gave additional weight. I do think the one nitpick I have with Sleeper 2 is that it doesn't have a sense of place like the first one did with "The Eye." Because you're bouncing around from space to space, the familiarity which each area doesn't really kick in until the end of the game where you can more comfortably travel. As a result, the game feels a little wider in terms of its atmospheric storytelling and a little narrower with its plot. I think it really benefits from the latter, even though the narrative threads are a little less open ended as a result. I've now all but experienced everything there is to experience in Citizen Sleeper 2 (my lone remaining achievements have to do with the permadeath difficulty, which assuredly I'll try again when DLC releases). But it was that first time through, the one where my failures resulted in the end of narrative threads I so desperately wanted to see the end of but couldn't because it meant sacrifice of myself or others, that made the stakes so high. This is undoubtedly going to be one of my favorite games of the year. It's not the kind of game I typically found myself playing before the predecessor, now I'll excitedly hunt anything down that feels even remotely close to what I got to experience here. But I think the beauty of Citizen Sleeper 2 that it has so much heart and it lets you experience failure without letting you go back and easily fix it. Instead, it asks you to reflect and learn and change things next time. Or not. I have a lot to say about Citizen Sleeper 2, but I fear it to be scatterbrained and almost too personal to contribute anything that will be worthwhile to others. So instead, I'll stick to how this game made me feel - which is to say it made me feel like I have a lot still to learn about myself and a lot left to learn about others.