Transistor

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.