Building comparison
head to head
Citizen SleepervsTharsis
Tharsis asks more than Citizen Sleeper, and the gap is variance.
Citizen Sleeper
Optimization · Systems & Chaos
A tabletop-flavored RPG about an android surviving on a derelict station.
Tharsis
Variance · Systems & Chaos
Tests probability management as dice rolls repeatedly threaten a doomed Mars mission.
Citizen Sleeper leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); Tharsis leans Variance (Systems & Chaos).
Citizen SleeperTharsis
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 0
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Citizen Sleeper
Dice placement, no manual skill.
Tharsis
Assigning dice needs no dexterity
Reads1 vs 0
Citizen Sleeper leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Citizen Sleeper
NPCs follow branching scripts.
Tharsis
Disasters are random events, not an adapting mind
Variance6 vs 8
Tharsis leans clearly harder on variance.
Citizen Sleeper
Daily dice rolls drive outcomes.
Tharsis
Dice rolls and event draws brutally dominate each turn
Optimization7 vs 7
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Citizen Sleeper
Action allocation and clock management dominate.
Tharsis
Crew allocation and risk math are the counterplay
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.