Zarf Updates

Two more, in a bit more depth this time.

I see that Stray Gods has a new DLC chapter. Definitely playing that next.

• Citizen Sleeper 2
• Caravan SandWitch

Citizen Sleeper 2

• by Jump Over the Age -- game site

A new Citizen Sleeper. It occurs to me that the original shipped less than three years ago. That's good schedule traction! Yes, they had a polished engine ready to go, but the sequel has new mechanics going on.

Lots new, in fact. New character, new setup. You're again a Sleeper -- a cheap disposable mind-state in a cheap disposable bot-frame -- but you're free of the stabilizer, the Sleepers' usual drug-leash. Unfortunately the guy who sprung you loose from that trap might have ulterior motives. Getting loose of him is going to cost you.

You have a scrappy little runabout, a pilot, and amnesia. You'll pick up memories and crew members as you go. The big new mechanic is missions: short-term tasks to complete in a specific area. Missions are time-limited and narrowly scripted, but you can bring along two crewfolk to add to your dice pool. This nicely breaks up CS's usual texture of open-world long-term goal management. (Spoiler: don't start a mission without a maxed-out supply bin!)

Interestingly, this game doesn't follow the CS1 model of multiple long-term goals leading to multiple story resolutions. CS2 focuses on a single plot arc. I'm not saying the story is on rails; you get many choices along the way, and they significantly influence the future of the Belt. Barrels of side quests, big and small. But everything leads to a final confrontation with Mr. Ulterior.

I hope that's not a spoiler. It's pretty well telegraphed, what with him chasing you all over the system.

(You might remember A Long Journey to an Uncertain End, which I described as "Citizen Sleeper by way of Firefly". CS2 is pretty much exactly the same setup, down to the crew management and the abusive ex. But it lands the story and the mechanics and the ending better. Apologies if you worked on Journey!)

Worldbuilding and writing are excellent, I hardly need say. Soundtrack is an instabuy. Go play it, oh look, it's already on your list, that's fine then.

Caravan SandWitch

• by Plane Toast -- game site

Scavenging adventure on a planet which has fallen into bucolic ruin since the Consortium pulled out. You return home from (space) school to reconnect with your family and track down your missing sister.

This is quite reminiscent of Sable, only with faces, and a van instead of a hoverbike. Cozy, inclusive, multicultural -- you're a village kid but there's also a Nomad tribe nearby -- "Nomad" means they have a mobile home instead of a van. There's also frog people and robots. Everybody gets along. There's no such thing as falling damage.

(Tangent: It's funny how "stand there stunned for 0.75 seconds" became the accepted substitute for plummet-death. Locking your controller, even briefly, is a visceral oh my god oh wait whew experience! A Mario game invented this, right?)

The gameplay is mostly climbing buildings and unlocking doors to find bits of old technology to rip out. The more parts you collect, the more you can upgrade the van and thus continue exploring. Only this mysterious Sand Witch is watching you. Maybe you're getting into places you shouldn't? (Says who?)

It's an oddly ambivalent theme. The story is aimed at "small people build community in the capitalist ruins," just like Sable and Citizen Sleeper and plenty of other recent games. Except what you do is purely parasitic. Life has nothing for you but the Consortium's trash. (Even "grow a garden" turns out to be scavenged computers and seed stock.) And sometimes you have to reactivate old tech instead -- whose side are we on? This turns out to be a plot dilemma, but the tension is out of focus until a Very Last Choice turns up.

I think what was missing was any concept of sustainability. The planet is mostly abandoned, and the folks sticking around felt like a last gasp. I dunno. Maybe the frog people will make it.

Theme aside, the only design hiccup is that sometimes you accept a mission and it puts you in the van and tells you to drive somewhere, and you can't get out of the van. Open-worldness is suspended for the mission. That hurts worse than the falling-stun. ("There's a purple tech right over there! Argh!") I can see why they did it -- if you could wander off, you could wander off indefinitely, and players would lose track of the hung mission. But it's not great.

(Maybe if you could wander freely but not interact with any NPCs? "I should get back to X first..." And flash the big map arrow.)

Don't mind me digging into the negatives, though. This is an entirely cheerful play experience and it's got lots of buildings to climb. I liked it.