Transistor

Short and sweet. I think it's head and shoulders above Bastion, which I found clunky. Battle mechanics are good. Buy it on sale.

While I think it is the weaker Supergiant Games game out there (hold back but its meandering development) it has way too much style for me to ever forget. I get enthralled by every curscene and most of the song where Red sings. Though I will admit that Transistor go for 2 out of me 3 soft spot. A love story and the protagonist is a mucisian of some sort. (The third one is a spiritual undertone. See Pyre for a good exemple of that).

There are very few games that are able to gather so many elements in such superb quality, and then combine them to create a whole that's still more than the sum of its parts. Transistor is: drop-dead gorgeous visual art, amazing music, innovative gameplay with very unique elements and background logic backed up by sweet worldbuilding and storytelling. Maybe more importantly, it all comes together as a stream that transcends all these individual parts. Just like, say, Portal combines its mechanics and cheeky humour into one one coherent package or how Audiosurf creates a cerebral mix of music and visuals, Transistor is an amazing ethereal experience that shows how a video game can become a piece of art stronger than any other from. Some might criticise the story for being more or less somewhat clicheic wrapped up in enigma (just like Bastion) and I suppose it's kind of true. Normally I'm not very keen on "open to interpretation" stories but when it works, it works. And Transistor certainly works as a story as well. Together with Life Is Strange and a couple of others games, Transistor shows what amazing things can the best of human minds achieve if they work towards something wonderful. It's one of those games which I truly hope will be remembered or at least rediscovered decades from now.

The game is more focused on the story than the combat The history is very nice, the voice actor did a great work. The original soundtrack combines very well with the game. The game has an average duration, it is not short, but not very large (6-8 hours maybe?) The graphics are great, the characters are well designed. the cinematics are also pretty nice The combat is similar to an isometric ARPG, you have to fight with many enemies at the same time, but here you can pause the combat to plan you moves and attacks. It is not a hard game, but you can make your enemies harder with limitators (You will get bonus experience if you use limitators). You can also access to secondary challenges in some parts of the game.

I don't know what else to say. Everything about this game is jaw-dropping. The art, the story, the characters... What a testament to their narrative, that you become so connected to a narratively muted main character and her sword companion, while only able to piece together the story through context, inference, and unreliable narration from the characters you encounter. the combat was admittedly difficult for me to grasp (I'm terrible at strategy), but even I was able to muddle through somehow. if I had more a mind for it, I'm sure I would have found it a thrilling system. my own limitations meant that I found them intriguing, but I still struggled. it's a thought provoking and moving game, and should stand as testament to the potential and power of video games as a narrative art form.