How much have you changed over the past couple of years? The passage of time continues, constantly, unremittingly. We’re all getting older, and time’s arrow marches on. It’s… inevitable. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector’s lead dev Gareth Damian Martin, after playing some of the upcoming sequel. In case you couldn’t tell, and thought I was just being introspective, in Citizen Sleeper 2, the passage of time is important.
Take Bliss, for example. Bliss is a character you can meet in the first Citizen Sleeper, and they’re back in the sequel. Those of you that met them in the first game might remember that, at that point in time, they used she/her pronouns. But now, an indeterminate amount of time later, they’ve realised they are non-binary.
In Citizen Sleeper 2, when you meet Bliss, they offer to help you out. Fans enjoyed their presence, but this resurfacing is about more than simply jingling keys for players of the first game. For Martin, Bliss presented “an opportunity to have this kind-of moment of solidarity, and a fun discussion between a non-binary person and a Sleeper about their experiences; something that I’m trying to bring to the Forefront.”
