Review: Citizen Sleeper

destructoid.com:

Each morning is a roll of the die. Some days in Citizen Sleeper, I’m down on my luck, struggling to juggle multiple bars that I can top off but will never keep filled. Others, I’m thriving, awash in opportunities to chase whatever my heart desires. Some days I get to chase flights of fancy. Others, I have to pass on social calls just to survive.

Citizen Sleeper is a game that proudly wears its tabletop influences. It’s a mix of storytelling and dice, with every round melding choices with ticking clocks. Social management is the closest I can get to describing it, when really it’s more like social Yahtzee for one, with a GM looming overhead to tell you the story and outcomes of your chosen options. And developer Jump Over The Age is quite good at it.

Citizen Sleeper (PC [reviewed], Mac, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass)Developer: Jump Over The AgePublisher: Fellow TravellerReleased: May 5, 2022MSRP: $19.99

To start, sleepers are essentially artificial beings, emulated from the consciousness of another. Like a Replicant, they are sold into corporate servitude, except you have somehow escaped. By some grace, you are a sleeper that’s found their way to Erlin’s Eye, a ring station on the fringes of settled space.

Time is measured in cycles, and for the first few rotations, your time is spent carrying out odd jobs for whoever might need them done. Repairing ships, hacking interfaces, delivering food, and anything else that gets you by. All the while, the meters tick down.

Several forces govern your time and attention. Condition is the state of your artificial body, which is falling apart without the proper medication to avoid a sort-of planned “obsolescence.” Energy is like a life bar and hunger meter wrapped into