A new partnership between NASA and Microsoft will allow Minecraft players to launch their own Moon rockets and experience life as an astronaut aboard an Orion spacecraft.
NASA has set its sights on returning humanity to the Moon for the first time since the 1970s as part of its Artemis program. For this ambitious multi-decade mission to be a success, humanity will need to develop complex technologies, construct leviathan Moon rockets, and inspire a whole new generation of astronauts, engineers, and scientists to carry on the good work.
3…2…1 Lift off! The #Artemis Missions have landed in Minecraft in partnership with @NASA! ? ?
Design your own rocket and navigate the Orion space capsule on a mission to the moon! #MinecraftEdu
— Minecraft Education (@PlayCraftLearn) March 7, 2023
To this end NASA has teamed up with Microsoft to create a series of interactive lessons set in Minecraft’s block-centric universe. The goal is to inspire children to picture themselves as future astronauts while introducing them to the goals and key technologies that will power the Artemis program.
Along the way, students will learn about the basics of rocketry and the challenges involved with guiding missions and surviving in the hostile environment of space. The newly created Minecraft worlds, including Artemis: Rocket Build, and Artemis: Return to the Moon, are available to download for free through the Minecraft Education platform.
“NASA strives to reach the broadest audience and inspire the Artemis Generation to prepare them for the missions of tomorrow,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a NASA release. “Through our partnership with Microsoft, this new frontier in Minecraft reflects NASA’s priority of pushing the boundaries of exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond!”
Artemis: Rocket Build will see players learn about NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which successfully completed its maiden flight in November last year. Students will then be asked to juggle fuel and budget constraints as they create and customise their own rockets capable of launching satellites and crew into space.
Artemis: Return to the Moon, meanwhile, will encourage students to use block-based or Python coding to control a digital version of NASA’s Orion capsule as they “complete mini-missions and solve challenges in space” as part of an Orion astronaut crew.
The block-based aerospace crossover is far from the only time that NASA has teamed up with video game developers. NASA had previously partnered with Squad to bring an asteroid redirect mission to Kerbal Space Program, and has also released a number of its own education-orientated games and experiences.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
Citizen Sleeper is receiving its third and final DLC episode at the end of the month. DLC for Citizen Sleeper was first announced last summer through a post-launch content roadmap, and with Episode: Flux and Episode: Refuge out the door, it’s now time for Episode: Purge, free for all owners on March 30th. Purge is introducing a new narrative arc alongside more characters, locations, and lore.
Citizen Sleeper, a tabletop-inspired RPG, completely blew us away last year with its incredible writing, haunting music, and stunning art design. And on 30th March, the story will conclude with its last piece of free DLC with Episode: PURGE.
Following on from the two previous free DLCs — FLUX and REFUGE — PURGE introduces another new character and some additional story to Erlin’s Eye, and will conclude the story of the Sleeper and expand further on the wider narrative of the Helion System, where the game is set. Not much else is known, but we’re sure it’ll be a moving, thought-provoking experience.
Today, Citizen Sleeper studio Jump Over The Age announced Purge, the third and final narrative expansion to be added to the game on March 30th. This update brings an end to what creator Gareth Damian Martin calls a ‘half-sequel’ to the original release, but, as we found out in a discussion about Purge, this doesn’t seem to be the end of Citizen Sleeper’s universe as a whole.
For the uninitiated, Citizen Sleeper is a narrative RPG set on Erlin’s Eye, a ruined space station home to a community of interstellar misfits and outcasts desperately trying to build a life. You can read more about the base game over here, but for now, let’s focus on Episode 3, the last in a series of free updates that seek to bring a close to this era of Citizen Sleeper.
The previous two episodes, Flux and Refuge, both explored complex new tales featuring fresh and returning faces – Flux revolves a refugee flotilla that has arrived on Erlin’s Eye, and Refuge follows on from the events of Flux, allowing you to explore the refugee flotilla and encounter new characters. Although Martin is extremely cagey about what exactly will unfold in Purge (the pleasure of Citizen Sleeper is the story, after all) we do know that the expansion will bring this arc to a conclusion.
While Citizen Sleeper is a fully realised game with several branching narratives, it was merely a dip into the ocean of the universe that Damian Martin is aiming to create, and this trio of DLC instalments represents just the first step. We sat down with Damian Martin ahead of the launch of Episode 3 to look back on Citizen Sleeper as a whole, the choice to expand on certain story beats in DLC, and what’s next for this dynamic and captivating sci-fi universe they’ve created.
“I love universes that are big enough to contain different types of media, and it’s really exciting to be in this moment where I have this thing that people actually like,” they tell us. “There’s all these dangling teases and threads that I can pick up later, and a wealth of places that I can take the story. I’d love to see people two or three years down line going ‘oh, wait, these things are connected’.”
The plan to evolve Citizen Sleeper was always in motion, but Damian Martin used the ‘complete’ base game to essentially test drive the concept, and see how players found it:
“I wanted to make the most lightweight form of the game that could sell the idea and make sure people understood what I was trying to do, while being efficient with my time in case it didn’t work out,” Damian Martin tells us. “I was pleasantly surprised to find out how many people got on with it, because I thought it was a very niche game.”
Damian Martin explains that the plan to create this series of expansions stemmed from two things. One was to limit the scope of Citizen Sleeper in order to get people on board with the idea, and the other came from a strong, personal love of stories and worlds – like those in Mass Effect and Destiny 2 – that build even after the original story seems complete.
“After launch, I immediately greenlit the DLC in my head for two reasons — one, I love ongoing stories and serial narratives that allow the world to live with you for a bit. I wanted to see if I could bring this feeling of a story that progresses over time,” Damian Martin says.
“The second is that I wanted to give an indication that Citizen Sleeper is a long-term project. Some indie games, you play them for six or eight hours and they’re great, but that’s it, you never go back there. So these episodes felt like the best to keep momentum going, and see where we can go with it.”
Damian Martin tells us that this design choice is heavily inspired by tabletop games, which often allow players to branch off and explore different paths and uncover plots that pertain to a bigger overarching story.
“If you want anything to happen in a video game, you have to make a system for it. In tabletop games, you can improvise, characters you’ve invented suddenly become main characters, and I wanted to find a way to bring that energy and structure into a video game,” they tell us.
“What I love about tabletop RPG is that players can go to any place they want, and the [game master] has to comply to give them a story. I wanted to put that feeling in the game, so like, having a drink at Tyler’s bar stems into you building a relationship with Tyler, but it all stems from just going there for a drink.”
Citizen Sleeper is driven by the characters you meet and the conversations that take place, but Damian Martin says that making game-altering decisions in dialogue feels unusual to them. This is reflected in their experiences with tabletop RPGs — conversations are not huge focal points for players, but where to go, what to do, and who to do it with matters greatly.
“I think dialogue options are great as expressive choices, but the decisions I make that affect my life are usually about what I do with my time, what I turn up to do, the people that I help or respond to,” they explain. “So I was really interested in a system where decisions were almost made unconsciously by the player. There are lots of things available to you, but you have a limited amount of time. Players automatically prioritize in their head and make choices that feel natural to them, as opposed to contrived choices. I try to encourage players to just go with their gut and see where it puts them.”
Damian Martin describes some of the more visceral, personal experiences that inspired the narrative of Citizen Sleeper, like feeling out of place or exposed, and how they wanted to incorporate that into the characters and stories. You can tell that it’s these kinds of stories that will form a part of their thinking for the future of this nascent series.
“I really wanted to make a game that was about a lot of the things that I’ve been thinking about for the past 10 years, things that were really important to me, and things that I kind of intuited on some level, where important to people of my generation and our experiences,” Damian Martin explains.
“The idea of [rolling dice to choose actions], and randomness, and risk, and then the risk of precarity and existing in society in a minoritized position and trying to struggle to survive, those things kind of slipped together.”
While you can end up in some dicey (excuse the pun) situations in Citizen Sleeper due to low number rolls, the story still continues. Damian Martin stresses the importance of keeping the narrative rolling (sorry, that’s another pun) and avoiding ‘game over.’
“Something I learned as a game master is that you should never offer the player a choice where the bad outcome won’t be interesting or progress the story,” they explain. “I tried to set that rule for myself in Citizen Sleeper too. I wanted to feel like failing was still moving things forward, and in some cases, was more interesting than succeeding.”
Purge is the third and final instalment of post-launch DLC content heading to Citizen Sleeper, and it’ll be free to download for existing players. Flux and Refuge are also available for free, so be sure to get them squared away before heading into Purge and uncovering whatever mysterious ‘ending’ that Citizen Sleeper has in store.
However, if our conversation with Damian Martin unsheathed anything, it’s that their universe has many, many more stories to tell, this trilogy serving as a mini-sequel is just one tale unravelling in this complex, dystopian setting, and you may even be oblivious to some of the celestial breadcrumbs that your mischievous Game Master has left for you.
Purge is set to land on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Windows March 30th. Citizen Sleeper is available with Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
ROLEPLAYING IN THE RUINS OF INTERPLANETARY CAPITALISM
From the developer of In Other Waters, and featuring the stunning character art of Guillaume Singelin, Citizen Sleeper is a narrative RPG set on Erlin’s Eye, a ruined space station that is home to thousands of people trying to survive on the edges of an interstellar capitalist society.
You are a sleeper, a digitised human consciousness in an artificial body, owned by a corporation that wants you back. Thrust amongst the unfamiliar and colourful inhabitants of the Eye, you need to build friendships, earn your keep, and navigate the factions of this strange metropolis, if you hope to survive to see the next cycle.
LIFE ON ERLIN’S EYE
An abandoned station on the edge of a system in crisis. Now it is held together by anarchic alliances, ramshackle factions and a shared desire to be free from corporate control.
DO THE WORK. GET PAID. SURVIVE.
Each cycle you choose what to do with your time. Make or break alliances, uncover truths and escape your hunters. Survive and ultimately thrive, one cycle at a time.
TURN UP FOR FRIENDS
The Eye plays host to characters from all walks of life. Salvagers, engineers, hackers and more – each has a history. You choose who to help, and together shape your future.
ACCESS THEIR SECRETS
Hack the station’s cloud to access data, new areas and secrets. This is your power, and it can change your future. Corporate secrets, rogue AIs and troves of lost data await.
YOU WERE MADE TO DIE
Essen-Arp: to them you are just another asset in their almost infinite portfolio. Escape your decaying body’s makers, and chart your own path in a richly imagined sci-fi world.
INSPIRED BY TABLETOP ROLEPLAYING GAMES
Citizen Sleeper uses dice, clocks and drives to create a player-led experience, where you choose your path in a rich and responsive world.
CITIZEN SLEEPER EPISODES
This free post-launch episodic content introduces new characters and locations in an expanded storyline. True to Citizen Sleeper’s TTRPG roots, these three episodes will offer an expansive campaign module that tells the longest and most complex story to be featured in the game to date.
In the first episode, FLUX, the first ships from a refugee flotilla arrive at Erlin’s Eye in response to pressures in the Helion system. Now, in REFUGE, a strange event sends ripples through the communities of the Eye. You will enter the flotilla to try to understand this new threat, and help the refugees stabilise their community.
The story of the flotilla, the FLUX event and your Sleeper will conclude in the third episode, arriving early 2023.
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.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, commonly known as Sonic 06, would become an infamous entry in the franchise with players criticising its poor game design, bland character abilities, and selection of technical problems. IGN gave the game a 4/10 at the time, plainly calling it “a mess” and “one hell of a disappointing game”.
The TGS footage painted a different picture of what Sonic 06 could have been, however. Opening with an extended cinematic trailer, it then switches to gameplay of Sonic exploring bright and colourful 3D environments, collecting rings and battling enemies.
Hyper Light Drifter for their 3D co-op sequel, Hyper Light Breaker. Earlier in January, we learned that Breaker’s roguelike structure would include procedurally generated open worlds, and we’ve now seen them in action thanks to its first gameplay trailer. Breaker doesn’t look as effortlessly stylish as its predecessor, but its bullet-hell action and fast-paced traversal have me eager to learn more when it launches into early access this Fall.
The long-awaited System Shock remake has been delayed until May on PC, two months on from its previously planned March launch.
While Shodan’s return is still imminent, a transmission received from Citadel Station brought news of System Shock’s release date pushback, with the PC edition of the remake now set to launch on May 30.
“We had hoped to bring the game to market by the end of March,” Nightdive Studios acknowledged in a post on Steam on Tuesday, “but that turned out to be just beyond our reach; we are after all merely human (unlike Shodan!)”
“Console editions of System Shock will be released on PlayStation 4|5 and Xbox One and Series S|X in due course,” the developer added. “More details on this when we have them.”
Nightdive Studios first launched its Kickstarter campaign for the System Shock remake back in 2016. After initially setting a goal of $900,000, the project went on to raise over $1.3 million in total.
After several years in development, Larry Kuperman from Nightdive announced in June last year that the System Shock remake was “largely complete,” though he also noted that the studio’s goal was to make the release version “as close to perfection as possible.”
The original System Shock released on PC in 1994. The sci-fi shooter dropped players into Citadel Station, where they assumed the role of a hacker tasked with ruining the plans of a rogue AI named SHODAN.
The remake takes the classic gameplay from the original and adds in “stunning HD visuals, revamped controls, and a totally new interface.” IGN got hands-on with the remake in 2022 and came away impressed by its “haunting sci-fi atmosphere and breathtaking environments.”
Myst has been rereleased in countless forms, resurrected in 25th-anniversary boxsets, VR takes on the game, and even a full remake in 2021. But the power of the internet determines that nothing is sacred, and even the point-and-click Myst can be turned into the point-and-kill Myst FPS. Yes, developers Steven Nass and Peter Henningsen have released Myst FPS on itch.io, a free browser-based shooter that’s a good laugh, and an even better shitpost.
The Wreck‘s endlessly repeating car crash has to be one of the worst fates to get stuck in. Sure, it’s not quite as bad as ‘death by exploding sun’ in Outer Wilds, say, but when each crash is also accompanied by heroine Junon reliving a harrowing memory from her past that she’ll need to sort through and analyse before she’s able to (quite literally) move on with her life, I reckon that one-two punch of sudden physical trauma and deep, emotional soul-bearing is probably just about on par with having skin and muscle seared off your own bones by a honking great supernova. You know, figuratively speaking.
Citizen Sleeper is receiving its third and final DLC episode at the end of the month. DLC for Citizen Sleeper was first announced last summer through a post-launch 
Hyper Light Drifter for their 3D co-op sequel, 
Myst has been rereleased in countless forms, resurrected in 
The Wreck‘s endlessly repeating car crash has to be one of the worst fates to get stuck in. Sure, it’s not quite as bad as ‘death by exploding sun’ in Outer Wilds, say, but when each crash is also accompanied by heroine Junon reliving a harrowing memory from her past that she’ll need to sort through and analyse before she’s able to (quite literally) move on with her life, I reckon that one-two punch of sudden physical trauma and deep, emotional soul-bearing is probably just about on par with having skin and muscle seared off your own bones by a honking great supernova. You know, figuratively speaking.