Hi, my name is Gareth Damian Martin and I am the solo developer behind Citizen Sleeper, one of 2022’s most beloved indie games coming to PS4 and PS5 on March 31. It’s been a wild ride since the release last May, and I have been blown away by the support, positive press and award nominations alike. As a longtime PlayStation player, I’m so happy to finally bring the game, complete with all its DLC to both PS4 and PS5.

Complete and expanded

Since its release, Citizen Sleeper has only been growing and continues on that trajectory with a three-episode DLC series expanding on the world and its stories. The first episode, Flux, saw a refugee flotilla arrive at the game’s ring-shaped space station, Erlin’s Eye. In episode 2, Refuge, a new threat to the future of the station was revealed. The PlayStation version will launch alongside the third and final episode, Purge, which completes the story of the flotilla and the wider game. That means players getting started on March 31st will have the complete game and all its DLC available to them from the get-go.

Rolls and roles

But what are you getting yourself into if you decide to build a life on Erlin’s Eye? Citizen Sleeper is a narrative-focused sci-fi RPG, but it’s nothing like anything you’ve played before. Taking inspiration from tabletop role-playing games, each “cycle” you’ll roll your dice, and then decide how best to use them.

From taking a bar shift for a few extra chits, to investigating a station-wide conspiracy, everything in the game uses dice to determine its outcome. The result is a broad world filled with various paths and endings, and a whole host of characters to meet. You’ll need to think carefully about which dice you use for what, and face the outcomes of unlucky rolls and difficult decisions.

Allies and adversaries

Character design is a big part of what players have fallen in love with in Citizen Sleeper. To create the diverse cast of salvagers, bartenders, chefs, mercenaries and more, I worked with French comic artist Guillaume Singellin. Guillaume’s art brings a beautiful human touch to the sometimes melancholy and stark world of Citizen Sleeper, and you’ll be able to choose which of the captivating characters you want to spend your time with.

That’s what’s at the heart of Citizen Sleeper—building a life and community in a sci-fi world that feels human and emotionally impactful. I hope you’ll give the game a shot on March 31st and join the 500,000 and counting who have already made a life on The Eye.

Meet Your Maker launches on April 4, and what better way to do it than with Day 1 availability as part of the April 2023 PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup.

While there’s no better feeling than finally getting a game into the hands of players, Meet Your Maker’s focus on user-generated content makes this release extra special for us.

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This is a twisted playground where anyone can unleash their creativity, building and challenging each other with levels we could never have conceived. After the incredible showcase of imagination and skill we’ve seen from our playtesters, we’re beyond excited to see what the rest of the world can do.

If you’re looking for a few ideas to drive your personal approach to building or raiding on April 4, here are some player-inspired profiles to help light the fuse.

What kind of Builder are you?

Thinking about the experience you want to create for Raiders isn’t just a fun way to build in Meet Your Maker, it’s a key part of the game. Flex that dark creativity to create something memorable, and rack up accolades from Raiders that will feed your Outpost’s progression down the road.

The Maze Maker

Every Outpost in Meet Your Maker requires you build a clear path from its entrance to the Genmat at its core – but nothing says this path should be easy to navigate. Build like a Maze Maker and turn the layout of the Outpost itself into yet another enemy for players to contend with. Twisting hallways, verticality, multiple branching corridors, and trap-filled dead ends are all great ways to confound Raiders. 

Along with well-placed traps, guards also play a big role in the Maze Maker’s arsenal. Personally record each of their patrol routes throughout your labyrinth for maximum effect. Then up the ante by equipping guards with Augments like Unleashed and let them break free of their patrol path to chase down Raiders until death.

The Trapper

Some of the most rewarding moments in Meet Your Maker happen when a Raider thinks they’ve eluded your clever trap setup only to realize they were being herded towards the real threat the entire time. The Trapper loves chaining traps together, thinking strategically to always stay one step ahead.

You can equip every trap with Mods to give you ultimate control over how (and when) they’re deployed. Traps can be modded to do everything fr

Next month, Aloy will face new threats in a danger-filled land as she embarks on a new adventure. Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shore expansion leverages the power of PS5 to make this journey possible. We reached out to Guerrilla to understand how, and to find out more about the enticing combat and world design details we should expect on April 19. Game Director Mathijs de Jonge offers his development insights.

PlayStation Blog: What were your first impressions when first learning about the power and capabilities of the PS5, from a developer perspective?

Mathijs de Jonge: Horizon Forbidden West is a very visual game, so the promise of more CPU power and memory meant we were going to be able to add even more quality to the image; and gameplay-wise I was most looking forward to being able to play at 60fps. This was high on my wishlist as it works so well with our combat gameplay as you’re fighting the machines.

When I first heard about the superfast SSD, it was hard to believe that it was so capable – but it seems like loading times truly are a thing of the past. This works brilliantly for a game like Horizon Forbidden West, where long loading screens can be a real immersion breaker. From a development point of view, fast loading also helped me with reviewing the game because I could jump straight into any section without having to wait.

How have you taken advantage of PS5’s power to create Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores?

One of our key priorities with Horizon games is to add a ton of detail and richness to our environments. On Horizon Forbidden West, everything we added or increased was something we’d need to have a plan around how to optimize for PS4 as well. On Burning Shores, since we can just focus on PS5, we’ve been able to charge forward and we’re really excited about what we’ve been able to pull off in creating this stunning post-post-apocalyptic version of Los Angeles.

The cityscape ruins of LA and its surroundings are highly detailed and require a lot of processing power as well as fast streaming technology to run properly; especially when the player is flying over the lands and can see a lot at once. One of the settlements is situated in and around those detailed ruins, and we were able to squeeze a lot of activity in there.

Another notable one is a particular battle scene that requires a LOT of memory and processing power! To achieve this grand vision both technically and creatively, we definitely were thankful for the many advantages that the PS5 hardware brings.

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Last week, we asked you to share inspiring heroines from your favorite games using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

MSTakesPictures shares Kena from Kena: Bridge of Spirits

ForgottenJasmin shares Beta and Aloy in Horizon Forbidden West.

YouSpoonyBardd shares Ellie from The Last of Us Part II.

justinphotomode shares Frey from Forspoken

sirevanztheduke shares Batgirl from Gotham Knights.

mobhaine shares Aerith and Tifa from Final Fantasy VII Remake

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? 

THEME: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on March 15, 2023

Next week, travel to the Three Kingdoms and share daring feats from Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

It’s time to see which top downloads for PS5, PS4, PS VR2, and F2P received the most hearts and candy. The US and EU PS5 charts have the same top pick for February, while the US and EU PS4 charts also had the same front-runner. Newcomers Wild Hearts, Football Manager 2023, and Hogwarts Legacy all landed in the top ten.

Check out the full listings below. Next month, we’ll reveal the top downloads for March 2023.

PS5 Games

*Naming of products may differ between regions
*Upgrades not included

PS4 Games

*Naming of products may differ between regions

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