Through a wormhole, darkly

No, it’s notSilversun.

Sit down,Brian.

All the while your misfit crew will clash and commingle.

The player loses the trust of Juni while they float above a derelict ship.

You still haven’t got it, have you?

I suppose I’ll let the game’s designer tell you then.

And I really like that as a hook."

Cover image for YouTube video

“I’ve always wanted to make one of these crew-and-ship games,” says Martin.

But it’s the ragtag recklessness of Farscape that seems to be flavouring the RPG sequel.

“I’m not a big fan of stories about powerful heroes.”

A rough engineer called Karsten recruits the player in the mechanic’s yards.

It’s worth saying, however, that thequietly caring tone of the first game’s writingremains intact.

My adventures in the demo saw my character arriving at a rough space station of mechanics and dockworkers.

Eat food at the canteen to restore some energy.

The player’s ship offers a place to sleep, and the player places a dice with a value of 1 into the slot.

Gamble with the losers at the docking bay.

The higher the dice you insert, the better chance you have to be successful.

It’s simple, clean, yet gets more complex as you progress.

The player confronts a floating Juni about an object they both need.

As a storytelling gear, it also presents some challenges.

And so even if the player can’t see those numbers, they definitely exist.

I love the idea of that kind of narrative gameplay infecting the mechanical gameplay."

The player’s ship is in port at the Hexport Docks, a grey space station.

But they will also take “stress” damage at any failed rolls.

Pity I had to abandon her on a derelict ship…

I’m sure she’s fine.

A map of the region of space the player can explore, showing a mysterious “conway signal”.

“Both” is the implied answer offered by this sometimes-sorrowful, sometimes-hopeful universe.

“I think that’s something that’s happening in Citizen Sleeper a lot more.

“I leave myself a lot of loose ends constantly when I’m writing.

Serafin and Juni work with the player to enter a derelict spaceship.

And then I decide which ones I’m going to pick up… That happens much more naturally if it’s all loose ends.”

I’m up for that.

So long as we’re not lefttoowanting.

A relaxed Nia floats in a space station as the lights glitter beneath her.

However, it sounds like the developer might take a longer break this time.

“I certainly wouldn’t immediately go onto working on Citizen Sleeper 3,” says Martin.

But they did it.

No unresolved tensions here.

What’s that you ask?

She’s, yeah, probably out there.

I’m sure she’s over it.