In an age when so-called AAA games are invariably made by vast armies comprising hundreds of people, it’s hugely heartening to find a surprisingly steady flow of games made by indie developers operating either solo or as part of a two-person team. Doubly so when many of those solo-developed games demonstrate vastly more character and originality than expensively produced blockbusters. Just three games into their career, Gareth Damian Martin is one of the standard-bearers of the modern rise of the solo-deva auteurs, thanks to 2020’s In Other Waters, 2022’s Citizen Sleeper and 2025’s Citizen Sleeper 2.
If you played any or all of those games, you’ll know that Martin is the master of creating atmospheric, thought-provoking, sci-fi-influenced worlds with the minimum of ingredients, and RPG gameplay mechanics that pay heavy homage to tabletop gaming. His narrative-heavy games – all previously taking a zoomed-out, near-top-down view – may look minimal, but the sheer richness of their worlds and the characters that inhabit them take root in your imagination, somehow acquiring detail in the process.
