Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is, put simply, a masterpiece and easily one of the best role-playing games (RPGs) of the last decade. It offers an incredible experience that, aside from its ambitious 2018 predecessor Kingdom Come: Deliverance, feels wholly unique and is quite unlike anything you might have played before.

It demonstrates a new level of immersion and interactivity achieved through detailed simulation and a considered commitment to realism. Its brilliance comes not from its engaging, though occasionally convoluted, story, nor its polished life-like visuals, but rather a web of complex, interwoven mechanics that blend seamlessly with one another to create ingenious moments of emergent play.

Tasks that would be nothing short of mundane in other games become memorable escapades that unfold in a grounded, yet often unpredictable, fashion. I’ll never forget my hour-long hunt for a simple spade, the time my pricey shoes got stolen by local ne’er-do-wells after a chaotic tavern brawl, when I haggled with a shady roadside merchant for the spear that stabbed Jesus, or the hundreds of other amusing moments that left me grinning from ear to ear.

Making history

Set in medieval Bohemia (part of modern day Czechia), Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 picks up the moment that the previous installment ended. You are Henry of Skaltiz, an everyday villager who we saw transformed into something of a hero after his home was destroyed and his parents murdered by a horde of foreign raiders under the command of the invading King Sigismund. Having worked your way up the social ladder, you’re now in charge of protecting your friend, the young nobleman Hans Capon, as he delivers an important message to a lord in the nearby region of Trosky.

This simple task quickly spirals out of control as a band of roving criminals attacks your party and slaughters everyone aside from you and Capon. You narrowly escape, but sustain heavy injuries that, in typical European RPG fashion, knock your overall character level right back down. You’re forced to build yourself back up, finding work nearby and eventually reuniting with Capon before an even grander narrative unfolds.

Right off the bat, the inconsistent quality of the voice acting is going to be apparent. The voice work for major characters like Henry and Capon is superb and conveys a believable partnership, but non-playable characters (NPCs) can be very hit or miss. Some sound quite emotionless, while others place strange emphasis on certain words and phrases. I even found a couple that I became convinced are alternating between lines voiced by different people, which is quite jarring to say the least.

That said, it’s easy to forgive a lot of this given just how much voice acting there is throughout. Dialogue is branching, with multiple options depending on your previous actions or character stats. The ability for even the most insignificant of NPCs to respond to your behavior is awe-inspiring, commenting on how well you’re dressed, what you’ve just done, or even whether you’ve managed to get a wash recently. This is not only immersive but also has some interesting gameplay ramifications.

Decked out in a heavy suit of armor your attempts at intimidation are more likely to succeed, while investing all of your cash into a fine set of clothes and a trip to the bathhouse makes it easier to pass yourself off as a noble and talk your way out of sticky situations.

Living and breathing

This is just the start, however, as there are countless careful touches that make the open world feel truly life-like. The many traders, which range from butchers to cobblers and armor makers, can be haggled with, with your overall appearance and local reputation affecting just how low they're willing to go. Town criers travel between rural communities, recounting tall tales of the world beyond Bohemia for anyone willing to stop and listen. There are plenty of activities to try with their own in-depth mechanics, be that blacksmithing new gear, crafting new potions to add to your arsenal, or pinching trinkets for some quick coin.

Time constantly progresses and most NPCs even follow a daily routine, waking up at a set time before going to their place of work for a few hours and then visiting a local tavern or returning home for the evening before bed. Part of the way through the story you’re transported from the huge open fields around Trosky to a second map that contains the burgeoning city of Kuttenberg. It’s filled with beautifully modeled buildings and wandering through its bustling streets watching everyone engaging in a realistic day-to-day life feels like being transported back in time in the very best of ways.

These kinds of systems are paired wonderfully with very open quest design. Sure, some quite linear sections in the main story force you to play a certain way, but most side quests have a range of solutions and can play out very differently depending on your actions.

One such quest saw me tasked with assassinating a farmer and, while it’s definitely possible to run up to him and whack him with a sword in broad daylight, I opted to carefully study his movements. After working out the location of his house, I waited until about 11pm and crept through it silently knocking out all of its inhabitants before arriving at his bed. Hilariously, in all my planning I had forgotten to actually bring a knife for this crucial juncture, so ended up having to loudly beat him with a mace before running off under the cover of darkness.

Daily bread

You also have to watch Henry’s stats, making sure that you get enough sleep and keep your belly full. This might seem a tad annoying at first, but I found that it really encouraged deeper roleplaying than almost any other RPG I’ve experienced. I started planning my virtual days around stopping off at taverns for lunch or to rent a room for the night. Before embarking on long journeys to the starting location of the next story quest, I would routinely go out hunting and smoke my collected meats for longevity - an essential action unless you intend to die of severe food poisoning on the road.

Taking things slow also gives you time to properly recover in between bouts of combat, which is itself a highlight. There are loads of weapons to try, from the conventional one-handed and two-handed swords, axes, and picks, to ranged options like bows, crossbows, and some early, very impractical, firearms. Swords can be swung in five directions, selected by highlighting part of an on-screen star shape. Generally, your goal is to watch an opponent's positioning, swinging the sword in a direction that they have exposed.

It takes a lot of time to master, but visiting trainers will unlock advanced swordplay techniques like combos or ripostes to help hone your skills. I loved the Master strike, an unblockable move that you can trigger by attacking in the opposite direction of a foe just as they begin to swing. It’s tricky to pull off, potentially leaving your vulnerable, but incredibly powerful so presents the perfect balance of risk and reward.

The other weapon types are similarly well thought out and generally a little easier to manage, with fewer swinging directions to keep track of. Still, the most complex attacks are only accessible to those wielding a sword which gives you a good reason to invest the time in getting the hang of them.

This encapsulates the very essence of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. It is not an experience that can be rushed, and doing so would only hamper your enjoyment. Go in willing to truly immerse yourself in medieval life and you will be rewarded with an engaging story and one of the richest, most life-like worlds ever put in a video game.

Should I play Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility

Sadly, there is no dedicated accessibility menu in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

On console you can edit the control scheme somewhat, inverting the vertical and horizon axis and altering look sensitivity.

Subtitles are present throughout the game by default and have a range of display options including text size and high-contrast color settings.

How I reviewed Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

I played Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 for more than fifty hours on PlayStation 5 using the DualSense Wireless Controller and a pair of Astro A50 X headphones.

During that time, I completed the entire main story, reaching the end credits, and explored a lot of what its two maps had to offer through a handful of side quests.

That said, there is still a lot that I didn’t manage to see, so I’m looking forward to diving back in to finish more optional tasks and maybe even replay the story to see how choosing other options at key decision points would play out.

First reviewed January - February 2025

After more than fifty hours of Sid Meier's Civilization 7 and the complete annihilation of my sleep routine thanks to one too many light night sessions, I can confidently say that the latest entry in the legendary turn-based strategy franchise from genre masters Firaxis Games is as strategically rich and unapologetically moreish as ever.

I can’t deny that I went in rather sceptical too, as Civilization 7 is comfortably the most radical take on Civilization yet. Where previous installments have relied on just a handful of new mechanics to keep things feeling fresh, Civilization 7 makes several fundamental changes to the series’ core formula that are, by and large, masterfully handled. The decision to separate Leaders and Civs (the many playable historical groups), for example, is a bold one but opens the door to a whole new level of planning.

Employed aptly, swapping between Civs allows you to pivot your strategy on the fly, helping to prevent those painful, protracted losses that were once almost guaranteed to occur if you were unlucky enough to mess up early on. Competitors such as Humankind have experimented with a similar mix-and-match formula in the past but only demonstrated the potential pitfalls of such systems with uneven, poorly balanced matches.

These problems are thankfully nowhere to be found in Civilization 7, though, while it is one of the best PC games, that’s not to say that it's perfect and there aren’t a few areas with room for improvement.

Urban planner

Civilization has always been the archetypal 4X (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) strategy game, heavily employing all the elements of the genre’s namesake. You play as a historical leader in a procedurally generated hexagon-tiled map, exploring your surroundings before founding cities and beginning to expand your empire.

Placing buildings within cities provides useful yields, namely Science (which is tied to how fast you can work your way through a technology tree to unlock increasingly modern units or amenities), Culture for acquiring Civics (advancements in ideology with their own unique bonuses), and Production (simply how quickly you can build things). This is on top of more material resources, like Food (for increasing the population and number of tiles that your cities occupy), gold (which allows you to instantly buy buildings or units), and Influence (points you can spend interacting with other leaders).

Learning how to properly exploit the environment is key, as tiles have unique qualities that make them best suited to a certain yield. Paired with a plethora of adjacency bonuses and the new ability to overbuild (replace early buildings with superior versions when they become available), managing your cities is a tricky but thoroughly engaging challenge in and of itself.

It was something that I always found a tad overwhelming in Civilization 6, but one small tweak makes city management in Civilization 7 that much easier to keep on top of. Now, new settlements are automatically founded as small towns, which are far more limited than full-blown cities and thus don’t require anywhere near the same level of micro-management. You can upgrade towns to cities for a fee, but I was content focusing all my attention on maximizing the output of just a couple of major cities for the majority of my games.

Spending time developing your metropolises is especially rewarding this time around, as Civilization 7 is by far the best looking strategy game I’ve ever played. Each miniature tile is incredibly detailed, allowing you to zoom in and see your chosen buildings as they’re constructed. Whether it’s the animated farm animals, bridges over the flowing rivers, or the wide variety of period-appropriate architectural styles that line the tightly-knit streets, everything looks like a beautiful museum diorama come to life.

Make your mark

Of course, Civilization 7 is about far more than just managing where your subjects live and each match sees players working towards a range of victory types - with the first to fulfill any one’s conditions crowned the overall winner. The simplest is Domination, where you build up armies and exterminate every other player by capturing all of their territories. Generals, a new unit type that can band together nearby troops for easy transport, are a fantastic addition and eliminate the frustration that was moving large armies in previous games.

Other victory types are now tied to four new legacy paths (Military, Culture, Science, and Economic), which provide a constant set of objectives to pursue. Matches in Civilization 7 are themselves split into three distinct chunks that roughly reflect a key historical period (Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern) and the legacy paths have their own unique goals for each. The Military path, for example, focuses on capturing settlements in Antiquity, dominating the new world in Exploration, and, eventually, successful development of the atomic bomb in Modern.

Culture, meanwhile, is all about constructing one-of-a-kind World Wonders, founding an influential religion, and finally, a mad rush to dig up historical artifacts from all around the map. They all feel very distinct and successfully completing the objectives of the two initial ages provides useful bonuses for the next like some free population or enhanced versions of buildings. As a result, each age unfolds almost like its own small-scale game of Civilization, with players racing to complete these mini-goals. It lends matches a fantastic sense of pace, finally addressing the tendency for things to drag after the first hundred or so turns.

Still, I did notice that following a legacy path does start to become quite repetitive in time. Each legacy path always has the same goals, so realistically you’re going to end up performing the same actions a lot. By the end of my 50 hours, I felt like I had completely mastered all stages of both the Military and Economic legacy paths and was hesitant to start fresh games pursuing them. After 100 hours, I can imagine really needing some new ways to win - something that I hope will be introduced in the expected barrage of post-launch downloadable content.

Tag team

It's not like every match unfolds in entirely the same predictable pattern, however, as the ability to switch your current Civ at the start of each age does add a lot of changeability. This is an absolute highlight and has been implemented impressively well. Each age has its own roster of historical Civs with their own unique buffs, buildings, and units and your choice of leader affects which ones you can pick after your initial selection in Antiquity. Those playing as renowned abolitionist Harriet Tubman, for example, will always be able to access America in the Modern age, which is a clever way to encourage more historically accurate pairings.

You can unlock more Civs by fulfilling certain criteria in each age, too. I played a game where I ended up building a lot of fortifications to protect myself against an aggressive neighbor in Antiquity, which unlocked the option to choose the Normans in the Exploration Age who partly specialize in defense. This is, in a word, brilliant, as it allows you to entirely shift your strategy if something isn’t working out.

If you go into a game intending to pursue an Economic victory and pick one of the corresponding first Civs only to end up wanting to pivot to Culture, you can simply unlock and switch to a more Culture-oriented Civ when you get the chance. It’s easier to pursue multiple victories this way too and means that you can often turn things around if you're not succeeding.

It definitely helps that there is an expansive selection of leaders available at launch, with returning military staples including Napoleon and Augustus joined by unconventional new picks like scheming author Machiavelli and traveled chronicler Ibn Battuta, as well as just over 30 Civs. To top it all off, both leaders and Civs have some really quite unique powers, like Battuta’s Trade Maps Diplomatic Endeavour that lets you spend Influence to see another leader’s explored land or America’s strong resource-grabbing prospector unit.

Code red

Towards the end of the first two ages, you also have to deal with a crisis, which can range from the appearance of hordes of invading barbarians to deadly plagues that wipe out entire armies in just a few turns.

You combat these by enacting mandatory Crisis Policies, which generally provide some relief in one area while massively hampering your progress in another. Working out exactly which of the policies you’re offered will affect you the least is a welcome puzzle and the looming threat of a crisis ups the ante at a time when you would otherwise be winding down.

In spite of all these bombastic new additions, the one major area where Civilization 7 truly falls short is in its diplomacy system - which is baffling as, in my book, it was almost perfect in Civilization 6. Your interactions with other leaders feel unnecessarily limited, mainly focused on forming simple alliances and open border agreements. You can no longer directly trade gold, which means no bargaining for another leader’s cities or leveraging piles of money to bribe greedy leaders into initiating losing wars with others. It’s a real shame, as those systems opened the door to some seriously amusing scenarios and even helped spice up offline matches against AI.

Otherwise, I have very few reservations about recommending Civilization 7. If you’re a lover of strategy games, you will undoubtedly have a fantastic experience. As an evolution of the series, it’s an admirable success, and, like its predecessor, I’m confident my few complaints will at least be remedied through both free and paid content updates in the months and years to come.

Should I play Sid Meier's Civilization 7?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility

There are a solid number of accessibility options in Sid Meier's Civilization 7 which can be found in a devoted accessibility menu. Keyboard and mouse controls can be remapped on PC, and there is also full support for custom controller layouts.

On top of this, you are able to increase or decrease the font scale, enable colorblind filters, turn on dialogue subtitles, and enable in-game menu or chat narration. There are a range of difficult options to choose from when playing with AI and a comprehensive tutorial system.

How I reviewed Sid Meier's Civilization 7

I played Sid Meier's Civilization 7 for almost 60 hours on PC, experimenting with a wide range of leader and Civ combinations. I managed to succeed at each possible victory type, learning their mechanics and following the various legacy paths.

Key specs of my PC build include an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU, i5-11400F CPU, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. In terms of peripherals, I relied on an Asus ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition mouse and an Endgame Gear KB65HE keyboard, plus a Lenovo Q24i-10 Monitor and a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 gaming headset for audio.

Throughout my time with the game, I compared my experience to that of not only Civilization games but also a wide range of other 4X strategy titles including Humankind, Ara: History Untold, Endless Legend, and more.

First reviewed January/February 2025

PS5 Slim review: Two-minute review

The PS5 Slim picks up where the original launch model of the PS5 left off and offers a brilliant current-generation gaming experience. Adding a couple of quality-of-life improvements to the original and shrinking the footprint right down, while maintaining the excellent performance and experiences you would expect from a PS5, means this is still one of the very best gaming consoles to buy.

The PS5 Slim launched at the same price that the original launch model PS5 had. This differs from the last generation when the PS4 Slim arrived with a slightly lower price tag, which was very welcome at the time. While that’s disappointing, the PS5 Slim is now the dominant variant of the console - coming in both disc and digital editions too -and discounts and deals are now frequent. As such, while we heartily recommend it at its list price, it can offer exceptional value for money.

The biggest changes with the PS5 Slim are indeed as its name would imply: its small footprint and form factor mean the PS5 Slim is around 30% smaller, which is welcome given the original’s heft. It’s of the same design language, but not exactly the same either. While the form of the PS5 Slim still features the fanned, larger end, the console’s shell is now split by a gap (‘filled in’ by the black plastic of the console’s main body underneath), making for four separate plates.

One small difference is the front ports both being USB-C on the Slim too, trading the launch model’s USB-A port for the second USB-C one. And apart from a slightly larger hard drive - the PS5 Slim sports a 1TB SSD as opposed to the original’s 825GB - it has the identical PS5 specs within it that offer that wonderful performance we’re used to from Sony’s current console. You’ve also got a host of customization options with the PS5 Slim, thanks to Sony releasing a wide number of different console covers that can be easily slotted on.

It is that performance, combined with the new design, that makes the PS5 Slim so easy to recommend. PS5 games run like a dream and with a library that’s bigger than ever, now offers more adventures than before. Sony’s first-party titles in particular are dreamy from a performance standpoint - whether you prefer resolution and detail or frame rate speed and smoothness. PlayStation 4 games also still run like a dream which means your backlog can be taken onto PS5 Slim with ease. The DualSense Wireless controller is still the same original one which is great for the haptic features that help make the PS5 stand out, but its battery life is still underwhelming.

The PS5 Slim doesn’t reinvent the PS5 by any means - that evolution is handled by the new PS5 Pro - but its new design makes it an exceptionally sleek version of Sony’s current-gen machine. With the same great performance, quality hardware and specs, and a larger-than-ever library, it’s an easy console to recommend.

PS5 Slim review: Price and availability

• List price: $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799 (disc) / $449.99 / £389.99 / AU$679.99 (digital)
• Launched on November 10, 2023
• Same price as the original PS5; regular offers are often available

The PS5 Slim is now the default PlayStation 5 model and is widely available in every region, replacing the launch model almost entirely. It took over the same price point and is thus a straight swap.

However, since the PS5 launched, several regions have been hit by PS5 price rises (sometimes multiple price rises) and the PS5 Slim represents the newer, adjusted price points in those countries, not the original one. The US price has remained the same, however. Offsetting this somewhat, now we’re into the console’s fifth year, is that deals and discounts on the PS5 Slim are becoming more frequent, with genuinely good bundles and offers being put on by Sony itself, as well as various retailers.

In the market, it’s priced almost identically to the Xbox Series X console, which has also seen some regional price rises. The PS5 Slim Digital Edition also now has direct competition from an Xbox Series X Digital Edition console but undercuts its Microsoft counterpart in price considerably.

Within the PlayStation 5 ecosystem itself, we now have the PS5 Pro to factor into the equation. Coming in at a mighty $699.99 / £699.99 the Pro is considerably more expensive than the Slim, and its performance and benefits are a little more niche, and for an enthusiast audience. As a result, the PS5 Slim offers good value in relation to its more powerful brethren, given the experiences it offers are still excellent.

PS5 Slim review: Specs

PS5 Slim review: Design & features

• Slick and chic design, more compact than that of the original
• Detachable disc drive, and excellent controller
• Wide choice of replaceable console covers for personalization

The main selling point of the PS5 Slim is indeed in its design, aesthetic, and form factor. Sony has a history of making refined, smaller, and slimmer versions of all its home consoles. so the PS5 getting the trimming-the-fat treatment was expected - and it delivers too, coming in at around 30% smaller than the launch model PS5.

There’s a similar design language here, however, with a flare remaining at one end (for the fans) and the sweeping curves of the PS5 hardware family remain across the Slim, making for a slick-looking form. The console’s covers are now in four parts, not two, with a gap between the plates forming a striking ‘black’ line across both the console’s top and bottom.

These, like the original, can be removed and swapped for others that Sony has made (or other third-party ones, if you fancy), meaning there are plenty of customization options to personalize your PS5 Slim. The disc drive is detachable by default too, so if you buy a digital variant and later decide to add a disc drive then that’s some extra flexibility right there.

While the vertical stand for the PS5 Slim is a nicer-looking, slicker metal ring, compared to the original’s bulky black plastic model, it doesn’t come with the console by default which is a mark against the console’s value. If you do buy the stand, the result is a console that looks sharper when standing upright compared to its predecessor. If you stick with horizontal orientation, you can rely on the two small cheapish-lookin plastic feet that are provided.

In terms of features present on the Slim, it is exactly the same, spec-wise, as the original model apart from two minor quality-of-life amendments; one internal, one external. The internal change is that of a boost to storage, with the PS5 Slim being equipped with a 1TB SSD compared to the launch model’s custom 825GB drive.

PS5 Slim review: Performance

• Excellent gaming experiences and performance
• Haptics and triggers on the DualSense are superb
• Fantastic interface and intuitive user experience

Much like how the original PS5 won us over with its excellent gaming performance, the PS5 Slim continues that and offers the same breathtaking experiences. The best PS5 games run beautifully with adventures such as God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, Astro Bot, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 being particular first-party highlights that really take advantage of the PS5’s hardware.

PS4 games run like a dream on the PS5 Slim too, and the same backward compatibility level with the previous gen’s discs and digital titles remains a simple part of the day-to-day PS5 experience. I’ve been revisiting Doom (2016) recently, for example, and the extra boost to loading times in particular makes it a joy to play. The PS5 Game Boost mode will also improve performance across the board (in principle) for PS5 games, and makes some games run smoother, with faster frame rates, or in higher resolution - or a combination of all of those.

You can even experience older games on your PS5 with the updated and modern arrangement of Sony’s PS Plus subscription. The top premium level can give you access to PS3 game streaming from the cloud, as well as some select PS1 and PS2 games to download. While perhaps not quite as generous or deep as Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, a PS Plus subscription does make the experience of having a PS5 Slim even better and feels essential.

On that note of streaming and downloading games, it is worth noting that in all my testing, on Wi-Fi and Ethernet, I still never get close to my actual download speed on the PS5. This is something I have experienced on every PS5 I have owned sadly, and not a problem on Xbox Series X.

On a practical performance level, using the PS5 Slim is a joy too. It’s incredibly simple to set up, and transfer files from one to another if need be, and removing the console covers to access the M.2 PS5 SSD slot or change them entirely is very easy, and quite satisfying. The extra USB-C port and slightly larger SSD means that day-to-day usage is improved too, and benefits the whole experience.

The DualSense, while exactly the same as it was in 2020 - there’s no V2 like there was with the PS4’s DualShock 4 controller, sadly - remains absolutely excellent. While a generally top gamepad, the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers continue to feel brilliant. The PS5 Slim is compatible with all PS5 (and almost all PS4) accessories too, so if you own any from a previous machine from this or last generation then these will be able to be used on a PS5 Slim.

This is made extra simple because the UI and operating system layout are identical to the launch PS5 - and PS5 Pro. Navigating the PS5 Slim, from games to screenshots, and from streaming apps to save files and deeper settings is simple and intuitive. There are also now more customization options on offer with the UI being honed and enhanced since the launch model’s initial release.

Thus, the PS5 Slim is an easy recommendation. It’d be an easy recommendation if the launch model of the PS5 existed still, but now that it has taken over the position of the ‘standard’ console from its predecessor - and improved on it slightly - it’s the easiest current-gen console recommendation I can make right now.

Should I buy the PS5 Slim?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider...

If you’re still undecided about committing to the PS5 Slim, then here are two fine alternatives to consider for console gaming in 2025.

How I tested the PS5 Slim

• Tested over the course of months, replacing my original PS5
• Compared to PS5 Pro and launch PS5
• Used it multiple days a week for months playing a variety of games, transferring data, and with a range of accessories

I’ve tested and lived with the PS5 Slim for several months now with it being my office PS5, and regular ‘normal’ PS5 console (alongside my main PS5 Pro machine). As a result, it’s been used for testing hardware, and games, and has been used for regular gaming of PS5 and PS4 titles in my own time when not using my PS5 Pro.

I have been able to compare it to my PS5 Pro, as well as the original PS5 model I have owned from physical footprint and design to performance and everyday use. I have engaged with the console on multiple levels; using the SSD bay, using it in both horizontal and vertical positions, and also changing the console covers from white to Volcanic Red.

I have played both digital and disc games on the console in combination with an Acer Predator X32QFS 4K gaming monitor, and I have tested multiple accessories with the PS5 Slim including a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7P headset, SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset, a Sabrent M.2 PS5 SSD, and Seagate Game Drive external SSD for PlayStation.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed October 2024-January 2025

Rather than just the bombast of dizzying intergalactic battles, modern science fiction tales are imagining futures shaped by pervasive inequality and technological conquest. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, a roleplaying game by Gareth Damian Martin and one-person studio Jump Over the Age, is a science fiction tale of that pedigree.

It also brings to mind a New Yorker profile of science fiction writer Liu Cixin from a few years ago, who achieved international acclaim for his book, The Three Body Problem. Liu insisted science fiction merely allows readers to indulge in escapism rather than serve as metaphors for real-world affairs. Perhaps this reflects his perspective that Chinese people are more concerned about immediate needs like healthcare and the economy, as opposed to more altruistic concepts like individual liberty - a nice to have, but not a necessity.

It’s an outlook that’s difficult to reconcile with, especially when confronted with a tale as introspective as Starward Vector that carries shades of moral complexity. For instance, an early contract - the game’s more treacherous gigs - involves preserving a data core with immense historical value, or selling it to a mercenary who’ll inevitably scrap the relic, so as to get the fuel you need to escape your captor.

It’s a choice between addressing immediate needs versus pursuing a more humanistic goal for the far future. But while most games would clumsily nudge you towards the latter, presenting this quandary as a form of delayed gratification by promising better, future rewards, Starward Vector tackles this choice more elegantly, gently suggesting that you lean on community in times of need.

On the run again

Like the first Citizen Sleeper, Starward Vector puts you in the shoes of a Sleeper, an indentured android and an emulation of a flesh-and-blood human being who owes a tremendous debt to a corporation. This time, however, you’re on the run from a sinister figure named Laine who wants you - his property - back. What this means is that you’ll need to stay one step ahead of his relentless pursuit, as you trawl the Helion solar system on your ship (which is also stolen from Laine) to eek out a living.

Of course, this is a perilous journey. For those who have played Citizen Sleeper before, Starward Vector will largely be a familiar experience, but for the uninitiated, this cadence will take a bit of getting used to. The game progresses through cycles, with dice rolls determining how well you perform your tasks; the higher the number, the better the outcome. That said, there are a few key differences from the original, such as a distinct lack of a condition bar, as this particular Sleeper is no longer reliant on drugs to prevent their body from decaying.

But instead of a failing artificial body, you’ll accrue stress from, well, almost anything. A poor outcome from a dice roll can induce stress, as well as having to plow through work while starving. Accumulate too much stress, and your dice can disintegrate. Once broken, they cannot be used, limiting the amount of actions you can take per cycle until you garner the right components to repair them.

Occasionally, you’ll also need to embark on contracts, which are high-risk jobs that offer a significant amount of cryos (the game’s form of currency). Make too many mistakes during these contracts, and you can set off crises, events that put you in pressure cooker conditions; the longer you take to complete contracts, the more stressful the gig will be.

This is how Starward Vector reminds you of the precarity of your situation. Even a streak of utterly perverse luck can derail your cycles, like a horrid day when Murphy’s Law is in full swing. For a Sleeper, the stakes are infinitely high, the specter of certain failure ratcheting up the tension at every turn.

A motley crew

Fortunately, you’re not alone. A ragtag crew of spacefarers will join you over the course of your expedition, with the first being Serafin, a close friend who’s instrumental in breaking your oppressive servitude under Laine. Then there’s Juni, a quiet character you’ll meet during the game’s earliest contract with the data core. These crew members have skills they are particularly adept in, and that you can leverage during contracts.

Your crew will have their own dice rolls, which you can select to perform tasks they’re inclined towards. Juni, for instance, gets a bonus to her Interface trait, so you’ll do well by assigning her to a task that requires that particular skill. Doing so effectively is vital in helping you complete contracts without burning yourself out. That’s because, unlike most RPGs, being self-sufficient isn’t the point; depending on your class, some skills cannot be maxed out or even unlocked.

But rather than frame your companions as additional resources to exploit, the game’s impeccably polished prose helps to embellish the crew’s growing kinship with the Sleeper. Serafin, for all his dour cynicism, is a welcomed presence, his steely visage betraying a deep affection for the Sleeper - and all these are inferred just from the game’s pithy, yet ornately penned paragraphs.

Thus beyond just matters of survival, your relationships offer something more: community. Take the data core contract; Juni, a relative stranger then, asked that you give her the data for archival purposes, in exchange for nothing more than a promise of assistance with your fuel problem.

Despite initial misgivings, you can hand the data to her, with her later returning the favor in unexpected ways. Another branching story, which involves potentially assisting a union leader, also feeds into this sense of camaraderie. Such instances of solidarity suffuse your ill-fated journey with something perhaps resembling hope, an aspiration of not having to struggle against the hegemony of corporate power over the working class alone.

That said, it’s possible to make a comfortable living and save a handsome sum of cryos, the cycles of stressful resource management a thing of the past. Eventually, you may become adept at gaming the very system itself.

Even a single cycle marred with sheer, unbelievably bad luck - a series of shoddy dice rolls, perhaps leading to an exhausting, energy-draining day of labor - becomes easier to recover from. What you do with this excess, however, is up to you, such as choosing to pay another crew their fees, turning down the payment owed to you by another worker, or just burning all your cryos at a gambling den.

Tinged with hope

The game’s onerous system points to a reality that’s attuned to our wretched times: a pandemic that has exposed structural inequality, governments that are slipping into authoritarianism, and countries that refuse to acknowledge genocides. But Starward Vector is more than just a bleak universe writhing with doom and peril; its bright spots are undoubtedly its well-written, likable characters, whose aid and support you’ll learn to lean into even as structural oppression looms.

It has achieved the rare feat of balancing its narrative with a multi-faceted system without drowning its humanity in these details - all the while imparting the value of collective action and mutual aid. For a tale set in a cyber dystopia, it’s an uncharacteristically hopeful tale.

Should you play Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Starward Vector offers three difficulty settings: safe, risky, and dangerous, which can be changed at any time during the game. This changes the penalties from poor dice rolls, such as increased energy depletion and permanent death in the dangerous setting. Scene text can be enlarged, while the text scroll speed can be increased and reduced.

How I reviewed Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

I spent around 16 hours on the game, completing the main quest, exploring its extensive solar system and planets, and experiencing its side content in the form of its contracts. I also reviewed the game on an original LCD Steam Deck, playing the game in handheld mode, with the device providing hours of seamless gameplay.

First reviewed January 2025

Razer Blue Screen: one-minute review

The Razer Blue Screen is a premium and convenient solution for those wanting a pro-grade green screen that's easy to set up and provides marvellous results. Think of it as a competitor to Elgato's similarly-specced solution, with the key (pun intended) difference being its colour.

The reason for this being a blue screen is because, according to Razer, it's easier to key out than the classic green - a statement that I found accurate in my testing. In addition, it's also more in line with what the professionals use in the name of giving your content more of a pro-grade appearance with the right care and attention.

The Blue Screen can extend up to 94-inches, or 2.38 metres, in height, making it suitable for head, or even full body, shots. In addition, it features quality fixtures and fittings with a sturdy metal frame and seam-free polyester material. While expensive, it remains one of the best green screens we've tested.

Razer Blue Screen: Price and availability

• $149.99 / £159.99
• Sold only via Razer directly
• Available in the UK & US

The Razer Blue Screen clocks in at £159.99 / $149.99 and has been around since October 2022 as a more premium option for those looking for a simple pull-up blue screen for keying out backgrounds in a professional manner.

Other peripheral brands have leaned into the green screen space in the past, with the likes of Elgato's Green Screen offering a similarly priced package with a pull-up screen designed for streamers.

The key difference between the pair of these screens is color. A blue screen is arguably closer to what's used in some professional environments and is generally better in low light conditions than a green screen.

Otherwise, the premium price tag attached to Razer's option will also buy you some entire kits from the likes of Neewer that include a green sheet held up with its included stands, as well as a pair of soft-box lights, bulbs, umbrellas, and more. You do have to have a fair amount of space for a full kit like that, whereas the Blue Screen pulls up and down and thus can be stowed away easily.

Razer Blue Screen: Specs

Razer Blue Screen: Design and features

• Wonderfully easy to set up
• Tall enough for head and full-body shots
• High-quality polyester fabric

The Razer Blue Screen is a sleek and modern entry into what can often be quite a clunky enterprise. Setting up a green screen isn't the easiest if you're using one of those kits that's simply a piece of green fabric that needs to be clipped to a surface or attached to a stand.

With this in mind, Razer's choice makes it all easy, simply pulling up out of its enclosure to a height of 94 inches, or 2.38 meters. To erect it, you push against a tab on the top side, and pull up. The screen is on runners, so it almost pulls up itself with minimal effort required.

It's a stable setup, too, with the entire stand comprised of thick metal, and a pair of fold-out plastic legs that prevent the Blue Screen from falling over. In addition, the pull-up portion is reinforced with cross-braces on the reverse side that keep it straight and true.

In addition, as with the Elgato Green Screen and other similar pull-up options, Razer's Blue Screen is easily stowable in a cupboard or the corner of a room as it slides down to nothing into its base. It's a lot easier than dealing with a full-size kit, that's for sure.

The screen itself is made of polyester and is both seamless and wrinkle-free out of the box. Being totally smooth means it's easier to key out in the editing stage for a more professional look to your content.

Razer Blue Screen: Performance

• Fantastic keying results
• Works well in low-light conditions
• Simple set-up is brilliant

The Razer Blue Screen is, in one word, convenient. Other green screens I've tested in the past have come in the form of sheetings with additional stands, which can take more than a few minutes to set up.

With Razer's choice, it's as easy as pulling it up in a matter of seconds, sitting down in a chair, recording some content, and then booting up the software to key the background out.

The mere fact it's blue made keying out easier in lower light conditions, especially when I only have space for a single key light off to the left of my desk. Once I had balanced the correct color to key out in my software, the Razer Blue Screen produced wonderfully clean and smooth results on Windows or MacOS.

With this in mind, as a literal piece of pull-up fabric, compatibility isn't an issue with the Blue Screen. It'll work with whatever software and operating system you're using for keying the background out, such as Final Cut Pro on macOS or DaVinci Resolve on Windows, as I used in my testing.

Should I buy the Razer Blue Screen?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider...

Still not sold on the Razer Blue Screen? Here's how it compares to two similar products.

How I tested the Razer Blue Screen

• Used and tested for more than one week
• Tested it with Windows and macOS editing software
• Evaluated against other green screens

I used the Razer Blue Screen for a week as a screen for recording test film that was captured in OBS as if I was streaming for keying the blue screen out. I also recorded test footage that was edited in both DaVinci Resolve on Windows and Final Cut Pro on macOS to best utilize the blue screen.

Throughout my period testing the blue screen, I compared it against the Elgato Green Screen and Neewer Green Screen Kit, as well as a similar full-size kit I had purchased myself prior to the review.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed January 2025.