Sequel Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector from Fellow Traveler and Jump Over The Age brings us back to a cyberpunk world that you must explore on PS5. Learn more in our Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector review!
Sequel Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector from Fellow Traveler and Jump Over The Age brings us back to a cyberpunk world that you must explore on PlayStation 5. The game places you in the role of a sleeper, an emulation of a human mind housed in an artificial body. For this narrative-driven experience, you’ll need to do whatever it takes to escape from the Essen-Arp Corporation that created you… as well as from the gang that is trying to control you. You must build a network of crew and allies as you commander a ship that will aid you in completing the many contracts that you’ll take on to have a chance of building a future for yourself. You won’t answer to the gang and its leader who claims ownership of your android body, nor will you fall into the clutches of the Corporation. You have, after all, managed to rewrite the code that governs your system to have a new life! The bad news? You have no memory of what has happened before that particular moment.
I previously got a chance to work on a Citizen Sleeper review on Nintendo Switch in 2022 – which was one of the best games released for Nintendo’s console that year – as well as In Other Waters on the Nintendo Switch console back in 2020 – right around the start of the you know what – both of which come from the same developer and publisher combo as Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, so I was more than ready to take this new game for a spin on PlayStation 5. While the game takes place after the events of Citizen Sleeper, you don’t need to play that game to be able to understand and enjoy what the sequel has to offer. The events take place in the Helion System known as the Starward Vector, hence the game’s name.
As your journey is about to begin, you’ll need to start by choosing your class for your Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector run. As was the case for Citizen Sleeper, your class options are Operator, Extractor, and Machinist. Each class will also have a unique Push ability. The Operator is built to work with drones and remote machines over local networks to perform corporate resource extraction from a distance. It has the Reboot configuration, which allows it to reroll the lowest dice while gaining +1 on overall stress. The Extractor is built to work at the coal face of corporate resource extraction, often in hard vaccumm environments. It has the Rally configuration, which trades some stress for a +2 on the lowest crew dice. As for the Machinist is built to repair and modify automated systems used in corporate resource extraction. They have a Focus configuration that gives it a +2 and focus on the lowest dice while gaining some stress.
You can also choose between three difficulty settings: Safe, Risky, and Dangerous. Safe is the one that offers the lower overall risk, with a higher stress tolerance – more on this in a bit – no death and broken dice that are worth 1. Risky is the standard difficulty setting, balanced to challenge you without making you feel overwhelmed. Broken dice won’t be usable, stress builds up at the standard rate, and death will incur a considerable permanent penalty. And then, there’s the Dangerous difficulty setting. This one is best reserved for experienced gamers, as any mistakes you make will cost you dearly. Dice repairs will require more resources, stress will build up at a much faster pace, energy depletes at twice the rate, and death is permanent!
The choices you make along the way and the actions you take will have an impact on how the story unravels… and the roll of the dice will decide all of this. In classic tabletop fashion, there are many stat value checks in Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector. New to this sequel is the way your choices can contribute to the buildup of stress. Stress can be very bad for your future survival since it can end up damaging your dice and those of your companions. While you have the option of repairing the dice – at a cost, of course – not doing so means you could end up with a glitch dice. This particular dice has an 80% chance of dealing you the worst possible outcome… as well as a 20% chance of dealing you the best possible outcome. Will you risk it?
You should definitely work on upgrading your character as you complete objectives. You can use this thanks to the upgrade points you obtain by tracking Drives. These are split into two types: Minor Drives and Major Drives. Minor Drives will grant you a single upgrade point when completed, while Major Drives will reward you with two upgrade points. On the character screen you’ll be able to upgrade your skills to boost the skill modifier that is apllied to your dice during stat checks. There’s also the option of upgrading the Push ability of your character as well.
The game features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to work on. The list is split into 14 Bronze trophies, 10 Silver trophies, and 6 Gold trophies for you to work on. Given the game’s nature, it’s hard to talk about a good chunk of the aforementioned trophies without spoiling things for you. There are trophies tied to recruiting specific crew members to your cause. You can also unlock trophies by completing specific objectives based on your choices and dice rolls. On top of those, you can get trophies for obtaining a successful outcome from a glitched dice and completing the game in the Dangerous difficulty setting, which is easier said than done.
Sequel Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector brings us back to a cyberpunk world that you must explore on PlayStation 5. The game places you in the role of a sleeper, an emulation of a human mind housed in an artificial body. For this narrative-driven experience, you’ll need to do whatever it takes to escape from the Essen-Arp Corporation that created you… as well as from the gang that is trying to control you. You must build a network of crew and allies as you commander a ship that will aid you in completing the many contracts that you’ll take on to have a chance of building a future for yourself. You won’t answer to the gang and its leader who claims ownership of your android body, nor will you fall into the clutches of the Corporation. You have, after all, managed to rewrite the code that governs your system to have a new life! The bad news? You have no memory of what has happened before that particular moment.
I have to say, I was definitely getting some Cowboy Bebop and Firefly vibes from this one, which is not a bad thing! The whole thing about having a crew and being on a spaceship navigating through the Starward Belt certainly adds to the overall experience as you explore each area to learn more about what makes this whole world click. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is out on PlayStation 5 with a $24.99 price tag. You can also get the Citizen Sleeper Hellion Collection for $39.99, which includes Citizen Sleeper for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, as well as Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector for PlayStation 5.
Disclaimer
This Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Fellow Traveler.
