Citizen Sleeper: Beginners Guide

Life is nothing but a roll of the dice, or at least that’s how the saying goes. This is especially the case if you happen to be the copy of a human placed into a robot at the whim of a corporation. That is the situation that players will find themselves in when they step into Citizen Sleeper.

Waking up as a fugitive android in the Eye space station, players have the option to choose from three classes, each one of which gives them a bonus and a negative to certain stats. However this is only the beginning of the journey, and we here at Robot Republic are here to give you everything you need to know to begin this journey.

EVERYTHING COMES DOWN TO CHANCE (DICE ROLLS + SUCCESS)

So first things first, we need to talk about dice and how they affect the game. The dice control everything that the player can do in this game, but what are they and how do they work? When players start they will have four slots, these slots contain the dice that are rolled after each rest period. It is possible to get more, a total of six, and even less but we’ll go over that later. Essentially, these dice are used in several ways but the main has to do with completing tasks.

After having rested the dice will be rolled and receive values from 1-to 6. These values don’t change so you are stuck with the rolls you have at the start of the day. This is important as the values can be used for more than just completing tasks. However, let's focus on the tasks first as they will take the majority of playtime.

WHAT DRIVES A SLEEPER? (DRIVES + TASKS)

When visiting one of the areas of the Eye players are given two options, these options are jobs that the player can complete. The player can choose to place one of the dice in the slot to complete the job. Each job comes with a certain amount of risk, especially the ones labelled ‘risky’ (solid journalism I know). This means that, when choosing dice, it is important to use the best dice for the riskiest job.

This choice is more than simply avoiding risk, however, as the dice number can also affect the rewards as well. For instance, when choosing a six you have a hundred per cent chance of a positive outcome, while a four will give a twenty-five per cent positive outcome, a fifty per cent neutral outcome and a twenty-five per cent negative outcome. For the most part positive and neutral are rarely different, but they can affect the completion gauge of each job.

It might seem that getting only low dice on a roll is a bad thing, but it really isn’t for one reason. While doing jobs is one of the main parts of the game, it isn’t the only one. The other aspect of the game is hacking, and this is where the low rolls often come into play. When you want to hack you need a dice of the corresponding number, and most of those are ones and twos. These hacks are part of the quest system, called drives, and these are what help to upgrade your character.

Drives come in a variety of forms but most involve completing a set of jobs to find out about the area and then doing tasks for the people you meet. These tasks can often take the form of small bars that need to be filled. One important thing to note is that there is a difference in colours for the bars. Yellow is something that the player needs to either complete or a timer until the end part of a drive. If the bar is red then it’s a timer which means the player needs to complete an action before it ends. The yellow bars can be completed whenever the player needs to, but the red ones have to be done before they finish or they can seriously hamper the player so focus on them.

One important note, the first red circle you see can not be avoided. It is essentially part of the story to fail that one so don't worry too much about it. In truth, the outcome is actually quite interesting.

BEING THE BEST ROBOT YOU CAN BE (STATUS + PERKS)

When it comes to dice and drives, there is one main contributor: the status of the sleeper's body. Each of these status’ have a different effect on gameplay so let’s go over them. Earlier I mentioned that the player could get more or less dice. This is all based on the player's condition, when it’s higher it means that the player gets more dice. The lower the condition the fewer dice that the player has available to them.

The condition can be taken down in several ways, including getting a negative result on a job. It will also naturally deplete as time passes, the company that built the sleepers liked to place redundancies in their products. The main way to increase condition is to buy the healing items on sale from the doctor, but it costs a lot of money so avoid damage if possible. Ideally, make sure that the condition bar is kept full as it means more dice and thus more jobs.

The other condition to watch is Energy, which depletes over time. Energy’s main purpose is to maintain condition. If the energy meter reaches starving then the condition of the sleeper will decrease at double the rate. The main way to add to the energy levels is to eat, which again costs money. The best thing to do is eat every day and keep the bar full, the noodle shop is the best place for this as it is relatively cheap.

Each completed drive gives upgrade points to the player. These points can be used to upgrade the sleeper in five different sections. These upgrades can either be new perks, or bonuses to the dice in each job. There’s no real ‘right way’ to complete these but two really useful perks are the ones that allow the player to repair themselves and absorb energy from the sun. It is important to note that it is not possible to remove the minus one negative from the initial choice, so watch for that.

Citizen Sleeper is more of a game about resource and dice management than it is an action game. However, it is pretty easy to pick up and play and gives enough challenge to be entertaining. Hopefully, these tips and tricks will help you start your adventure to becoming the best robot person you can be!

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