Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 17
  2. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. Jul 13, 2022
    95
    Citizen Sleeper is an amazing piece of sci-fi media and an even better TTRPG game that will have you glued to your seat to the early hours of the morning, reading and trying to figure out how this world and its colorful characters work. If you love adventure and story in games you mustn’t pass on this one.
  2. May 18, 2022
    90
    Citizen Sleeper is a breath of fresh air for a genre like science fiction, more and more inclined to self-cite itself and to enhance its aesthetics, leaving the content partially in the shade. Its settings, although not directly observable, are alive, pulsating, and inside it is possible to intertwine with the stories of the inhabitants of Erlin's Eye. A sort of second chances simulator in which to create a new identity to start from scratch. Minimalist gameplay, stratospheric illustrations and an ethereal and dreamy soundtrack make it an essential experience in our opinion.
  3. May 4, 2022
    90
    The Eye isn’t perfect and, in the end, it wasn’t my home. But it is the place where I discovered a different one. Citizen Sleeper elicits feelings like that incredibly well, while providing a practically catered experience that will stick with me, long after my departure from Erlin’s Eye.
  4. May 16, 2022
    88
    Citizen Sleeper is a title that we feel we can promote without too many hesitations because it represents what any author's game should be: a personal work that carries out its main theme within its systems, that is, that makes its ultimate meaning in the mechanics alive.
  5. Jan 25, 2023
    80
    Citizen Sleeper is a cyberpunk gem that tells an extraordinary, profound story and makes you think.
  6. Jul 20, 2022
    80
    A cyberpunk life sim, as rough as it is emotional. Citizen Sleeper is all about the story (which is great), not so much the gameplay elements (which are very simple).
  7. Jun 28, 2022
    80
    Citizen Sleeper – an enjoyable journey into a mind trapped in a stolen artificial body – is a game where the story is more important than gameplay mechanics and the questions that arise along the way are more important than answers. This narrative game that creatively combines the randomness of dice with some survival and management mechanics does not fully deserve to be called a „Disco Elysium in space”, but the association is basically correct.
  8. May 24, 2022
    80
    This is a great game built upon a solid narrative that carries the weight of the adventure.
  9. May 22, 2022
    80
    Despite its simple gameplay, Citizen Sleeper still captivates players thanks to its intriguing cyberpunk story and its rich and detailed setting, full of history, personality and charm.
  10. Edge Magazine
    May 19, 2022
    80
    Citizen Sleeper doesn't shy away from weighty topics, and excels in managing to explore these while feeling intensely personal. [Issue#372, p.112]
  11. May 13, 2022
    80
    Citizen Sleeper creates a strong universe and gives the main character an engaging story with plenty of choices. Erlin’s Eye feels like a small part of a well-designed narrative space that can support more exploration. The visual design fits in with the wider themes of the game and the characters never become preachy. The problem is that the developer also cares about gameplay and the concept of investing for a result. The dice system is adequate enough, but everything takes so long and requires too many clicks. Citizen Sleeper would have probably worked better as a more classic visual novel, with the resources assigned to mechanics re-routed to deliver more story.
  12. May 6, 2022
    80
    An evocative life-sim RPG you won't want to wake up from.
  13. May 4, 2022
    80
    The story of Citizen Sleeper is one of the most thoughtful and emotionally satisfying I’ve ever played. Your story will be different, and I wholeheartedly recommend that you find out what it is.
  14. May 4, 2022
    80
    Citizen Sleeper is fantastic. It's a deep and well-crafted narrative experience with a fascinating setting, and is filled with plenty of challenging questions for players to ponder over. This is a game that gets cyberpunk right.
  15. 80
    With its emotional story and complex management mechanics, Citizen Sleeper is a game you don’t want to sleep on. You’ll be swept away by its beautiful and harrowing world-building and fall for the characters that breathe life into this already intricate world. You will die and the learning curve is steep, however it is all worth it for the philosophical story Citizen Sleeper intends to tell.
  16. 80
    An absorbing mix of tabletop inspirations and sci-fi storytelling, that makes for one of the most unique and well-written games of the year.
  17. Aug 2, 2022
    70
    Overall, Citizen Sleeper is the kind of game one has to be in the right mood for. The setting is cold and alienating, while the overall mood for much of the game is a desperate struggle for survival against stacked odds. Once the stress of this abates, however, there are some genuinely lovely moments of characterization and storytelling that are absolutely worth it to experience. The challenging dice-based tabletop gaming experience is stressful at first, but loses some of its challenge as situations are dealt with, giving way to lovely and thought-provoking story interludes. With the developer supporting the game further with several pieces of free DLC, there’s a good amount of worthwhile sci-fi to experience here.
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  1. May 5, 2022
    Occasionally turning subtext into text, Citizen Sleeper's real magic is found in the boundless warmth of its characters - and the humanity of its own design. [Eurogamer Recommended]
  2. May 3, 2022
    Citizen Sleeper’s most potent power lies in that first playthrough, when you arrive with nothing, and know even less. This isn’t so much about “replay value” as it is about the singular experience of a journey that — in keeping with the fiction of being a ragged Sleeper trying to survive — is very much a one-way street. Did I do right by my Sleeper? I don’t know. But all things must come to an end, and I feel like they would understand. [Polygon Recommends]
  3. Ultimately, it's not the machinery of Citizen Sleeper I'll remember, not the ticking clocks and the rerolls, but the hackers and the mercs, the drunks and the shipyard workers. Because like Feng once said: systems aren't important, people are.
  4. May 3, 2022
    Citizen Sleeper stands out as one of the best games of the year, with great writing that avoids easy outs.

Awards & Rankings

User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 35
  2. Negative: 5 out of 35
  1. May 31, 2022
    3
    I like the artstyle, the mechanics are fun. However the ideological hammer that beats you in the head is a bit difficult to miss.
    The evil
    I like the artstyle, the mechanics are fun. However the ideological hammer that beats you in the head is a bit difficult to miss.
    The evil capitalist corporation, that owns everything including your body (you get it?! Not your body, not your choice!) Fights the good physically strong women. It's too blatant for good storytelling and makes it more like a fairy tale than cyberpunk. There are no gray-area for your morals. Everything is black or white, good or bad. A bit lazy story..
    Full Review »
  2. Jul 19, 2022
    10
    Citizen Sleeper delighted and surprised me. Its evocative writing and character design bring the story to life, and the tabletop-rpg-styleCitizen Sleeper delighted and surprised me. Its evocative writing and character design bring the story to life, and the tabletop-rpg-style resource systems reinforce the feeling that your character is barely scraping by in a cyberpunk dystopia on the frontier of space. I find myself daydreaming about the situations and people I met along my first journey on Erlin's Eye, and I can't wait to start another. Don't miss this one. Full Review »
  3. Jun 21, 2022
    9
    positive: amazing atmospheric music (check out Amos Roddy) / stories / characters
    negative: game mechanics are a bit bland, quite short
    positive: amazing atmospheric music (check out Amos Roddy) / stories / characters
    negative: game mechanics are a bit bland, quite short (10-11 hours for me)

    hoping for more content to be added
    Full Review »