One Of The Year’s Most Exciting RPGs Is Leaving Video Games Behind For Its Sequel

. “But I’m not ready to let go of the reins for Citizen Sleeper.”

A little more than two years later, and Martin seems to be ready to let go — or, maybe, move forward. The move from video game to tabletop for Citizen Sleeper represents Martin giving players a chance to tell their own stories with the game’s systems, rather than playing through one crafted by the developer.

As rare as it is for games to make the jump from digital to analog, it’s not totally unprecedented. Games including Bloodorne, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Resident Evil 2 have been adapted into board games in the past. But those projects are fundamentally different from what Damian Martin appears to be doing with Citizen Sleeper 3. For one thing, board game adaptations like those are made by tabletop designers separate from the source game’s own developers, which isn’t the case for Citizen Sleeper. Other tabletop adaptations are also exercises in developing a brand-new game to represent the vibe of the original, where the next Citizen Sleeper is building on a system that’s not far from what you’d find in a tabletop RPG to begin with.

Video games have taken a lot from tabletop RPGs ever since their inception. Even fundamental concepts from character levels to hit points are drawn directly from early tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, a game that’s also gotten plenty of direct adaptations, including last year’s Baldur’s Gate 3. Citizen Sleeper 3 presents an inversion of that relationship, with the chance to see what video games have to offer to the world of tabletop gaming. That exchange has already been happening on a smaller scale, as designers consciously or unconsciously borrow aspects of video games for their tabletop RPGs, but it rarely happens in as direct a fashion as it could with Citizen Sleeper 3.

Damian Martin’s comments don’t offer any more details on when we could see a tabletop Citizen Sleeper or what it could entail, but it’s a fascinating premise to consider. Before it arrives, Citizen Sleeper 2 will first tell its own story in the world created by the original when it launches on January 31.