Citizen Sleeper Creator Announces New Fungalpunk RPG

Game designer Gareth Damian Martin, highly acclaimed for the Citizen Sleeper series, has announced a new RPG titled Signet City. According to an Engadget article, the game is an unusual work that places a “fungal parasite” as the player character and champions a unique genre called “fungalpunk.”

A Monochrome Depiction of a Doomed City

The released trailer features post-punk music by SPRINTS and is composed entirely of black-and-white imagery. The city is being eroded by fungus, visually evoking the sense of decline reminiscent of City 17 from Half-Life 2. According to publisher Fellow Traveller Witness, the game posits that “unlike traditional RPG protagonists, the player exists as a parasite moving through the city’s social body.”

Gameplay Innovation

The core mechanic of the game is that the player attaches to a city dweller called a “host” and delves deep into their inner world. The Engadget article explains that this system enables “the shaping of conversations, influencing inhabitants, and exploring beautifully constructed locations.” Martin’s trademark powerful prose functions to delve into the host’s psyche.

According to the Engadget article, Martin stated that the inspiration for the game came from the decline of industrial cities in 1980s Britain, particularly in the north. While previous works were set in the distant future, this title noteworthy adopts a setting rooted in actual history.

Art Style and Collaborators

Regarding the art style, screentone comics, pen-and-ink drawings, and black-and-white photography are cited as reference points. The music and audio are handled by Eli Rainsberry, taking over from Amos Roddy, who composed the soundtrack for previous works. Tom Kitchen has contributed to the environmental art.

As is evident from the symbolic use of mushrooms like matsutake and chanterelles in the previous work Citizen Sleeper, the theme of fungi has been a long-standing interest for Martin. The Engadget article points out that in an interview for that game, Martin cited Anna Tsing’s book The Mushroom at the End of the World as a significant influence. Tsing’s work critically analyzes capitalism and ecological devastation through the lens of the luxury mushroom, the matsutake.

Release Information

Signet City is scheduled for release on PC (Steam) sometime in 2026. No information regarding other platforms has been announced at this time. While the Engadget article predicts that “many will compare this game to The Last of Us,” it also evaluates it as an extension of the themes Martin has explored over the years.

Editorial View

Short-Term Impact: The announcement of this game is seen as a potential catalyst for narrative-focused RPGs to venture into new territory in the 2026 indie game market. In particular, the “parasite” player perspective presents a novel approach to balancing immersion and storytelling, which could influence future game design. The proactive support of experimental works by publishers like Fellow Traveller Witness appears to be a positive factor for the entire independent game ecosystem. As noted in our previous report, “The Current State of Independent Story-Driven Games as Shown by Fellow Traveller”, story-focused independent games are steadily establishing a solid position in the market.

Long-Term Perspective: The theme of “ecological crisis and capitalism,” consistently present in Martin’s body of work, is likely to become even more significant in the gaming industry. The fungal parasite premise functions not merely as a horror element but as a philosophical device questioning the boundary between symbiosis and parasitism. Over a span of one to three years, we may see an increase in games that directly address such ecological themes, accelerating a trend where games are re-evaluated as tools for social critique.

Question from the Editorial Team: It is an intriguing point how Martin will sublimate the active and ethically ambiguous stance of the player “parasitizing” into game mechanics. While traditional RPGs force players to make value-based choices, how will the game make players accept the act of parasitism itself? The answer to that will likely be the game’s most significant evaluation point. Furthermore, we await post-release assessments on how a fungal-themed work will differentiate itself from the massive precedent of The Last of Us.

References

• Signet City is a new ‘fungalpunk’ RPG from the creator of Citizen Sleeper - Engadget — Published 2026-06-07
• The Current State of Independent Story-Driven Games as Shown by Fellow Traveller — Our previous report