Citizen Sleeper

Citizen Sleeper is Jump Over the Age's narrative RPG — one of the most thoughtful and humanely written games of 2022 and a powerful argument for the power of tabletop RPG-inspired mechanics in digital storytelling. Playing as a Sleeper — a person's consciousness illegally copied into a robot body by a corporation that now hunts you for return — you survive day to day on the dilapidated space station Erlin's Eye, forging relationships with its desperate, hopeful, and complicated residents while managing a body that slowly degrades without proprietary stabilizers only your corporate owners possess. The dice-pool system — rolling a set of dice each in-game day and assigning them to actions based on their face values — creates a rhythm of careful planning and risk management that feels deeply personal. The writing is exceptional throughout, treating working poverty, community, and corporate exploitation with intelligence and compassion. A small masterpiece.