Other factions on the station, such as the port government, the former Havenage union, and the loosely governed and over-trusted commune of Hypha, are as scattered organizations as any corporation and just as capable institutional bypass. While Damian Martin has their politics, they don’t care about concealed agitprop.
“I never wanted to make a story that revolved around taking down an evil corporation with humor. I wanted to tell a story on the periphery of capitalism, where so many of us have learned to survive. “
Our dangerous world
In their many interviews about Citizen SleeperIn depth, Damian Martin focused on the concept of precariousness, which inspired them when they read Anna Tsing’s Mushrooms at the end of the worldone of many excellent contemporary sci-fi works featured in the game.
“A lot of the structures around us create pressure in our lives,” notes Damian Martin, “we have to be healthy, successful, and fulfilled. We are all scrambling to achieve these things in competition with each other, vying for jobs, opportunities, possessions, even social standing.
“We justify this with the meritocracy myth, which holds that the only thing that separates someone from the joy of success or the despair of failure is being arbitrarily judged as arbitrarily good at something of value. It is an extremely precarious method of validating our right to exist with dignity.
When you consider the effects of the stock market, international politics, or the restrictions that come with being an immigrant or another restricted identity, the more you worry. Our world is filled with systems we cannot imagine. We are surrounded by tiny, fragile walls,” explains Damian Martin, “when these walls are pushed apart and broken, we fall toward depression, bankruptcy, destitution. , or even death. “
We feel these walls continuously in Citizen Sleeper. The economic fear of the game about being able to afford food comes with medical anxiety about where to get the serum that nourishes our crumbling bodies, or how to get it. solutions can help us get out of dangerous situations. When stuck among the plethora of predatory systems in key matches, rolling a set of low-action dice can create cascading defeat.
Damian Martin concludes: “The greatest defense against these unsympathetic systems, as I have found, is grassroots mutualism. “While we cannot decide the value of what we earn or the rights we deserve, we can always strive to show each other what we need. When the people around us roll their snake eyes. The closeness of mutual support is basically how people exist in this world. From the very beginning, this has always been the arc of Citizen Sleeper, as it has happened in my life in many ways. I don’t think there are enough stories about people trapped in these precarious spaces.”
Citizen Sleeper is set to continue with three episodes of free DLC, the first, titled “Flux,” tells the story of a team of refugees locked from Erlin’s Eye by quarantine measures.
“All I’m going to say right now is ‘Flux’ to focus on issues around refugees, bureaucracy and creating space for compassion in democratic systems,” said Damian. Martin explained. “I hope players will enjoy it and stay tuned for the episodic story as it unfolds this year and next.”
