Transistor (2018): My Review

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A real mixed bag on this title. The second game from Supergiant games, the first being Bastion, a game I enjoyed. This one not so much.

I could not tell you the story line of Transistor. You're a woman with no voice and carrying a sword that talks. The game is set in a futuristic type of dystopia. That's all I can get out of this one. My gameplay sessions weren't weeks or months apart that I may fall into and I still had no real clue as to what was happening.

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The game itself occurs within an isometric viewpoint otherwise knows as that ¾ view. The gameplay is a hybrid action and planning phase. I was often reminded of the original XCOM while playing. Lots of slots for different weapons and abilities. I'm sure if you really get into this one you could create different builds for each playthrough. I'll never know as I won't be touching this one again.

I was playing this on the Nintendo Switch since I didn't yet mention this. The menu where you assign abilities to your slots seemed so ham-fisted I was surprised it was released in this state. You select your ability and the next screen shows the slots for the 4 face buttons on the Switch controller. You press one button and then have to move the ability to the labeled button. Why couldn't you simply highlight the ability and press the appropriate face button? Needlessly complicated in my opinion. Given the fact that at times my abilities were being destroyed later in the game I found myself fiddling way too much in the menus.

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The learning curve is steep in this one. Most of the mechanics and abilities didn't really click with me until about ¾ of the game was done. Thankfully this is shorter game and I appreciate this. I think the average run is about 6 hours but I could be mistaken. For some reason the game does not track played hours or I simply missed it. I'm pretty sure it does not log gameplay hours.

I really wanted to like this one. Great graphics, sound design, soundtrack, narration. The gameplay and story fell flat for me. The only quality that I need in a game is gameplay and sadly I didn't find it that engaging.

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The ending was interesting and not something you normally see in a traditional ending. I assume you're meant to run this game multiple times as you restart the game with all your abilities. This won't be happening here.

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On my own rating scale I would give this 5/10. According to Metacritic they're giving it an 8.3/10. Lately my gameplay choices have been two duds, the other being Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. This too received a very high score but didn't work for me. I hope my next title will be better but you know what they say about threes.

All media courtesy of Nintendo



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Seems like we had somewhat the same experience with this one. I loved Bastion but never managed to get into this one. I got it for free with Playstation Plus many years ago and only played it for about two hours before dropping it. It just wasn't as charming and slick as Bastion was.

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(Edited)

I think we're both on the same page with this one. I must commend Supergiant games as each one of their titles go in a different direction, I hear Hades is amazing and I'll certainly continue forward with their titles. Thanks for chiming in, I appreciate your viewpoint on the subject.

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It goes to show how hard it is to make a successful title. Much like a movie I suppose. Things are always hit or miss.

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That's so true. The budgets on some of these titles reach those Hollywood productions. You used to be able to knock out a game with a single person or a small team. These days, you have thousands on the big ones.

Sad fact too is that most people end up being worked to death, burnout, don't get paid or bonuses not paid and once the title launches the studio closes down.

I did start something new recently and I'm enjoying it much more than these recent ones. Time to break this bad to mediocre cycle 😀

Thanks for the input as always and I hope you're doing well on your end. Don't forget to send me a piece of that sushi, looks great 🍣

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