Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector - Review

RPGamer reviewed Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector:

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector Review

Wake Up, Sleeper. Again!

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is Jump Over the Age’s triumphant return to hope in an era of deep space capitalist collapse. This time around, players build a crew and travel between humanity’s outposts among the stars, chasing post-corporate intrigue, odd jobs, and personal goals. Many of the sci-fi elements are familiar aspects of grungy space exploration à la Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, or Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers: the small ship skirting financial ruin in a gig economy, beauty in brokenness, the restorative power of found family, and the struggle for freedom. But Citizen Sleeper 2 is unique in its unflinching exploration of how people and societies are shaped by and rebel against external forces. It is a unique celebration of community in the face of history’s inexorable scars.

As in Citizen Sleeper, the protagonist is a sleeper: an artificial being who contains mental aspects of a human debtor serving their sentence in cryosleep. Unlike most sleepers, this one isn’t an indentured corporate possession or dependent on chemical stabilizers to prevent their body from breaking down. Nevertheless, planned obsolescence can’t be ignored for long. Life is dangerous and they’re falling apart. The technology and politics that lead to this thorny state are a lot to absorb, but they wend through the story in a way that invites curiosity rather than obscures. The Starward Belt is far from Erlin’s Eye, the setting of Citizen Sleeper, but longtime fans will be happy to know many of its stories continue. Like Erlin’s Eye, the Starward Belt is an area of former corporate influence, rife with technology and repurposed holdings from a period of unchecked growth. Corporate war is far away but not so distant that its shockwaves are inconsequential.

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Citizen Sleeper 2 is a timely story about hope in the face of collapse and how the inevitability of endings can’t negate nobility, sacrifice, or human connections. Although it doesn’t offer as much narrative freedom as suggested by its expansive maps, the strength and depth of its stories more than recommend a play. It’s dark in space, but the points of light we find and nourish can guide us.

Score: 4.5/5

Thanks Couchpotato!