There’s been a lot of talk about survival games over the past couple of weeks here at TheGamer. You’d think it wasSurvival Weekor something. I’ve been desperately trying to engage in these conversations, aboutRustorValheimor evenheavily-modded versions of Skyrim. Truth be told, the only survival game I’ve ever stuck with for more than a few hours isPalworld, and its survival mechanics arebarely even present.
I was trying to bring something to the table, wondering if I could talk about my struggles to find iron inThe Lord of the Rings: Return to Moriaor even about the fact that I don’t really gel with the genre. And then it hit me.Citizen Sleeper, one of my favourite games of all time, is a survival game.
Mechanically, there are only very barebones survival systems. You have to manage your hunger and your decaying android body. Hunger is easy, you can farm mushrooms or head to Emphis’ stall for some of his delicious noodles. I always opt for the latter. Repairing your failing body is more difficult, as you rely on expensive drugs often bought from disreputable vendors.
Staying on top of both metres uses precious action dice, which you therefore can’t use for exploring or providing your friends with vital assistance when needed. Your heart sinks. There are just two turns left to help the refugee flotilla. But you desperately need to eat something, or you’ll die yourself. You only have two action dice left thanks to the cracks appearing in your robot chassis and the fluid leaking from your fingertips. Help others or save yourself. It’s an impossible choice.
This is where Citizen Sleeper grabbed me, in its characters and stories, in the urgency that the denizens of The Eye need help. Putting timers on quests can often feel a little cheap, an arbitrary way of upping the stakes, but Citizen Sleeper always backs it up with a compelling narrative.
Whether it’s securing tickets on a flight out of here for a woman and her child, or gathering intel on the space station’s various gangs so you’re able to combat the virus that threatens to wipe out life on board, you always feel like there are three or four things that need your immediate attention, timer or not.
You’re fighting for survival. You’re fighting for your own survival, and you’re fighting for the survival of others. Citizen Sleeper mirrors our own world in the way that all good sci-fi should, and whether that’s delivering vital supplies to refugees, helping a family escape from poverty, or navigating the corrupt, self-interested politics of this world, you always feel like lives are at stake. You want to help Mina survive, as she represents all children stranded on The Eye, and those on the breadline in real life. You want to help Riko because you believe that there’s a better way of living, a communal alternative to the oppressive regimes that control worlds both fictional and all-too real.
You might not consider Citizen Sleeper a survival game, but it’s definitely a game about survival. Every turn is a fight to stay alive. Every dice roll has the potential to change someone’s fate for better or worse. Every character is in desperate need, including yourself. It’s impossible to divorce this feeling of hopelessness from the sentiment in modern Britain. Citizen Sleeper hits so hard because we know people fighting to survive in our own cities and communities. We know people who can’t keep up with energy companies artificially inflating the price of electricity or landlords raising rent on a whim.
Citizen Sleeper may be light on survival mechanics, but it certainly doesn’t hold back when it comes to its themes. Surviving in Valheim may be building a fire, but surviving in Citizen Sleeper is saving a life. With any luck, that selfless act may be repaid when you need it most.
Survival Week at TheGamer is brought to you by Nightingale -available on PC in early access February 20.
Survival Week
Welcome to the home of TheGamer’s Survival Week, a celebration of all things, well, survival. Here you’ll find features, interviews, and more dedicated to this popular genre, brought to you by Inflexion Games' upcoming open-world survival crafter, Nightingale.
