Deal | Compelling story instead of nonstop action: Sci-fi RPG drops below $6 on Steam

In Citizen Sleeper, players take on the role of a so-called Sleeper – a digitized human consciousness transferred into an artificial body. After escaping the megacorporation Essen-Arp, you find yourself stranded aboard Erlin's Eye, a rundown space station that serves as a refuge for outcasts, laborers and sentient machines. As your former owners slowly close in and your artificial body begins to fail, you must carve out a new life on the station and fight for the freedom to determine your own future.

Unlike narrative RPGs such as Disco Elysium, Citizen Sleeper does away with a freely controllable character altogether. Instead, its richly written story unfolds through dialogue, player choices and a tabletop-inspired dice system. Each cycle begins with a limited number of dice that can be assigned to different activities, including work, exploration, hacking and conversations with the station's inhabitants. At the same time, players must carefully manage their energy, food, medicine and the deteriorating condition of their artificial body. Multiple storylines and several possible endings ensure that each playthrough can unfold in different ways.

In its review, Softpedia praised Citizen Sleeper for its exceptionally well-written story, its philosophical themes surrounding identity, freedom and humanity, and its immersive science-fiction setting. According to the publication, however, the gameplay itself is less engaging than the narrative. The review also criticized the fairly basic dice mechanics and the somewhat cumbersome interface, which involves a lot of clicking and waiting. Even so, Softpedia awarded the game a solid 8 out of 10.

On Metacritic, Citizen Sleeper holds a Metascore of 82 and a User Score of 7.6. The strongest reception comes from Steam users, however, where 92% of more than 10,000 reviews recommend the RPG. On Steam Deck, the game is rated Playable.

70% off on Steam

Citizen Sleeper normally sells for $19.50 on Steam. Thanks to a 70% discount, it is available for $5.85 until July 26. According to SteamDB, this matches the game's all-time low price. However, the title reaches this discount fairly regularly, most recently during the Steam Summer Sale in June. Players who miss the current deal will likely have another opportunity before long.

Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.