Posted on: June 20, 2017

cinyc.s

Games: 306 Reviews: 10

Great mechanics & solid gameplay

Transistor is a strategic game, graphically rich, with an interesting, somewhat emotional story. I liked the fact that the protagonist is entirely silent, and all the commentary has to be provided by the Transistor itself. The ending is especially good. It's not much of an RPG ... you follow a wholly linear path, most of the battles are pre-ordained, and your "choice" is mainly about which skill to select when you go up a "level". There's no exploration or item discovery or anything like that. It's a curated experience and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm giving it 5 stars because Transistor is, independent of other games which may exist, a good game ... it wasn't awkward or frustrating or difficult, but it wasn't trivially easy or boring either. A very pleasant way to spend a bunch of hours, spread over a few weeks, gaming. The battles require a bit of thought and foresight, and a bit of preparation beforehand, and they reward exploration of the skill tree and trying out different combinations. I do wish that it was a bit easier to see the result of a combination without so much clicking around, but that was just about the only frustrating part of the game. The levels are very well designed, the enemies are interesting and varied, and progression occurs at well-defined intervals. It's an easy game to get into and the storyline will stick in your head. If you're on the fence about whether to buy this game, go and look at some YouTube videos about the battle system - that's what will keep you coming back for more! I enjoyed tinkering around with different combinations a lot. If that's not your thing, then this game isn't for you. If it is, then buy it now!

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Posted on: July 1, 2017

maxstrax

Verified owner

Games: 971 Reviews: 1

Great game, minimal options menu

Transistor was the next game from the developers of Bastion, and as such the bar was set pretty high. In terms of presentation the bar was put even higher as the backgrounds are outsatnding, the artwork is terrific and the narration brings a new level of immersion for the game. Unfortunately in the technical part... well it goes downhill pretty fast. The only setting (of the two) that actually had an impact was resolution. No VSync, no texture details options, or at least some actual performance option. This is bad, mainly because if the game underperformes on a machine, the user can at least make the performance manageable without sacrificing too much of the experience. For me the aforemensioned problem was a show stopper as the game stuttered heavily in my laptop where I play (AMD A8 with Randeon 8550G + HD8670M dual graphics) and as I was unable to change anything without invoking the AMD profiles etc, which gave me headaches after 20 minutes of game. It is a petty, as the game is immmersive and gorgeous and I knew I would love it as I loved Bastion

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Posted on: August 9, 2017

Cthulhu Calamari

Games: 442 Reviews: 8

Another gorgeous SuperGiant Game.

I don't love it, but I really, really like it. It's gorgeous, and the soundtrack is even (generally) more enjoyable than Bastion's. It does get a bit mechanically dense, and it can be finished in about 5 hours if you aren't taking your time, but there is a New Game+ mode ("Recusrion"). I got it on sale, and I don't regret it one bit.

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Posted on: October 2, 2017

nicetheon

Verified owner

Games: 114 Reviews: 4

"Meh"

If you've played Bastion, you can clearly spot the handwriting of Supergiant, it's all over the game. Transistor follows an interesting premise in terms of story, the design is beautiful and is complemented by an amazing soundtrack. Combat system is a refreshing mix of tactical thinking and live combat, but I got bored much faster than I expected even though they kept introducing new characteristics and skills to enemies. However, I was left dissatisfied. After finishing the game and reading most of the in-game text, I still know next to nothing about Cloudbank, the Camerata and other story elements. I have the feeling that the game just keeps that to itself. Initially disliking the ending, after reading up on some explanations given by players, I changed my mind -- but a game should be able to convey its message on its own. Even though it only lasts about 5 hours, I would't have wanted it to be longer. For me, it doesn't really have a replay value. It's by no means a bad game, but rather than giving me that feeling of having finished a good game, all I could muster was a "Meh".

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Posted on: June 23, 2019

sludgefriend

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 4

Knocked it out of the park

An absolutely amazing game. Generally, I assume most smaller companies can only get lightning to strike twice - the best way I've found to avoid this is to not go for duplicating your previous game. Transistor has a few gameplay similarities to Bastion, but that's it. The story, art direction, sound, music, and voice - all of them create an incredibly melancholic experience. I've heard some people say that the game is empty, but I'd argue /strongly/ that's part of the point. As you work your way through Cloudbank, the crushing and oppressive feeling of just what's happening is something else. Combat gameplay is cool and interesting, too, and whether you like winning battles in one stroke of a well-executed plan, or slugging it out real-time, you'l have a blast. Given the price, you should definitely pick up Transistor if you're interested in narrative games with strong action gameplay elements - it'd be nice to encourage Supergiant that they've got a strong fanbase over here, too. ;) Reasons to avoid it would be if you're less interested in narrative games, action, or melancholic stories. But seriously, I'd give it a chance even then. A great experience, still thinking about it even now.

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