As we close out a pretty packed January for Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft has one more ‘day one’ launch to bring to the service – Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector. While we haven’t had time to try this one out here at Pure Xbox HQ yet, reviews are starting to hit the web for this new sci-fi sequel.
So, with that in mind, here’s what the critics are saying about Citizen Sleeper 2 ahead of its Game Pass arrival later today:
Eurogamer (5/5)
“I didn’t know how Damian-Martin would follow Citizen Sleeper 1, to be clear, but in Citizen Sleeper 2 they’ve done that and done it in some style. They’ve found a way to make the game part of the equation make sense, to bring it forward from the shadows and weld the adventure inseparably to it. It works wonderfully.”
VG24/7 (5/5)
“Between musings of transhumanism, capitalism, power, and technology are human stories about real people. No space wizards, no ship shootouts, no heroes. Just the everyday reality of folks trying to survive. It’s incredibly grounded, and something I wish we would see more of in sci-fi. Citizen Sleeper’s world belongs to its junkyard scavengers, grubby engineers, repair technicians, cargo haulers, and everyone else on this ramshackle asteroid belt.”
TechRadar Gaming (5/5)
“Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector tells a radical science fiction tale through an impeccably designed system and a moving narrative rife with themes that are acutely attuned to our times. This is bolstered by a crew of companions who are not only well-fleshed out but offer genuine support during crises – a predicament you’ll find yourself in frequently. The soothing atmospheric soundtrack doesn’t hurt, either.”
PCGamesN (9/10)
“Starward Vector offers a dilated vision of the Citizen Sleeper universe, one that we had to imagine from the many conversations we had while stranded on Erlin’s Eye in 2022. The freedom to hop in the Rig and blast off to a distant waypoint has the air of an open-world game about it, yet its unwavering focus on ordinary people is antithetical to big-budget sci-fi blockbusters like Bethesda’s Starfield – and it’s all the better for it.”
GamesRadar (4/5)
“Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is a smart sequel in that it takes everything that worked from the stellar first and expands, but the novelty of the original – which was quietly transformative for anyone interested in the genre – is a difficult lightning to capture in a bottle twice. It works, and works well, but the success of Citizen Sleeper also set the bar impossibly high.”
IGN (8/10)
“Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector does not stray too far from what made the first one a cult hit, but it doesn’t need to. It tells a rich and poignant story about the complex nature of control on one’s self when that self is a machine that can be rebooted and hacked, finding and enriching community in the face of overwhelming odds, and expressing personhood both to oneself and to others. It’s visual novel-like presentation is heavy on reading and dice rolling, so its not exactly pulse-pounding, but the retooled character classes and stats, new crew missions, and stress mechanics provide just enough feedback and create a sense of precarity throughout that it stays engaging.”
Stevivor (7.5/10)
“While I wholly and utterly understand and respect Martin’s choices in this sequel, the resulting experience is one that I’m falling away from, encountering failure after failure. If you’ve more skill (or luck?) than I, this mightn’t be an issue for you.
Fans of the original will surely enjoy this — keeping what I’ve said in mind — while those that are intrigued by its concept should get out the original first. Engage accordingly.”
Digital Trends (7/10)
“Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, the sequel to 2022’s indie critical darling, kicks off in a high-stakes fashion that I wasn’t prepared for. Rather than hiding out on The Eye and quietly trying to survive, I’m immediately on the run.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector balances survival stress and transhumanist optimism, even if those ideas are sometimes at odds with one another.“
At the time of posting, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector has a mighty impressive aggregate score of 85 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic – so yep, it’s safe to say players are really liking the game so far. This Citizen Sleeper sequel hits Xbox Game Pass Ultimate today, January 31.
Excited to try this one out, PXers? Don’t get too sleepy and talk to us about it in the comments.
