sottobosco

Earlier this week I polished off Citizen Sleeper 2, sequel to the 2022 game Citizen Sleeper. This is a text-based RPG about a player character fleeing from what is effectively corporate slavery.

The protagonist, as in the first game, is a "sleeper"--an android imbued with the consciousness of a debtor to the corporation Essen-Arp. In order to pay off their debt, the original human goes into stasis and permits a copy of their mind to be put into the android, who then labors, free of charge, for Essen-Arp until the debt is paid. As in the first game, this sleeper escapes and is now on the run. Unlike the first game, the sleeper of 2 is fleeing not Essen-Arp themselves, but another individual who would use the sleeper for their own ends.

As a sequel, I think this game does an excellent job of sticking with what made the first game fun while not coming off too derivative from the first game. The beautiful graphics, music, and game design are still there, but with expanded focus: you can now travel to several different space ports. The themes of community-building, compassion, and resisting corporate cruelty are still present, but with a new cast with their own interesting stories. There are a few recurring characters from the first game, but not in a way that would be confusing if you skip 1 and start with 2. 

2 has difficulty levels as well, if you'd like to crank things up or dial it back. I played on the standard level and found it pretty easy to manage resources. There's a new stress mechanic to incorporate into your strategy, and while off on certain quests, you can utilize team members for various tasks as well. 

If I had any complaints, I would have liked to find out more about Laine, the man tracking the sleeper. While his motives are explained by the end, he himself remains a rather mysterious figure and it would have been nice to have a clearer picture of the sleeper's main enemy, particularly given their history. The themes can also be a little heavy-handed, but not so much that I found them obnoxious, and I'm always happy to interrogate the harm that unchecked corporate power exerts on society, particularly on those least able to fight back.

On the whole, as a fan of the first game, I was quite happy with this follow-up and I will definitely play it again.

Crossposted to gaming 

Fingers. We're back at the Earthsea Cycle with book 5: Tales of Earthsea. This book is a collection of short stories set in Earthsea, crafted as a kind of bridge between books 4 and 6.

Friends may recall that the last book, Tehanu, was not my favorite of the series, although I appreciate what Le Guin was doing. In Tales of Earthsea, we get the best of both worlds in a sense--a return to the fantasy adventure themes of the original trilogy combined with Le Guin's updated views on gender and roles. Like Tehanu, Tales of Earthsea is no longer really children's fiction. Sex, substance abuse, child abuse, and various other mature themes are much more present here than in the original trilogy. These later Earthsea books read like they were written for the then-adult fans of the original trilogy, and I think it works well.

In each of the five stories of Tales of Earthsea, Le Guin is introducing us to elements of Earthsea society not seen before in the series: How women ended up being excluded from wizardry, a young man with the ability to become a wizard (the magical aptitude) who decides he wants another sort of life for himself, a wizard of Roke who misuses his power and chooses not to return although he is invited to, a woman who wants to study at Roke but is refused. In this way, Le Guin gives much breadth to the world of Earthsea by introducing these stories outside the "mainstream" Earthsea narratives.

I respect that Le Guin doesn't just try to retcon the sexism written into the earlier Earthsea books--instead, she really tries here to reckon with how the women of Earthsea manage it, how they get around it, and how it hurts them. The resultant picture feels realistic, up to and including how frustrating it is to watch women be excluded from the school of Roke despite having helped found it. 

She continues with her theme of unexpected heroes--protagonists who are average people from little nothing towns on little nothing islands who despite expectations prove themselves capable of great things, which is always fun to watch. 

We get backstory on several things present in the original trilogy, like the founding of the school and some history of Ged's first teacher, Ogion, which was great fun (and once again I am screaming clapping cheering as the specialist boy in all of Earthsea Ged makes a cameo).

A very enjoyable read overall, and I feel properly enthused and excited for the next book. 

As noted earlier, I made a return to this earlier Larian game after my delightful experiences with Baldur's Gate 3. Six years on from my last attempt at this game, with more isometric and turn-based combat experience under my belt, how did it hold up? Decent.

DOS2 is definitely less polished than BG3. There are no cut-scenes or close-ups of any kind, and this, combined with the isometric view, keeps you at a distance from the world, an issue I've had with isometric RPGs generally. However, the graphics do hold up well even in 2025 and there is a search mechanic which honestly bugs out less than the BG3 one. The world of DOS2 is still beautiful and the game's use of lighting is especially visually pleasing,

There's a lot of content packed in here too. The game has 4 acts and many little sidequests and minor character arcs. The characters are interesting and varied and the world feels full of life.

Your companions are fun too, and you can definitely see some Larian tropes in there (Is that elf who escaped a cruel slave master with a mark of their control on their body and the threat of compulsion hanging over their head Sebille or Astarion? Is that mage with a deadly magical condition threatening to eventually overtake their life who plays it off with a lighthearted attitude Lohse or Gale?) I only saw half the cast, because whomever you don't choose as your companions perish in the first act, so I can only speak to Sebille, Lohse, and the Red Prince, but I enjoyed all of them. Your relationship with them is not as deep or varied as those in BG3, but their opinions of you definitely matter re: main quest events.

However, I still found the game unnecessarily difficult. In terms of quest progression, it's not infrequently opaque how you're meant to advance a given quest, and I ended up rescouring large locations only to find some minor object tucked under a desk or in an unlooted corpse that was the secret to advancing. I've never looked up so many how-tos on a game as this one, because the game leaves you dangling in the wind so often. 

The combat was easier for me this go around, but still not my favorite. Battles take a long time, and it's far too easy to lose control of your characters to spells like Mad or effects like Stunned. There were a few battles where I just put my controller aside and let the computer duke it out with itself until I finally got a turn again because my whole party was out of my control. Particularly in act 4, battles can get very gimmicky. If you know the trick, they aren't too hard, but figuring out the trick is frustrating in a way that is not fun for me. 

I think the game was stronger on the front end, whereas near the finish it starts wrapping in these cheesy fights and poorly-explained puzzles which dragged down the narrative.

The game does give you a lot of ways to go about things, and you can collect character tags (such as "hero," "villain," "friend of dwarves," etc.) along the way that impact how NPCs view you and what dialogue options you have, which is very fun from a roleplaying perspective.

The music was enjoyable; I think they did a very solid job with the soundtrack, and the voiceacting was very good as well.  

So, do I recommend this one? If you enjoy games that make you think and push you to creative solutions without holding your hand at all, then I'd say this is worth checking out. For me, this tactics-heavy approach was tiresome and I'd never play this game off the easiest difficulty, but I liked the overall story enough I won't rule out playing it again to get a look at the other 3 companions.

And one thing I remain exactly the same on since 2019: FUCK Alice Aliceon.