These days, there’s only a small number of titles that get the greenlight for a sequel.

It’s a cutthroat, numbers driven game in 2025 with finite budgets and wild overheads and smaller still is the amount of these games that actually release. Even tinier is the amount of indie games that get the sequel treatment. And then, if they make it through all that, somehow there’s the games that somehow surpass and better what came before it.

I’m pleased to say Citizen Sleeper 2 not only got commissioned, it’s released and it’s every bit as good – and better still – than its predecessor. As I’ve illustrated above, an incredibly rare feat indeed.

I’ll admit, I did bounce off CS 1 quite a few times and really struggled to settle into a rhythm with it. I could see it was a good game, I could even tell it’s something I’d like but for whatever reason, we just weren’t made for each other. Up to now, at least.

And to be honest, at first glance, you’ll probably fail to see where the differences lie here or why you should pay this one much mind if you didn’t like the first. But the moment I booted up CS2, I was invested, hooked, engaged, and could not put my pad down. It starts with the writing – it has to, really, as you practically boot the game up to a black screen. But the way the words connect with one another, the descriptions laid out before you, the tense feeling you get as you continue through each paragraph, just grabs you.

And it’s even more impressive still because the writing in CS2 has to do a lot of work. There’s some beautiful character portraits and 3D models sure. The UI is also pretty clean and the music really gets under the skin, but ultimately you’re going to be spending around 80% of your time reading.

You could skip through it, sure but you’ll definitely be confused by what you’re meant to do and you’ll be missing a lot of necessary context. So it’s best to think of Citizen Sleeper 2 as a visual interactive novel that also has elements of a dice-based RPG and some survival and traversal to keep you on your toes.

CS2 is ultimately a game of cat and mouse, though. You, as a Sleeper, being pursued all over the galaxy by an individual known as Laine. They’re the first person you see in the game and a constant presence throughout as you’re hunted from starport to asteroid belt. There’s a connection between you, an android and Laine and while you’re running for your life, you’re also trying to discover what that is.

Luckily, you can get help from a host of allies, meeting them as you visit and explore new areas and even take on contracts to help them, then meet up later on in the game. These allies can even be recruited to join you on contract missions and often have unique abilities that can help you with certain choices and actions you make.

Contracts and parties are definitely the big addition here, opening up the game in unique ways, adding even more risk – and potential reward – to your adventure. You could decide to take on a contract to help a fledgling ship and if you’re feeling bold, could even excavate the site for additional resources, but to do that requires using up valuable time and energy which may actually be more precious to you.

See, the time part all plays into being hunted. You only have five die rolls per cycle and the die you’re given have random numbers assigned to them. Higher roll die, obviously increase your chances of success and can even give a boost to your action. But once your die rolls are up, you’ll be limited in what you can do and need to settle down for the night. That takes a day away from you and brings the hunter closer to their prey.

But it gets even more complicated still because Citizen Sleeper 2 has a stress system! Should you fail on a die roll in an attempted action or something happens during the course of the game, you will ‘lose’ a stress level bar on your die. And here’s the kicker, if you lose all three bars on a die, it is removed from the game entirely until you fix it. Meaning you go down from five turns to four.

Not stressful enough? Dies can also become corrupted, meaning eventually you won’t be able to see what number die you have, meaning you’re rolling blind until you fix it.

Heck, how about throwing in an energy level bar as well? This you’ll need to keep up through eating and nourishing yourself, making sure you have enough supplies, that you eat cooked meals or get enough sleep. Not doing that also adds to your stress and eventually means you’re paralysed to do anything at all.

And if you haven’t got enough credits to buy supplies or a meal, you’ll need to take out a contract in order to earn some. See where I’m going with this? Contracts are the most stressful thing you can do in the game and if you’re already entering one with half your resources, it’ll take double the time and you may not even come back alive.

Something I learned pretty quickly playing Citizen Sleeper 2 is that I’m spending most of my time on the backfoot. I’m practically crawling across the galaxy, just about surviving, barely keeping myself in the game, and just feeling pretty hopeless and desperate, but not entirely done either. Rarely does it feel like you’re in complete control, you will have to make difficult choices, tough decisions and sometimes even abandon contracts entirely even if you’ve done a bunch of work to try and finish them.

I love that about it. It gives the game life, feeling, emotion and just really forces you to make the best choice in the moment while still trying to think about the long term goal of survival. You can risk it all on a few credits, absolutely, but what damage will that do to your ship and crew?

In fact, you can immediately put yourself in a tight spot before starting by picking a class that may not benefit the route you take. Fortunately, you can give yourself a bit of a break by also claiming resources and levelling up certain attributes or boosting your skills in a particular discipline, but those resources are few and farbetween and very tricky to score.

The game does a great job of creating unique, fun scenarios, though, really inspiring you to try them out. Missions feel different and moments are important, even if you’re dealing with one backstory of one person you meet or what may seem like a throwaway task you just picked up because you had a bit of extra time on your side.

But I also have to commend the UI of the game. It feels sleek, it packs a lot in and while it might seem overwhelming at first, really does become completely clear how you use things and for what. This even extends to the wider star map when you decide to move away from your current location and try to stay ahead of Laine. Some locations won’t be immediately open to you, requiring you to find certain components in the game and others can only be reached by visiting somewhere else first. You really do have to plan your steps.

And I absolutely adored moving the map around the places you dock. Locations within the ports gradually open up and you can smoothly move enlarged space stations and planets around with the left stick, admiring the game’s surprisingly beautiful, vibrant and enriched visual style.

Citizen Sleeper 2 is just a blast. It’s absolutely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and progress will definitely require some patience, but if you let it, you’ll find a game filled with a really strong, enjoyable sci-fi arc, strong three dimensional characters and a compelling core loop that really goes deeper with decisions and choices than you may expect or realise.

Where several outlets are calling this a potential GOTY contender, they truly aren’t kidding. Jump Over The Age have made a great indie game a truly exceptional one with a world that truly stays with you.

Verdict

Citizen Sleeper 2 is a very special game indeed, a rare indie sequel and an even rarer one that betters its predecessor in almost every single way. From its writing, to its characters, exploration, contracts and surprisingly deep systems, it is a total package. I could not put my pad down, even if I wanted to, and adored the challenge right from the word go. While it definitely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, you simply must see and experience to truly believe how damn good it is and why it’s the first must-play game of 2025. 

Pros

---

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is out now on PC, Xbox GamePass, Switch and PS.

Played on PlayStation 5

Code Kindly Provided by Fellow Traveller for review purposes