Citizen Sleeper Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Citizen Sleeper is a narrative RPG dripping with neo-noir goodness and featuring a stylistic sci-fi world. Published by Fellow Traveller, Citizen Sleeper lets you control a humanoid robot escaping into the lawless cyberspace.

You can find a job, go to the doctor, eat noodles, and escape the bounty hunters after you. But life on a space outpost called The Eye isn’t easy. That’s why we present you with a guide that breaks down the six-sided dice gameplay mechanic, the various classes, and how to progress in this indie role-playing adventure.

Citizen Sleeper Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Citizen Sleeper is currently free on the Xbox if you have the Xbox Game Pass, and if you don’t, you can get some Xbox Live Gift Cards from OffGamers here.

Rock That Roll

Dice rolling Citizen Sleeper

Dice rolling is the primary mechanic of Citizen Sleeper’s gameplay. Your character can have a maximum of five dice to roll after each rest period. These six-sided dice control every action. The numbers you roll will dictate the probability as listed below.

Number on dieProbable result
One50% Neutral-50% Negative
Two50% Neutral-50% Negative
Three25% Positive-50% Neutral-25% Negative
Four25% Positive-50% Neutral-25% Negative
Five50% Positive-50% Neutral
Six100% Positive Result

The neutral results mean you will get what is promised. Positives can net you more than expected while negatives will bring you failure and can have negative effects such as energy loss, income loss or even blocking the task completely.

As you can see, rolling a one or two can be extremely inefficient and disappointing. But you can still strategize and use your rolls wisely. The tasks have different levels of difficulty. ‘Safe’ means no negative effects (lost condition, energy, or in-game currency cryo), ‘risky’ means possible negative effects while ‘danger’ means a high chance of negative effects if failed.

Thus, you should always apply the ones or twos you roll to safe tasks, where failure will not be catastrophic. Similarly, if you roll a six, you should use it on the dangerous operations around you.

The low rolls can also be used to succeed in the game’s hacking system. Running around cyberspace on The Eye, you will locate various nodes which need to be unlocked. You need specific digits to unlock these nodes.

Like everything else, these codes are also based on the dice roll mechanic. You can conserve and use your low rolls of ones and twos as most digits used to unlock these nodes are lower numbers. Successful hacking will not only net you extra income but also help you in advancing NPC questlines.

Class Ahead

Citizen Sleeper Skills

Choosing classes in CItizen Sleeper isn’t as deep a choice as in other games. There are three classes and while they are somewhat different, they don’t have a massive effect on how the game plays out. Instead, you can choose a class to suit your playstyle and enjoy the narrative RPG.

There are three classes: Machinist, Operator, and Extractor. The classes come with their skill effects which affect your dice rolls for different tasks. Machinist gives you a +1 to Engineer tasks and -1 to Engage tasks, Operator gives you +1 to Interface tasks and -1 to Endure tasks and Extractor gives you a +1 to Endure tasks and -1 to Intuit tasks.

Thus it makes sense for you to work on tasks according to your class type. For example, as an Operator, you should focus on Interface tasks and avoid Endure tasks. But these stat differences are temporary. As you progress, you will get Upgrade Points used to improve your stats. So you can easily offset the deficit you get from choosing a class.

Extractor is best for the limited combat in Citizen Sleeper, Machinist can excel at engineering tasks while Operator is efficient for hacker builds. The only difference in the classes however is due to the different perks. Machinists have a chance to gain random scrap items on engineer actions. Operators can gain cryo on interface actions while Extractors can recover energy with the sunbathe dice action.

But while the classes don’t have a huge difference in the game, we would suggest you go with the Operator class. The cyberspace of Citizen Sleeper is primed for hacking and the use of intelligence. The extra money you will get after each Interface action will get you food and other elements to help you progress.

Explore Locations and People

Focus on opening the game world as quickly as possible. Initially, you might be pressed with tasks such as time and resource management. But you should make your way to the gate that leads to the second major area of Citizen Sleeper. You might be put off by the expensive toll required to open the gate. But make no mistake, working towards that toll and passing through is the priority.

Opening that gate will open up the world, providing you with various tasks, daily activities, and opportunities to gain resources as well as the various NPCs and factions. Exploring will also help you progress and complete questlines.

At every new location, you should interact with nodes marked with compass symbols. Doing so will reveal a list of tasks in the area, which further lead to rewards and awareness of each zone. You can only fully unlock an area by completing all the tasks to enter surrounding facilities. Again, you can not only earn more income and resources but also unlock areas which in turn unlocks NPC interactions.

Speaking of NPCs… In Citizen Sleeper, you will make many tough decisions. Your choices will make some characters happy, and others less so. Remember, you should try and keep your relationships as civil as possible, especially during the early game. The residents of The Eye can give you tasks. If you piss them off permanently, not only will you lose out on some extra income but it can also affect you later, as these characters can have special expertise that you might need down the road.


Citizen Sleeper is unique, but ultimately it is a sharp RPG. Just like any other classic RPG, you need to take full advantage of merchants. Vessels offering scrap and valuables will stop on The Eye, and you should frequently buy these items from the merchants to advance questions.

More importantly, there are numerous possibilities and branching storylines for your sleeper. The characters you meet and the choices you make can shape the story. Therefore, one playthrough will not be enough for the full experience. We hope our tips help you visit and revisit this wonderful world repeatedly.

Sarah Paul

Sarah is a Junior Content Outreach Writer at OffGamers and a contributor here at Geek Cosmos.