Citizen Sleeper 2 Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: Citizen Sleeper 2 Review - Detailed Summary

Release Date: January 30, 2025

Hosts: Tim Gettys, Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller, Blessing Adeoye, and Andy Cortez.

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1. Introduction and Setting the Stage (00:08 - 08:17)

The episode begins with the hosts engaging in light-hearted banter about personal mishaps and health issues, setting a casual and friendly tone. Greg Miller humorously recounts past episodes and interactions, while Blessing Adeoye shares anecdotes about board game nights and dealing with children at gaming events. This segment establishes the camaraderie among the hosts and prepares listeners for the main discussion.

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2. Introducing Citizen Sleeper 2 (08:17 - 09:15)

Greg Miller introduces the episode's focus:

[08:17] Greg Miller: "In 2022, a game called Citizen Sleeper came out. I heard no one speak about it until you started speaking about it. And for three years now. Ish."

Andy Cortez enthusiastically confirms:

[09:15] Andy Cortez: "Yes, it sure does."

They outline the anticipation surrounding the sequel, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, developed by Jump Over The Age and published by Fellow Traveler, set to release on January 31st.

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3. Deep Dive into Citizen Sleeper 2 (09:16 - 19:17)

Overview and Personal Impressions

Andy shares his profound appreciation for the original game, highlighting its narrative depth and immersive storytelling:

[09:17] Andy Cortez: "And I've always talked about how Citizen Sleeper is a much more different game than I would ever give a chance to...I was just so enthralled and engrossed with the experience."

He explains the game's premise:

[10:38] Andy Cortez: "In Citizen Sleeper, the player character is a sleeper, a human whose mind has been digitized and put into a robot body...You can lend your...sell your body to a corporation..."

Gameplay Mechanics

Andy elaborates on the game's unique dice-driven RPG mechanics intertwined with visual novel elements:

[12:51] Greg Miller: "It's this interesting visual novel, but then mixed up with the, as I read, dice based RPG mechanic."

He compares the sequel's mechanics to the first game, emphasizing improvements and added complexity, such as a stress meter that impacts gameplay.

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4. Narrative and Emotional Impact (19:17 - 26:46)

Storytelling and Character Development

Andy delves into the emotional resonance of the game, comparing it to experiences from other titles like Dragon Age: The Veil Guard. He praises the sequel for maintaining high standards in storytelling:

[24:06] Andy Cortez: "...the demo ended at a certain spot...it was just so amazing throughout."

He emphasizes the meaningful connections with NPCs and how choices impact emotional fulfillment rather than just narrative outcomes.

Audience Engagement

A listener, Eric Myers, poses a question about whether new players need to play the first game to understand the sequel. Andy confirms that while it's beneficial, it's not necessary to jump into the sequel without prior experience.

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5. Technical Performance and Platform Experience (26:46 - 39:52)

Steam Deck Performance

Greg inquires about the game's performance on the Steam Deck, to which Andy responds positively despite minor UI issues:

[38:54] Andy Cortez: "The demo is still up on Steam...it looks great. It performs great."

Choice of Starting Class and Gameplay Impact

Listener Chris asks about the impact of starting class choices. Andy explains how each class affects gameplay and party dynamics:

[39:43] Andy Cortez: "Absolutely, yeah. Especially knowing that one of those skills you cannot ever have..."

This segment highlights the game's strategic depth and the significance of player choices in shaping the experience.

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6. Comparison with Other Games and Final Impressions (39:52 - 52:25)

Comparisons to Other Titles

Blessing Adeoye draws parallels between Citizen Sleeper 2 and games like Disco Elysium and NieR: Automata, praising its thematic exploration of humanity and technological integration:

[46:25] Blessing Adeoye: "Everything you're saying just reminds me of near...what does it mean to be human?"

Final Ratings and Recommendations

Andy confidently rates Citizen Sleeper 2 a 9 out of 10, reaffirming its position as a top contender for Game of the Year:

[51:53] Greg Miller: "And it turned out it did live up to the hype."

[52:01] Andy Cortez: "Sure did."

He encourages listeners to engage with the game through available platforms and demos, ensuring accessibility for both returning players and newcomers.

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7. Conclusion and Call to Action (52:25 - End)

The hosts wrap up by reiterating the game's strengths and urging listeners to experience Citizen Sleeper 2 for themselves. They promote their membership and support channels, ensuring fans can stay connected and engaged with future content.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• [08:17] Greg Miller: "In 2022, a game called Citizen Sleeper came out. I heard no one speak about it until you started speaking about it. And for three years now. Ish."

• [09:16] Andy Cortez: "I am proud to say that Citizen Sleeper 2 is a contender for at least my top 10."

• [25:19] Greg Miller: "But I especially mean video game thing."

• [34:21] Listener David Page: "Did they gamify more of the systems from the previous entry, or is it still very much in line with how simple and straightforward the first one's systems were? If the former, did that detract from the experience of the first? If the latter, did it feel like it did enough to improve in other areas?"

• [51:53] Greg Miller: "And it turned out it did live up to the hype."

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Final Thoughts

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector emerges as a deeply engaging and emotionally resonant sequel that builds upon its predecessor's strengths while introducing refined gameplay mechanics. The hosts' enthusiastic endorsement underscores the game's quality, making it a must-play for fans of narrative-driven RPGs.

For those interested in experiencing a meaningful sci-fi narrative with strategic depth, Citizen Sleeper 2 comes highly recommended. Whether you're a returning player or new to the series, the game offers a compelling journey into a dystopian future where human connections persevere amidst adversity.

Stay Connected:
Join the conversation and support Kinda Funny by visiting patreon.com/kinda funny or subscribing on YouTube. Share your thoughts on Citizen Sleeper 2 and engage with the community as the hosts continue to explore the ever-evolving world of video games.

Transcript

[Greg Miller]

What's up, everybody? Welcome. Jesus Christ. You scared me. I didn't see that one coming at all.

[Andy Cortez]

I had no way to be ready for it. Fuck, man.

[Greg Miller]

For Thursday, January 30, 2025, I'm one of your hosts, Greg Miller, alongside Forbes 30 under 30, aka New York Game Awards nominated, aka Magic the Gathering, Poppy Blessing, Eddie Oye Jr. Everybody in this.

[Poppy Blessing]

Office is sick, you know, sneezing, coughing. I don't trust you guys. First off, your whole family, sick.

[Greg Miller]

We're recording this in a time loop. Of course. We're recording this on Tuesday after we did the last gamescast. I sound great today compared to Monday. Monday had that cough. You guys made me laugh so much, it irritated me. But I've been great today. I've been fine.

[Poppy Blessing]

Likely excuse. You made me laugh so much that I'm coughing nonstop.

[Greg Miller]

I mean, I was coughing.

[Poppy Blessing]

I'm funny. Throughout the year.

[Andy Cortez]

You had a cough. Your last gamescast and you're the last 10 minutes. I was like, oh, there was an entity that. That exited that.

[Greg Miller]

Well, that's where I kicked it out. He ended it for me. That's how. Of course. Hispanic heartthrob, Texas street, Latino heat. Clicking heads and ripping them to shreds. The globe trotting head shot and three point shooting. Rooting Tootin Nitro rifle from Twitch tv. Andy Cortez. How are you feeling?

[Andy Cortez]

I'm doing great.

[Greg Miller]

Awesome.

[Poppy Blessing]

What was that sneeze? Was it just a. I got some dust in my nose.

[Andy Cortez]

I felt a. I felt a tickle. Felt a tickle in the nostrils.

[Greg Miller]

You're the one. You're the one out there in the night, all right. Playing Magic the Gathering board games, people puking, got the norovirus over there. One child.

[Poppy Blessing]

What are you gonna do with the children? And also I was careful because like those. One of the kids who.

[Greg Miller]

How young are these kids you're playing with?

[Poppy Blessing]

Well, I'm not playing with the kids. The kids are just having to be there. The adults are playing the adult games.

[Andy Cortez]

Hey, I thought the nine year old.

[Poppy Blessing]

Beat you up in what? Which nine year old? Nine year old beat me up?

[Andy Cortez]

No, that was when you went to the Magic Fest.

[Poppy Blessing]

Oh, yeah, no, that was. Yeah, that was at the. The Whatchamacallit pre release. Yeah, no, then. But he didn't beat me up, though. I beat him because his best two out of three. I beat him the first game, he beat me the second game. But then we ran out of time and so I gave him the win so that one of us could win the Pack because you have to win. Like if you submit a tie, nobody wins the package. And so like I'm like, well, he's the kid. So what? I'm not gonna flip.

[Greg Miller]

I'm just saying you're around people too. You're getting sick too. All right?

[Poppy Blessing]

But I'm saying these.

[Greg Miller]

I got the dad bod, the dad immune system.

[Poppy Blessing]

Because I'm watching, I'm, I'm at this board game night, I'm watching this three year old, right? And like, like there's a lot of snacks and stuff. Like it's, I love this, this game night. It's like, it happens. Where is it? This is at a friend's house.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Poppy Blessing]

And it happens like once every like probably five weeks or so and they have children. And like this last time, you know, he had Cheetos out. He had like. Yeah, yeah. Different snacks.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, just the hands are everywhere.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Poppy Blessing]

I just see this kid. Oh man, this kid's hand and I was like not eating those. Smart move.

[Greg Miller]

Smart move. Yeah. 100%. 100%. Yeah. That's the, you know, Ben learned a valuable lesson that I'll have to, you know, repeat fourteen, thirteen hundred thousand times. But this weekend when we were playing our games, he is getting better, but he's still getting over sucking his thumb. And so, yeah, he had me beat a part of Astrobot or Sonic for him and I passed the controller back and he pulled him like nobody. This is a dual sense. All right, There's a microphone in there.

[Andy Cortez]

That's a great call. Get him started early on that.

[Greg Miller]

I'm not going to raise one of these kids just a ruffian who has no idea what he's doing out there. Exactly.

[Andy Cortez]

It wasn't until Greg really sort of like drilled that idea into your mind of when you go to a convention, don't ever touch your mouth.

[Greg Miller]

That's why every get sick. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And like I am so self conscious of that now. It's always in the forefront of my mind whenever I'm anywhere with food. It's like I, I either have. I'm always wearing a mask in an airport because that's always like the place that I always get sick at. I always take a disease back home and I get sick when I'm back in Texas or I'll bring it sickness back over here.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

So that's like eliminated pretty much. But then when you're at a convention and there's finger foods or you're at a, you know, preview event touching the.

[Greg Miller]

Let'S touch the controller then let's pick up a slider. All it takes is one time. It takes one time. Where I almost passed out of Comic Con, I was like, never again. Never.

[Poppy Blessing]

Do you guys try to fist bump people?

[Andy Cortez]

Oh yeah, I know I fist bump.

[Greg Miller]

So my MO. Upon leaving the hotel room or whatever, going to a preview event is that my hands are biohazards. So I shake hands because I know I'm not. I would never in a million years touch the food and eat it or do that or rub something. Once I'm out, I know it's whatever and then I'll be.

[Poppy Blessing]

I had a thing at. I believe it was. Oh, I forget. I think it was Pax East. It was Pax east where I. It was lunchtime and I was like, man, I'm starving. I'm going to go to like the food court area that's in the convention center. And I had like, I was like, okay, let me find a nearby bathroom because I don't know if I'm going to be wash my hands when I'm at the food court. I'm sure this bathroom, but who knows? So I wash my hands and like it was a obstacle course of like trying to make sure my hands stayed clean. I ran, I ran into a friend of mine who I love him so much, but he will not just like not shake my hand. Anytime he sees me, he needs to dap me up fully. And I, I like tried so hard. Like I made the. Of like I'm fist bumping you and he grabs my hand. I'm like, come on my guy.

[Greg Miller]

See, I, I've been in that situation and I will stop. I will stop everything. I'm about to go eat. I'm not doing this. That's why.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. I'm not afraid of, you know, making an enemy out of a friend.

[Poppy Blessing]

Yeah. But you know, I don't know, I just thought, I don't like an awkward situation.

[Greg Miller]

Nah, my whole life's an awkward situation. It's fine. This has been the thing, of course, you know, being a germaphobe, but on, you know, lower level. Not like, you know, OCD or anything like that. Not that anything wrong with that. I'm just making sure. I'm not trying to, you know, have false valor here, but the idea of like the things I've had to get over with having a kid, you know what I mean? Of like I'm still hungry in the half eaten sandwich that he has been playing and touching. I was like, you know what I mean? Like, I gotta keep the immune System going, whatever, I'm hungry. I'm in terms of again, the levels, like, sure, I'm a germaphobe, but I'm a fat guy first. So like today he's not gonna finish that egg sandwich. Give me that thing. I made a great egg sandwich today. Come on now.

[Poppy Blessing]

Proud of you.

[Greg Miller]

Of course, I'm gonna make a great podcast for you today as well, because this is the kind of funny gamescast. Each and every weekday, we run you through the biggest topics in video games. Whether they be previews, topics to talk about, or like today, reviews of games you should be paying attention to. If you like that, of course, join us each and every weekday here on Twitch TV, kindafunnygames, YouTube.com kindafunnygames and podcast services around the globe. Of course, if you're watching live, I would normally tell you you could be a super chatter and get a part of it, but like I already told you, because of travels and in previews and all these things, we're recording this ahead of time. However, Andy Cortez went above and beyond and put up a Blue sky post. So we do have audience feedback. Good job, Andy. Round of applause.

[Andy Cortez]

No problem.

[Greg Miller]

Good job out there.

[Andy Cortez]

Of course, man.

[Greg Miller]

Of course. If you want to support us, Bey following us on Blue sky, it's pretty simple. You should get that kind of funny membership. $10 gets you all of our shows. That's 20 a week, 80amonth A.D. free. And of course, the ability to watch the afternoon podcast live as you record them. And of course, a daily dose of me in a series we call Greg Way, where even when I'm on the road, like today, somebody else does it. I think it's Roger today. Roger with his Trinidad stories.

[Poppy Blessing]

Is he back?

[Andy Cortez]

Trinidad on Thursday.

[Poppy Blessing]

Oh, got you.

[Greg Miller]

Is that what they're calling them? I like that.

[Andy Cortez]

The Trinidad.

[Greg Miller]

Can we say that?

[Poppy Blessing]

Well, you're saying he's back this Thursday?

[Greg Miller]

That's what the calendar says.

[Poppy Blessing]

He was gone for two weeks. Has it been.

[Andy Cortez]

No. 10 days.

[Poppy Blessing]

Wait, was he gone last week?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, yeah.

[Poppy Blessing]

Wow. It's like I didn't even notice.

[Greg Miller]

Don't let Roger see this chat. Be cool, Chappie.

[Andy Cortez]

Cool.

[Greg Miller]

Do not show this to Roger.

[Poppy Blessing]

He was gone last week.

[Greg Miller]

Do not show this to Roger.

[Andy Cortez]

Birthday yesterday. But they can't.

[Poppy Blessing]

No way.

[Greg Miller]

You didn't notice he wasn't part of Game Showdown. He's like your CO on that thing. And he wasn't here for it.

[Poppy Blessing]

Oh, yeah, I guess he wasn't. It was a kind of feudy episode. You know we only do one but.

[Greg Miller]

If you got no bucks to toss our way, no big deal. YouTube.com like subscribe, share ring the bell, tell your friends, leave a review. If you have Amazon prime, you have Twitch prime, you know the whole song. Housekeeping for you. You already got kinda funny Games Daily today. Of course you're getting a stream after this that as of Tuesday is supposed to be Sniper Elite Resistance. If you're a kind of funny member, you can get today's Greg Way hopefully from Roger Today's we want to thank our Patreon producers Delaney Twining and Carl Jacobs. Today we're brought to you by BetterHelp and Bilt. We'll tell you about that later. For now, let's begin the show with what is and forever will be topic of the show.

[Andy Cortez]

Andy hey Greg.

[Greg Miller]

In 2022, 2022, a game called Citizen Sleeper came out. I heard no one speak about it until you started speaking about it. And for three years now. Ish. You've never shut up about it. Yeah, you love Citizen Sleeper. You enjoyed Citizen sleeper, had an 82 on Metacritic and now Citizen Sleeper 2 is finally upon us. The Steam description reads, A dice driven RPG in a human and heartfelt sci fi world. You are an escaped Android with a malfunctioning body, a price on your head, and no memory of your past. Get a ship, find a crew, and take on contracts while you navigate across the Starward Belt. Of course it is. Developed by Jump over the Age, Published by Fellow Traveler, out January 31st. Andy Cortez as the biggest Citizen Sleeper fan I know, Does Citizen Sleeper 2 Starward Vector live up to the hype?

[Andy Cortez]

Yes.

[Greg Miller]

Excellent.

[Andy Cortez]

Yes, it sure does. It sure does.

[Greg Miller]

Greg, Is it a contender?

[Andy Cortez]

I am proud to say that Citizen Sleeper 2 is a contender for at least my top 10. Right?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, of course.

[Andy Cortez]

And I've always talked about how Citizen Sleeper is a much more different game than I would ever give a chance to. It just, I think it was one of those right moments in time for me where I was listening to the Besties podcast, never heard, and they were just waxing poetic about Citizen Sleeper and how amazing the storytelling is and the writing and it was available on Game Pass and I fired up my Xbox during the pandemic and I was like let me see what this game is all about. And I think I beat it in one day because I was just so. I was just so enthralled and engrossed with experience. Yeah. So immersed in the story and the characters and everything and so impressed by the Writing mainly how every, every, you know, we talk about every frame of painting in movies or whatever this is. This is like every line of bar. Like, like every. It reminds me of watching Andor where there are so many monologues in Andor you're just like, God, that's a. That's a poem right there. Like give that like some award right there. Just that one line like that. That happens constantly in Citizen Sleeper and Citizen Sleeper. Let me just do the little Wikipedia plot.

[Greg Miller]

Please do.

[Andy Cortez]

And this is also kind of over encompassing Citizen Sleepers 2 plot as well. In Citizen Sleeper, the player character is a sleeper, a human whose mind has been digitized and put into the body. The robot body to be controlled by the SNR Corporation. The player sleeper has escaped indentured servitude on a freighter and arrived on the space station called the Eye. That's for sitting Sleeper one. But just the general thing is in the future, if there's a lot of debts you owe, if you're kind of. You don't have a whole lot of options in your life because corporations and capitalism has run rampant and there's a lot of.

[Greg Miller]

Thank God this is fiction.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. There are massive amounts of. Of wealth disparity. Right.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

You can lend your. Not, not necessarily lend, but you sell your body to a corporation, they emulate and digitize your mind, put it inside of a robot, and that robot will work and make money and you will kind of exist there forever while your body is somewhere on a station, whatever, just kind of there sitting there, being. Yeah, Sleeping.

[Poppy Blessing]

Milk.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, exactly. Getting milked. Yeah. And so it's really a pretty dreary look into the future and, and a really depressing take on what future life can be. But the thing that really struck me with Citizen Sleeper was always this feeling of hope. Depending on whoever NPCs you would talk to, any NPC you would talk to, there would always just be like this underlying positivity of as long as we have each other sort of mentality. If we. If. As long if we stick together, you know, regardless of what awful things are happening out there in the space station or in the universe or in the galaxy, we can only control what we have right now and let's make the most of it. And there's. Regardless of how depressing it gets, there's always that sort of feeling. And. And I was just super drawn to it. And, and for whatever reason, it just worked in that moment whenever I played this game, and this is typically a game I would never ever try because it's a lot of reading and there's no dashes. No. There's no parries.

[Greg Miller]

Yes. I was gonna say if you're. We're watching it, obviously, but if you're an audio listener. Yeah. It's this interesting visual novel, but then mixed up with the, as I read, dice based RPG mechanic. Right. Where it is you have these set number of dice that you can then go and apply to the choices you make in the game. So it'll influence, obviously, you know, with more dots on the die if it's going to be a good outcome or a bad outcome. And the B changes the priority of what you're doing. But you're. Yeah. Just making choices and seeing how they play out.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. And I think one thing for me when I played the first Citizen Sleeper is after the story that I experienced, since the Sleeper one is like, that's my canon. That's. Yeah, that was my story. I think I had one of the best endings to any video game experience I've ever had and something that will just constantly resonate with me. And it was beautiful and emotional and just like emotionally wrecking, you know. It was a very heartbreaking moment. That was still so amazing to experience. Yeah, it felt great. And so many of the NPCs in Citizen Sleeper 1 and Citizen Sleeper 2 have a lot of those, those through lines, whether you're talking to them for a tiny little mission or whether they're there to constantly go back to and kind of progress their story.

[Greg Miller]

Can I stop you right there? Because I feel like you're going somewhere that I want to get one of our super chats in. It's a blue sky thing. Right. You're talking about how much you had this canon ending in Citizens Leaper one. Citizen Sleeper two, clearly a sequel. We do have a question from Eric Myers who says, hypothetically, because this is how you phrased your tweet, if I hadn't played the first one, would I be able to jump into this one and not be lost?

[Andy Cortez]

Yes.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. Do you recommend playing the first one first?

[Andy Cortez]

Of course. I think the. I think the first game is a better video game, I think.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, interesting.

[Andy Cortez]

If I were to, you know, kind of funny score, you know, we didn't have that scale back in the day. If I were to give Sin Sleeper one, it's like close to a masterpiece for me. I give it a 9.5.

[Greg Miller]

Nice.

[Andy Cortez]

And Citizen Zebra 2, I'm on the fence between 8.5 to 9.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

Still extremely recommended. Absolutely. Play this game. It's still incredible. But In Citizen Sleeper 2, you are playing a different sleeper. You start, you're in a different. You're a different character altogether, but still the same through line is there. You are a digitized emulated mind put into a worker robot body. And it starts off with a bang. And I think it starts off really Great. Citizen Zebra 2. And the. The demo's out now. You can still play the demo. It's called the Hexport demo up on Steam. But yes, you can absolutely hop in and not be lost or confused because it throws you into a very easy to digest situation. You are confused, you wake up. What the hell is going on? We're going to give you the best couple of paragraphs to beautifully, you know, describe the. The environment that you're in. And it's all written so incredibly great. And somebody's hunting you and somebody's, you know, somebody's fucking with.

[Greg Miller]

They want their property back.

[Andy Cortez]

Somebody is with your robot body and it's this dude named Lane. And this Lane is bad news. And this guy's like, you know, look what I've done for you. And this is how you're treating me, like, you know, I. You know that I have plans for your body and you've just treated it like shit. And. And then you have a friend alongside you who's like, we gotta get the out of here. And you're like, who is this person? You have different dialogue choices. Who are you? Like, what the. What do you mean something happened to you? There was some sort of test or some sort of thing happening to your body and it was interrupted and your brain is wiped. And it's a great place to kind of fall into because it's immediately like I feel the tension, I feel the action, and I hate this dude already.

[Greg Miller]

So I'm 90 minutes in. I did not play Citizen Sleeper 1. And so the only thing I found not jarring, but I was wondering, am I. Would I know more about me or Lane if I had played Citizen Sleeper? And I think not knowing it, not even knowing that just having that question didn't influence this. Having a great time story is great conversations are great gameplay. I'm still wrapping my head around because it is so new to me and different. But I don't think you have to worry if you're a new player jumping in, because I am right.

[Andy Cortez]

And you will have three different classes to choose from. And the three different.

[Greg Miller]

Can I ask a question there too?

[Andy Cortez]

Go ahead.

[Greg Miller]

Was that In Citizen Sleeper 1 as well?

[Andy Cortez]

Yes.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

And where, you know, if we're talking the closest analog I can give you is strength, dexterity, magic, whatever the fuck.

[Greg Miller]

Right?

[Andy Cortez]

But these are engineer pursuits. I'm blanking on what all the different skills are. Right, but one character won't be able to do one of them. But like each class won't be able to. Won't be able to do certain moves.

[Greg Miller]

When Kevin was going through it, you saw the skill trees and like they're being a one. Reddit out. Right? That's the idea is you go there and you have different base levels to start from, let alone things that are closed off on.

[Andy Cortez]

You will have some strengths and some of your fellow NPCs might be able to pick up the slack in those situations. Whenever you come across these moments where you have to roll your dice. Right? A new mechanic in this game. Yeah, here we go. Here's the screen.

[Greg Miller]

Machinist, right?

[Andy Cortez]

Or machinist. Yeah, machinist. So this character can't do the engage skill. So if there's ever a test in the future that has engage, you will not be able to roll a dice there. You can roll a dice, but since you don't have that skill, it'll get, you know, if you have a six that you can roll because you just so happened to wake up that day. And every day you wake up, you are given five dice to roll and you could use those five dice on any place in any of the star stations that you're kind of located in. If you have a six and I tried to use it on that skill, Engage, it's going to become a four. It, it takes away two points because you don't have that skill, you can't use that here. And the four gives you less chance of this have having a positive outcome.

[Greg Miller]

Right.

[Andy Cortez]

I think all that stuff gets so like in the weeds though. I don't really want to scare away people from like dice rolling type stuff because I think it, I think it starts to kind of come more naturally to the player. But when I hop into this, I'm like, I'm not a tabletop guy. I'm not a visual novel type dude. And I really was just there for these human stories.

[Greg Miller]

Interesting. Yeah, I love that about it. I think that's the thing is like not being a dice player either. Like those kind of games, even tabletop RPGs I respect, but I haven't done a lot of D and D. It was more like getting in and being like, oh, it's the gimmick to the visual novel. Visual novels often I can enjoy, but often I find myself drifting away from I'm bored to some respect thing. Right. I'm just making choices, whatever the gameplay mechanic and the influencing then of the decisions. And the thing especially early on right now where I am in the game right over there is like, let's scrounge up some cash. I'm going to go do this. Don't it up. And you walk around and either fuck it up or don't fuck it up. Right. Like I'm in that section still. And so it is like, okay, this is a risky choice. Do I, do I use my big dice on it or do I not ready to go to this?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. If you. The different test will tell you whether it's a safe choice, a risky choice or a dangerous choice. It'll have danger on there. And if you roll, you know, if you roll a, a six, that's 100% pass. Yeah, you're going to pass that test. If you roll a five, you have a 50% chance of it being a positive outcome or 50% chance of it being neutral, which is like still fine. And that usually passes in a lot of cases.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And then if, if I were to try to roll a two, then that's like negative or neutral. Like, you're not really going to succeed here. And if it's a dangerous task or a risky task, a risky task will result in more punishment to you, the player. So it's like, do you want to take that risk? Do you want to deal with the consequences of undergoing stress? And the more stress your character has, your dice will break and you have to eventually repair those. But if your dice are broken, then that means you only have four left instead of the usual five. And if you keep on taking really shitty risks, then you'll have another dice will break and then you'll have three left, you know. And so it's like there is a lot of that risk reward and a lot of that player payoff. But I kind of wanted to, I, I wanted to compare my experience with Citizen Sleeper 1 and with this game to another game that we played last year that you and I played last year. Dragon Age the Veil Guard.

[Greg Miller]

Oh yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Where I, I think based on certain endings and certain outcomes, you can have an incredible experience and maybe you get an outcome that you feel is lesser than. You'll be like, ah, that really kind.

[Greg Miller]

Of hurts the overall.

[Andy Cortez]

What my overall feelings will be here. Right.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And I, I stand by that. Whatever I did in Dragon Age, the Veil Guard, even it having a catastrophic ending with all the choices that I was making. I was like, wow, I really loved what I experienced. And then I started up a new player, and I saw different dialogue choices, and suddenly I saw the cringe that reviewers are talking about, and I saw things that weren't lining up, and I saw things that didn't feel earned. And I'm like, okay, now. Now I start to see why other people's viewpoints, and that's not, you know, I'm not trying to excuse the writers here or whatever, but different. You know, whether you're choosing a different backstory, it might lead to worse writing. It might lead to moments. You're like, oh, that doesn't. That didn't feel good. I don't really like the character saying that. That makes no sense. How. Why would you feel that way when I didn't exper. You know, blah, blah, blah, that you can kind of like. You see where I'm getting at. And with Citizen Sea one, I still feel like the ending that I got is the most perfect thing that could have happened for me in that moment. And there could have been other outcomes that maybe didn't make you feel as satisfied. For me, it was, like, perfect. That's why it's like, what an amazing experience. With this game. It feels like there is one singular ending, but there are a lot of, like, 1A and. And 1B and 1C, sort of like, okay, shades to it, side endings to it. Because it still feels like there's one kind of. This is the final thing that you will do in this game to eventually roll credits. But there are other sort of paths to pursue that you may not in certain playthroughs. So that's where a lot of. But I do think a lot of the choices still matter in this game. A lot of the things you're doing, a lot of the NPCs are deciding to. To keep around. All of that stuff does matter. And the same with Citizen Sleeper 1, where you're making some big choices, and if you fail some stuff, you might have an ending that's like, oh, my God, this is really depressing and sad. And I. I really up here.

[Poppy Blessing]

What made those choices matter to you, right? Like, if it's not a thing of figuring out, like, oh, I want ending A versus ending D or whatever, right? Like, is it the fact that you're just coloring in the story the way you want to color it in? Is it, like, what happens along the way that differs from what other people might. Might do? Or, like, is it something else?

[Andy Cortez]

I think what makes. As long as I'm getting fulfilled emotionally, you know, I was talking. I had asked the. The developer where. Where the demo ended because I wanted to know for like embargo.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

And they were telling me that the demo ended at a certain spot. And I knew, okay, I won't talk about what happens beyond that. Beyond. And then they said thanks for always talking positively about since Libra 1. Like I really appreciate it. And I was like, thanks for making me feel. Because that's. These games have such an impact on me story wise and whether I could talk to an NPC in this game that only exists for a mission. And they just drop some of the most poignant like just hard ass ever. And you're like God damn, man, that's like a tattoo. Like that is such an amazing thing that you just said. And now you're gone. And I think what makes those choices matter to me is like the, the sort of human connection to these characters and how I don't think that every character is necessarily the most believable. There are a lot of stretches that happen in this game where you'll meet a character and they'll be like, oh, oh, you're a sleeper. I don't see many of you by the way. You. You looking for a crew. And it's like, I don't. That feels kind of like a stretch. I feel like maybe we would need more of a back and forth to eventually you wanting to like join a crew or maybe you just are desperate.

[Greg Miller]

But I especially mean video game thing.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Starfield's always the same way. They just bump into something like I'll join.

[Andy Cortez]

You're trying to. Yeah, you're trying to get me to the next point. And so I definitely see where you're going with this. But for me, the choices that. What makes the choices matter to me are like feeling like I'm letting something down as opposed to in other games where I. In other games where I'm really curious to see what the developers were able to put into this game. Like, like Starfield right there. There. Or any game that has choice. The. The game developer side of me, like that's still somewhere in that brain.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Goes man, I want to pick this. But I really want to see what happens if I pick the other choice. Just out of a game development like curiosity's sake. How far did they take this? How like asset wise, dialogue wise, how far are they going to take these cutscenes and these character interactions where in this game I'm really just more curious in how is this character going to react to this? How am I going to up this side of the story if I choose to side with so and so if I decide to make this choice, like it feels much more like I am choosing out of my own self interest rather than, oh, what did this game developer have in. Have in store for me if I choose this path? You know, I don't really have that with this game here. I'm just like, I want to see what this character. I want to see the future for this character if I do decide to side with them or help them out.

[Greg Miller]

How long did it take you to get credits? Ballpark.

[Andy Cortez]

Much longer game, I will say.

[Greg Miller]

How long was Citizen Sleeper 1?

[Andy Cortez]

Citizen Sleeper 1 I beat in about nine hours. Nine, nine or 10 hours, I think. How long? The beat says 10 hours, but I think it was a little bit shorter for me. Citizens two man. Like 22, 23.

[Greg Miller]

Oh, wow.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, wow. It is a lot more expansive. I. And I don't know if that I.

[Greg Miller]

Was gonna say does that work for it is that I. I.

[Andy Cortez]

Anytime I felt like it wasn't, it reminded me of 1000 times resist.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

Where that game I mentioned in our review of it or you know, just past sort of Game of the Year podcast about it, where I felt like I had 12 different epilogues where he just kept on like, oh, there's more. And I'd be like, ah, there's more.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And then you would get into the meat of it and go, oh, this is really good though. Like this, this meal is tasty. I actually was still hungry, thank God. And I, I felt a lot. I. I never felt like this game won't end though, because I am still enjoying so much of it and I, I do want to learn what keeps on happening with these characters. And then a new NPC would pop up and be like, what's your deal? Right. The game definitely is longer. I do think that I chose to go more of the completionist route with this one.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

And that feels. Citizen Zebra 2 feels like it opens itself more up to that where Citizen Zebra 1 did feel like.

[Greg Miller]

All right, point eight, point B.

[Andy Cortez]

Well, there's five different points. Pick one or pick one or two maybe.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

And this game definitely feels like it. It gives you more time to kind of explore a lot of different options and a lot of different story paths because there are a lot of characters and there's a big star system out there.

[Greg Miller]

Let me bring in this question then from the super chats and quotes. Okami13b says, My biggest question is if it retains the heart and thought provoking nature of the first one, I'm happy it's bigger and has more systems than the first, but only if they don't get in the way of what made the first so special.

[Andy Cortez]

One million percent. Okay. Yeah. That is without a question. Anytime that I was expecting for the writing to fall off, it never did because it's just so amazing throughout. And every character you meet, there's always like this beautiful lesson at the end of it. And there's always like a very impactful sign off to the way you are. Your character are thinking about an npc. And this character stayed there and it made you think what was really that, you know, you just have this sort of moment of self reflection and it's like, it's so beautiful and so hopefully. And it still reminds me a lot of the vibes of Citizen Sleeper 1. This universe is punishing and it sucks and there's a lot of people suffering. Yet through it all, there's this silver lining of human connection, or in this case, sleeper and human connection, like synthetic connection. And you as this sleeper, anytime there was a moment of use, a sleeper talking to an NPC and then being like, hey, you, what's your deal? Right? Do you feel like what we feel? Do you have these memories and you as a sleeper being like, actually, yeah, like, I had this moment where I saw. I had a vision of a butterfly. I was like, what's that? I haven't experienced that, but the person that I'm emulated from where my body is.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Experienced that somewhere. Why is that memory leaking through? And what is it to be a human? You know, it's like, God, it's so good. And at every turn there are moments that hit you upside the head. And like, as bad as I am with ADHD and reading, I was gonna say it's so.

[Greg Miller]

It's so good. Jamie super chats and says, as someone who hates reading, is it good?

[Andy Cortez]

Yes. Like, and I think because the writing is so good, I find myself, I found myself about at least like 20 damn times because of how bad I am with reading. And this spans back to high school where suddenly when I like turned 12 and 13 and 14, I just could not get through a paragraph without trailing off of my mind going somewhere else and being like, what did I just read? And that happens a lot in this game with me personally. And that's just me being bad at reading and having just this brain that cannot focus. And I would get to the end of the paraphrase and go. No, don't move on. You didn't know what you just read and you know it's going to be sick as yeah, and then I would read it and consume it and be like oh that great. Like trust me, like for a game that doesn't have dodges or parries or level design or anything like that, like I am still so blown away by this experience.

[Greg Miller]

You have a lot more questions here from Blue sky that I want to get to. But first I'll remind everybody that we are an 11 person small business all about live talk shows, usually about video games. If you like that and want to support that'd be great. Pick up a Kind of funny membership on patreon.com kind of funny or YouTube.com kind of funny games or Apple or Spotify. And of course you'd get all of our shows ad free, the ability to watch the afternoon podcast Lives. Record them and your daily dose of me, Greg Miller in a series we call Greg Way. But right now you're not using your membership benefits. So here's a word from our sponsors.

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[Greg Miller]

And we're back. I'm gonna start with David Page, who blew skies and says, did they gamify more of the systems from the previous entry, or is it still very much in line with how simple and straightforward the first one's systems were? If the former, did that detract from the experience of the first? If the latter, did it feel like it did enough to improve in other areas?

[Andy Cortez]

I think it improved the gameplay for sure. Adding this sort of stress meter.

[Greg Miller]

So that's the new thing?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, the new thing is this whole sort of stress meter. If you fail a check, if you're going out to a side quest, which I love, just having these tiny little moments of talking to an NPC and then being like, oh, there's this, like this crash ship out in this system. They're looking for this and that. And if you want a job, like go, you know, 200 cryo or whatever is the currency. And then so you would decide to fly out there and you would pick two of your NPCs that you've recruited along the way. And you look at what you know, you have four skills, right? Depending, you know, very varying strengths of the different skills, and you have one you can't use. So you look at your NPCs and you're like, all right, who am I going to? Who should I take out with me? Well, you have that one skill. I Don't have. So I'm taking you out there and you're not so strong in that place, but you are. So I'll take you as well. So you take two people with you and they have two skills or they have one to two skills, but they have two dice that they can roll and you have your five dice that you can roll.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And you're out there and you need to make sure that you have. It's. If it's a mission that is going to take a long time, you won't need to make sure you have enough supplies because every time you end your cycle, you, you need to eat or else your character will like slowly start to lose stamina and you start to like break your dice or whatever. And if you fail these checks, you will incur a little, you know, here's a little ding on you and that's going to be your stress meter. The more that fills up, the more your dice breaks the, and you can't remove stress during a mission like that. During one of these side quests, you, as the, as that stress meter goes up, your dice will continue to break and you could just straight up fail the mission and it's all fucked and your dice are all super broken and you have to go back to your base or whatever and kind of chill out. And when you go back to these space stations, that's kind of your moment of reprieve. That's where you are normally under less stress. And there are some really stressful situations where you might fail a check on one of these side quests. And then a, a, a, a sort of like stress side mission will pop up on that space station you're at.

[Greg Miller]

Interesting.

[Andy Cortez]

And it's like, I can finish out this space station, I can finish out this quest where I'm looking for this treasure, but there's like a, a really, really high priority thing that's now going off. And it's a, it's an alarm that's going to alert the authorities. And if that things go off, that thing goes off. Before I am able to get this treasure, all hell's gonna break loose. So I want to go take care of disarming that alarm. I'm really stressed out right now. I only have two days left. Can I possibly just like push it and risk it with, you know, trying to get this treasure or should we try to strategize and try to disarm the alarm? Right? And that's like, that's where the push and pull comes in. And that's where like you're. You're basically just throwing a dice. But man, all the stress is there and I'm feeling like the tension of like, God, I hope this fucking rolls. And if this doesn't land positively for me, I'm really, really screwed.

[Greg Miller]

One thing I haven't seen in the game because I'm so early is a game over. So let's say you do that. You ignore the alarm, the authorities come in, you get into a battle where you're rolling dice or choices where you'd have to and can you be killed is a game over. Then you reset or is that the end of the game?

[Andy Cortez]

You will not game over. There is a perma death mode as the hardest difficulty where if you, if you die, it is the end of the game. But yeah, you, you essentially like pass out. You're what I fades like a Pokemon. I never did that. Gamer. I pure fucking gamer.

[Greg Miller]

Oh my God, this skills he's got.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm assuming I would wake back up on a base and then being like, man, you knocked out, man, we. We just escaped or whatever. I don't really know what the end game scenario is, but I, I do know that I incurred a lot of punishment and you know, hey, you really fucked up because you really pushed it to the limit and now you're stressed all the way out and you only have one functional dice left like there. I did experience a lot of that throughout the game and yeah, it really, really hurt me for the future because I had to spend a lot of time trying to recoup because I was so. Just damaged, you know, Sean writes in.

[Greg Miller]

On Blue sky and says, I'd always like to hear about Steam Deck performance. You got your Steam deck right in front of you. That's where I played. But you're obviously way deeper.

[Andy Cortez]

Steam deck, great. I. I had some issues with some UI elements, especially when you are trying to fly to different parts of this little star star system. When you're trying to go to different planets or space stations, it can be kind of annoying. I ended up just like tapping on the star system. I wanted to go towards because when you move the, when you move the D pad, there are moments like I'm showing. I don't want to show the screen, but if I hit right on the D pad and I want to go to that one, I see it's like, it could get kind of like frustrating in some moments. And it's not. It doesn't always tag to the right thing, but it does fill out the full like 1200 by 800 screen ratio for the Steam Deck. It looks great. It performs great. Yeah. I had no. No other issues with that. I say that I played like 90% of it on Steam Deck.

[Greg Miller]

Awesome.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Greg Miller]

Chris says. How do you feel? I'm sorry? Do you feel like the choice of your starting class is impactful? Did it influence how you use your party members?

[Andy Cortez]

Absolutely, yeah. Especially knowing that one of those skills you cannot ever have, and if you do try to use it, you're going to be significantly at a disadvantage. So, yeah, for sure. I did start off as one class. Started off having these tests and being like, oh, me and my squad are not prepared for these. Let me restart the game as the other class because I already failed this first mission and it wasn't a death, but it was just like a. You failed?

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Drive failed. Or whatever these missions are called. Drives. There's like major drives and minor drives. And so I restarted as a different class. But I guess I'm reminded of our Pokemon Nuzlocke, where everybody was like, if you go with. If you go with a. If you go with Charmander at the start, it's going to be a lot easier for you at the beginning, but getting harder later on. Yeah, but if you start off with Bulbasaur at the start start, it'll be a bit harder for you in the beginning, but better for you in the long run. That's kind of how you end up here. It depends. Like, by the end of it, if you want a lot of squad mates on your ship, and I say you should, because that just gives you a lot more diversity for what sort of skills you would have options for using. Definitely do that. Because you're gonna have a skill that you cannot use, but you'll have a lot of skills you can eventually upgrade to. And every time you, you know, I believe it costs four skill points to upgrade something. So maybe that one skill that I was, or. Or maybe that one, let's call it like Engineer. Whenever I wanted to roll a dice on an Engineer test, it was giving me no benefit. But I leveled it up so much.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

That whatever I roll it gives me two extra bonus points on it.

[Greg Miller]

Okay. Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

So if I have a four dice left on an Engineer test, I know I'm going to get a six because I'm getting two extra bonus points.

[Greg Miller]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Andy Cortez]

When you're on shit.

[Greg Miller]

Just nerd shit.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. When you're on these. When you're on these side quests, there's these sort of like, sub powers called a push and that's another thing you can level up and it's like an either or thing. Do you want to put points into upgrading your push ability or do you want to put points into pushing down that skill tree? Right. And that. That push ability will be anything from. If I click this button on one of these side quests, it'll add two points to my lowest dice available.

[Greg Miller]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

So I have a one, a five, a five, a five, and a six.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

If I click that push, that one becomes a three.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

So and if I level that up more, it could possibly go further and further. And the different classes sort of vary there where.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

When I picked another class recently, the. The pushability then became. Instead of benefiting you, it said you take on one blip of stress, which is like, not good.

[Greg Miller]

Obviously not good.

[Andy Cortez]

But your squad mates dice will raise, like, up by one or up by two.

[Greg Miller]

Gotcha.

[Andy Cortez]

So now my two squad mates get stronger. So it's kind of like, what do you want? Do you want to hurt yourself and help out your squad mates or do you want to benefit your own sort of dice?

[Poppy Blessing]

What advice would you give for people who want to jump in? Like, whether it be, you know, a good class to pick or anything. Right. Because for me hearing this, I think I made the decision. I think I'm gonna jump into Citizen Sleeper too. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

[Andy Cortez]

I would say one man.

[Poppy Blessing]

You'd say one.

[Andy Cortez]

One is shorter and it's I think a Game Pass two and Game Pass. And I think it's play right now on the cloud. I think it's a bit more streamlined.

[Poppy Blessing]

Okay.

[Andy Cortez]

I love the gameplay elements of part two a bit more.

[Greg Miller]

Sure. No, you're not saying. But that's your, like, blanket statement to everybody. You think if you haven't played Citizen Sleeper because you have so many questions in here, if I'm a new player, why should I get it or what should I. You'd say start.

[Poppy Blessing]

Where I'm coming in at is. I really liked the premise that you talked about earlier of, like, coming in and like, there's this mysterious guy and, like, talking to you and he does.

[Andy Cortez]

Start off with a bang.

[Poppy Blessing]

Like, that sounds like such a cool premise to me. And then I also have it on Steam and so, like, I can play it on Steam Deck. I do have Citizen Sleeper 1 on Game Pass, so I could play that way. But now I'm like, visualizing like, you know, an hour before bed with my Steam deck and I'm just like, you know, reading for an hour before I go Before I go to bed.

[Greg Miller]

You'll be asleep in 15 minutes.

[Poppy Blessing]

Yeah, exactly.

[Andy Cortez]

I.

[Greg Miller]

Is it? Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Kevin, you're the guy, right?

[Greg Miller]

Kevin, you fall asleep every time you try to read, right?

[Poppy Blessing]

I sure do, Greg.

[Andy Cortez]

I sure do. The more I'm. The more I push you towards his even one, the more I just think about the. All the amazing things that part two does. And so it's like, yeah, it.

[Poppy Blessing]

Because the other, the other thing I'm thinking too is like, it's a. It just came out. So it's fresh. It's 2025. So I know I'm playing a game for this year. And like, that can factor into the game of the year.

[Andy Cortez]

You know what? I'm giving it a nine in that. I'm giving it a nine. Yeah, it's going up well because I just think about all the other NPCs I've experienced throughout and it's like, oh, they're so good. And there's so many impactful moments and just stuff that just. It's. It's. It's food for the soul, regardless of how dreary and depressing it can get. It's just.

[Greg Miller]

And this, this one, Citizen Sleeper 2 is food for the soul in the same way. Citizen Sleeper one.

[Andy Cortez]

Absolutely, dude.

[Poppy Blessing]

Because I'm also thinking of, like, I can always place Citizen Sleeper one also. No, you're playing down the line. You're totally fall in love with this one.

[Greg Miller]

And that'd be an interesting one too, of how much you enjoy this not having the baggage of Citizen Sleeper 1. Yeah, I intend to keep playing at this, but I'm going to be.

[Poppy Blessing]

I literally opened up my. I opened up my, like, game release calendar and then. Which isn't public anymore. Now it's just private. And then I opened up like, releases.com to look about at what's happening in the next few weeks. And I'm like, I think I can pencil it in.

[Andy Cortez]

I. I think you could definitely get it done way quicker than I did as well, because I was trying to do everything. And while I don't regret that, I could totally see myself having a bit more streamlined of an experience where I wasn't, you know, getting bits and tastes from a lot of different experiences as opposed to, like, what if I just focus on one or two NPCs and really, really tried to make the most out of that. But then even as I'm saying this, there's also the Andy in the back of my mind going, yeah, but all the other stuff you experienced was so, like, fulfilling as well. I, I, I do think that there are so many great moments of excitement and stress you can experience in this game. Just with bringing your, your homies along and it's like oh, we've really, really up the side quest. Are we going to be able to recover this? This is a, There's a lot of money on the line. I'm kind of poor. I could really, really like it. You get so immersed. You're like man, that 300 cryo would go a long way right now. Cuz I need to buy fuel and I need to buy with food and supplies. This game rocks, man.

[Poppy Blessing]

Yeah. I mean hearing you talking about it reminds me of games I love like Disco Elysium and Near Automata and like the near franchise. Right. Like take some of those RPG mechanics of Disco and like especially like a lot of the tech space stuff. I know Disco. It took for the Director's cup for me to get into it because they had the voice acting and so like they read all that out loud to me in really cool voices. But even still, that's another.

[Andy Cortez]

They're super cool.

[Poppy Blessing]

Really cool. If you play Disco El. You know what I'm talking about. The voices are so cool.

[Greg Miller]

Especially honestly, that was it. I was, I had the same thing. That's when I held off for Disco's director cut as well. But jumping into this one I was like reading like I like reading fine, don't get me wrong. But it's like am I, is it going to maintain my interest? And I was shocked how in my hour and a half I'd be like oh the, there's voices to these characters as they go. Yeah.

[Poppy Blessing]

And thematically just everything you're saying just reminds me of near.

[Eddie Oye Jr.]

Right.

[Poppy Blessing]

Of like what does it mean to be human? Right. Like the idea of even like machine bodies versus actual bodies and like how much does the body matter? And so like you know, like I don't know that type of gets me. And so I'm excited to pick this up.

[Andy Cortez]

I was, I was just taking like some, some photos of my Steam deck. Just like moments of, of brilliance with just small little entries of text.

[Greg Miller]

Right. You can just hit the screenshot button.

[Andy Cortez]

On the Steam deck. I don't know how to do that. Really.

[Poppy Blessing]

Yeah, it's like what the Steam button then click.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Poppy Blessing]

On like one of the, one of the right bumpers I think, I think.

[Andy Cortez]

It'S R1, but I, I just like wanted to read this. I'm not going to include characters names for spoiler purposes, but I have this One thing.

[Greg Miller]

It's like Steam Button R1.

[Andy Cortez]

You turn their coin over and over in your fingers. You turn their coin over and over in your fingers as you stand in flicker row crowds pushing past on their way to whatever future awaits them. Your fingers glide over the worn metal as you imagine the characters have in moments of anticipation. Perhaps others, before the coin came to become theirs, have repeated the same ritual, the same nervous routine, but their fingers were human born, not made. This intrusive thought makes you slip the coin into a pocket quickly as is, as if it had delivered a shock. It is worn and worthless. It is bent and broken. And it is beautiful in all those things. And as you press your thumb against it, your crooked, callous thumb again and again, you realize you are. You are the coin. You are bent. You are broken. It's like, fuck, man, this shit is so good, dude.

[Poppy Blessing]

You know what's, what's hilarious is like I started playing out my day of like, oh, what if I got home and immediately Streamed Citizen Sleeper 2 and I was like, oh wait, no, this is pre recorded.

[Greg Miller]

Home and broke embargo. I will say, man, Andy gave it a 9 right over the Gamescast contender.

[Andy Cortez]

Definitely not a game that I could stream just because of the amounts of reading.

[Poppy Blessing]

Yeah, you have to read all that out loud.

[Andy Cortez]

Even though I have so much fun like doing the, the voice acting stuff, it's like, like it's also one of those that I needed to kind of just experience this and not be distracted because. But when I play, if I'm streaming a game that's already, you're already throwing in a distraction factor where it's easy for me to miss plot points and miss stuff where I'm laughing at a joke in chat or I'm thinking of how am I going to entertain the chat in this moment? What funny line can I come up here with here? And when I was just there in the Steam deck at night, it was just like I was just in that world.

[Poppy Blessing]

The reason why I want to stream it first is just for like the first stream of if I can have a reason for two hours to sit down and just have to play this and not be distracted. Like I want, like I wanted to grab me in those first two hours. That way I can like go off stream and then just play the rest by myself. Because I'm like you, where when I read, I will read a paragraph and not internalize anything and then have to read it over again. And so the idea of like having to sit there for a couple hours and like, read it out loud and understand and like actually get a specific. The meat of it.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Poppy Blessing]

And then like already be in vet. Because once I'm invested, then we're good.

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Poppy Blessing]

Like, that's what happened with me with Live Alive where I played like the first chapter, alive, Alive, and was like, oh man, I'm playing the rest of this. Like, I didn't think I was gonna be as into this game and now I'm into it. So now I'm just gonna cruise through this thing.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, and the music kicks ass, dude. Like, there's a lot of songs available on Spotify, but just like part one, Amos Roddy, I believe is the name of the. Of the musician. And it kicks ass just like the first one did. There's a lot of great bops. There's a lot of repeated bops as well. But even the. The final song that plays during the. I was telling Greg and. And Bless during the ad break. Like reading the final kind of paragraphs of. As the game is ending and the music is playing, I am just like an emotional wreck. I like tears in my eyes. Like, man, this is just. I. And the thing about the developer, they mentioned that they are kind of done with Citizen Sleeper as a universe and they want to work on a. They're making a tabletop game already. But they mentioned, I'm done with this. I'm not doing this anymore. And I'm just like pleading to any of my favorite developers, like, hire them to write for. Obviously they have their own game development suited. They're probably going to just make another game of this style.

[Greg Miller]

Sure.

[Andy Cortez]

But it's like, man, I just wish that their talents were. You know what? Let's emulate your brain. Put it in a robot body.

[Greg Miller]

What does it mean to be human? Teach an AI to write just like this.

[Poppy Blessing]

And also to the Citizen Sleeper devs, if you are selling the film rights.

[Greg Miller]

To your ip, we're interested in talking.

[Poppy Blessing]

Me and Gregory are interested in having a little chat.

[Andy Cortez]

How can we capitalize on this? Not taking any of the lessons.

[Greg Miller]

The whole plan, of course, is that we will do one of those. We have to publish a movie every four years.

[Andy Cortez]

Yep.

[Greg Miller]

And we will agree the rights for everyone. We'll just resident Evil this thing and have a great.

[Poppy Blessing]

Have you seen the Steam page, by the way? Like, we're on the Steam page. Yeah. We have a quote on the Citizen Sleeper 2 Steam page in this quote, it's living up to the hype. It's a contender.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, wow.

[Greg Miller]

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. And it turned out it did it lived up to the hype.

[Andy Cortez]

Sure did.

[Greg Miller]

A nine out of ten from the one, the only Andy Cortez. That of course is an amazing on our scale. Citizen Sleeper 2 Starward Vector is out tomorrow January 31st. Pick it up or go play Citizen Sleeper 1 to see if it's your cup of tea. Since it's on Game Pass, it's on PlayStation Extra or PlayStation Plus Extra. You can get that too.

[Andy Cortez]

But if you don't got that Game pass, the demo is still up on Steam as well.

[Greg Miller]

Fantastic.

[Andy Cortez]

I think the demo is probably up everywhere.

[Greg Miller]

Yeah, we already talked about this on the other show. We don't know how to use demos on PlayStation 5, you know what I mean? I don't know what's happening happening over here. Ladies, gentlemen and enbies, are you planning to pick up Citizen Sleeper 2 or is this a time loop and you've already played it and stuff? Let us know in the comments below what you think and what drew you to it or what's keeping you away from it. And then of course go ahead and pick up a kind of funny membership. Remember, we're an 11 person small business that does live talk shows about video games all day every day and we couldn't do without you. So head over to patreon.com kindafunny YouTube.com kindafunnygames Apple and Spotify. Pick up a podcast and if you got no bucks like subscribe, share, tell your friends and until next time, know it's been our pleasure to serve.