The cyberpunk genre has been in a strange position lately. With the controversial launch of Cyberpunk 2077 still lingering in the minds of many, mainstream gaming has very little else to offer in terms of letting players role-play within a dystopian future. On the other hand, indie gaming has been using the genre as a playground for experimentation. This year saw the release of Citizen Sleeper, a game that triumphs in delivering a narrative characteristic of a cyberpunk setting.

Recently, Citizen Sleeper was nominated for the Games for Impact category at The Game Awards 2022 for its story with a "pro-social meaning or message." Part of the appeal of the cyberpunk genre is typically the fantasy of living out the cybernetically enhanced power fantasies of a lowlife or corporate hotshot. However, this often overlooks the harsh realities of what a cyberpunk society would be like: a life of poverty, struggle, resorting to vices, and so on. Citizen Sleeper does not shy away from these topics; instead, it embraces them and delivers a low-key story with a powerful message missing from other cyberpunk experiences.

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Living Is a Struggle in a Cyberpunk World

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The story of Citizen Sleeper plays out from the perspective of a refugee sleeper, referred to as The Sleeper, an individual whose mind is emulated and placed in a robotic body. They escape the grasp of their corporate developers by fleeing to The Eye, a derelict space station inhabited by thousands of nobodies just like The Sleeper. The Sleeper is not meant to survive on their own, and the player has to live out that reality through survival mechanics. The protagonist needs energy and food to survive and escape The Eye. They are no hero and there are plenty of others just like them struggling to survive.

Take, for example, the single father Lem and his daughter Mina. Lem takes on a job as part of a crew of repairmen to fix a ship leaving The Eye, with the repair crew chosen as passengers in a drawing. Lem makes it his goal to escape The Eye with his daughter, working tirelessly to earn a spot as a passenger on the ship, and this is reflected in his Drive, Citizen Sleeper's equivalent of quests. By interacting with Lem, the player will have to babysit Mina, developing a bond with her and becoming part of the family. There is camaraderie in the struggle, and Lem and The Sleeper bond over sharing the work of trying to escape The Eye.

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The Little Things Matter in Citizen Sleeper

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The aforementioned is just one of several characters' Drives the player can pursue, and they all highlight some aspect of living in a cyberpunk world over the course of several cycles, which could be thought of as an in-game day. Corporate conspiracy, corruption, and bounty hunting are there for those who desire more traditional cyberpunk ideas. Still, the highlights of these stories are often the little moments where the player is expected to live in this world. Another example would be working at a bar to pay off your ex-bounty hunter's tab to prevent him from turning The Sleeper back into their developers, subverting expectations about how one might get rid of a bounty hunter.

Citizen Sleeper ultimately excels at subversion of expectations due to its focus on how living in the world works. Because it is considered a survival game, more emphasis is placed on how life moves on and how the people that inhabit The Eye live. There is little room for high-octane shenanigans within the world of Citizen Sleeper because, at the end of each cycle, it is a miracle to simply still be alive.