What happens when you take one man of action, one woman of words, and then rob them both of those identities? You get Transistor. Transistor is a love story. A love story set in an apocalypse. An apocalypse amidst an electronic golden age. A golden age etched into the city streets and painted across the sky.

Rick#2: Human mouths never say "bespoke" either. And while the powers system is certainly interesting, the menu for it is more confusing than a graphic novelisation of Finnegans Wake illustrated by MC Escher.Rick#1: Where on Earth did you pull that...

Transistor is a process. Like the main character, Red, it gets stronger the further into the game you go. Supergiant's follow-up to Bastion has a Matrix / Blade Runner vibe to it. It's the perfect combinations of strategy, depth, action, aesthetics,...

A gorgeous game that suffers from repetitive combat and a wafer-thin narrative that borrows too many tricks from its...

TweetClosing ThoughtsI am beginning to think SuperGiant Games has a specific formula. The studio takes a hero, a “narrator”, visually appealing aesthetics and a fantastic sound-track, and mixes them together. This approach gives way to some memorable,...

Before playing I didn't expect to be fully enraptured by Transistor, thinking the spectre of Bastion would haunt the experience too much. But neither did I expect Transistor to take that formula and evolve it into something so sublime and handcrafted...

People were looking for a really good follow up to Bastion, and that's what they've got here. Transistor is really smart, looks and sounds great, and will leave you wanting more when it's all...

Transistor doesn't begin until you press a button or nudge the joystick. Because, like Bastion before it, Transistor wants to form a bond with you, the player. This connection ties into the game's tone and developer Supergiant Games' fascination with...

Transistor may look like another pretty face favoring style over substance. It’s oozing with style and aesthetic charm, and it drew me into its weird and wonderful world immediately. But its beauty is outshined by combat deep enough to sink into for hours and hours. The game’s vision is intoxicating, and its execution is inspired.

Transistor’s the kind of game that made me immediately jump back in to take on New Game Plus. I wanted to continue exploring the excellent combat in new, more challenging scenarios. I wanted to double back on the areas that I’d missed the first time through, and try to fill in the gaps of the fantastic story. But most of all, I wasn’t ready to leave Red or her world behind.

Transistor is always a good-looking game, but in these instances, it demonstrates a rare knack for combining its visuals and music to powerfully convey both narrative information and tone, driving the story forward with Red's own unwavering resolve. So in the end, yes, Transistor is a fun action role-playing game with a neat combat system, but beautiful moments like these make it more than that. They make it a game with a soul.

Transistor is only five or six hours long, and that leaves me sad. Not because the game feels incomplete (although it does wrap up a bit too quick), but because I wish there were more of it. After waiting for Supergiant's sophomore effort this long, I wanted to exist in Transistor's world just a little while longer. I wanted another line, another environment to hurriedly scramble across, another song with which I could hum along.

Supergiant's games are, in that sense, mirror images-the first with shallower combat but a powerfully told story, the second with deep, tactical battles but a story that doesn’t fulfill the promise of its world. Then again, that promise lives on even after the credits roll. I hope Supergiant isn't done with the world of Transistor, because there's so much more I want to know.

More like an effort-intensive relationship than an adrenaline-inducing one-night-stand, Transistor is a must-play for those who are committed to its cause. However, those who are looking for an instantly-gripping cheap thrill should look elsewhere as this is a game that must be seen through to the very last second.

Great combat mechanics and excellent writing help Transistor transcend the familiarity of its individual components. A gorgeous, intriguing, and ultimately moving tale, Supergiant's sophomore effort builds on the strengths that made Bastion so memorable without feeling like a mere retread.

Players looking to find all the answers by the time the credits roll are likely to be disappointed. Transistor is as much about what is left unsaid as what is explained. I find that openness to interpretation refreshing; I suspect I won’t be the only one.

In the end, it's the unique digital world of Cloudbank and the refreshing combat that drive Transistor. The perfectly executed turn is consistently rewarding, while uncovering the dark side of Cloudbank and untangling the motives of the Camerata proves enticing enough to draw you along, even if the story doesn't strike all of its intended chords.

The new game plus should be the opportunity to flex everything I’ve unlocked and yet here I am using the same tools, with no reason to raise the difficulty because I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all it has to offer. At least it made me appreciate what a powerful and frail construct Bastion was, with its modest pieces supporting each other, complementing each other, with a sense of focus and simplicity and variety.

Transistor isn't the first game to put its soul into its sword, but it is the first to be quite so transparent about it. Hundreds of action RPGs have already made it clear that the heft and feel of a blade is the focal point for so many loving tweaks and...

Transistor is the second game to come out of Supergiant Games, and that alone might be enough of an endorsement for it. Supergiant, as a studio, is known for two things; they made Bastion , and manage to create works of art with a very tiny staff. The...