Clock in for a shift on the edge of interstellar capitalism

Developer Jump Over The Age

Publisher Fellow Traveller

Format PC

Origin UK

Release 2022

Factions and gangs, some more friendly than others, control various sections of the Eye.

On the wall near their desk, Gareth Damian Martin – the (mostly) solo developer behind Citizen Sleeper and In Other Waters – has a Post-it note with the words ‘precarity, human stories and influence’. “To me, precarity is one of the defining feelings of this generation,” they say. “My experiences in life have been defined by the feeling of being exposed to risk, of being on the edge of things where something could push you one way or the other.”

This feeling of insecurity is foundational to Citizen Sleeper, a roleplaying game in which financial and structural pressures keep you teetering on the brink of disaster. You play as an escaped ‘sleeper’: a digitised consciousness in an artificial body, owned by a corporation that is desperately trying to reclaim you. Escaping indentured servitude isn’t an instant route to happiness, however, as your old masters are quickly replaced by new ones. As you scrape a living on the ruined space station of Erlin’s Eye, your personal maintenance costs stack up, and some inhabitants seek to financially exploit you. Your body is designed to decay without regular medication from your old corporation: a method of countering escape attempts termed ‘planned obsolescence’. Faced with these challenges, you take whatever work you can get, and make connections with fellow Eye residents to build a new life for yourself.