Transistor

My absolute favorite game from Supergiant Games. An absolute masterpiece that aimed high and shot nothing less than a bulls-eye. From the music, to the art, to the art and unique flavor of gameplay, the game won't disappoint at any stage.

A must buy for anyone that has played any of their other games.

It's fun. The game mechanics are really interesting and original! And the art and music are fantastic. I downloaded the soundtrack and added some of the songs to my playlists.

Honestly one of my favorite games of all time. I obviously and very biased, but I think every aspect of this game is amazing. If you like games, you should at least give this a try, especially with how it goes on sale!

Short but enjoyable. Gameplay feels like you're going too fast or too slow with no in between but the function combinations is the best part of it. I have no idea what the story was but artistically it was pleasing to look at.

Isometric action RPG centered around locking in your actions while time is paused, then watching it execute. The sci-fi setting is exactly vague enough to be intriguing, and the narration is very good

Not feeling it. The combat itself isn't difficult and rather easy with the right combos. Most of the difficulty lies within the various "challenge rooms" but just feel like a chore to complete. The nearly incessant talking by the sword AI/consciousness is also pretty annoying. It is quite nice to look at, but I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as Bastion.

Visual eye candy, but the story did not grip me at all. The combat is unique in that it is a mix of real time and turn based, but most of the enemies feel like big HP sacks. I found big fights quickly devolved into me using my turn based attack - and then running away or hiding behind an obstacle waiting for my meter to refill. I didn't feel like it mattered what skill I used - they all killed the enemies fairly evenly - which made all of them feel the same. Bonus complaint: When out of combat, can we get the character to move just a little bit faster?

Transistor is a game that prioritizes style over substance, offering stunning visuals and a beautiful soundtrack but ultimately falling short in terms of gameplay and storytelling. While it’s clear a lot of care went into its presentation, the experience as a whole feels hollow and underwhelming.

The combat system, while initially intriguing, quickly becomes repetitive. The combination of real-time and turn-based mechanics has potential, but the limited variety in enemy types and lack of meaningful progression make fights feel tedious rather than tactical. Experimenting with abilities is fun at first, but the novelty wears off as the game fails to evolve its mechanics in any significant way.

The story is vague and abstract, relying heavily on atmosphere and cryptic narration. While this might appeal to some, it left me feeling disconnected from the world and characters. The fragmented storytelling makes it hard to invest in the plot or understand the stakes, and by the time the credits rolled, I felt more confused than engaged.

The visuals and music are undeniably gorgeous—Supergiant Games excels in creating unique art styles and soundtracks. However, these elements can only carry the experience so far. Without solid gameplay or a coherent narrative to back them up, they feel like wasted potential.

Transistor is not a bad game, but it’s not the masterpiece it’s often made out to be. If you value visuals and music above gameplay and story, it might be worth a look. For everyone else, it’s a stylish but ultimately shallow experience.

Rating: 5/10 – All style, not enough substance.

Beautiful artwork, engaging gameplay, gorgeous soundtrack. Enjoyed it a lot!

There's a lot of style in this game but substance-wise it's mostly just a series of combats against enemies that get progressively harder. Most of the game is very easy to beat, so you can have limiters to make it a little tougher. There is a story that you can follow by interacting with terminals and your sword will be constantly yapping, but I couldn't make a head or tail of most of it, and you don't really have to. The art and soundtrack is good.

Holds up really well. The solid combat, touching story, and striking artstyle keep the game moving and the game only takes the time it needs to tell the story it is trying to tell.

I finally beat this game, it was a struggle, from start to finish. Don't get this game if you are looking to have a fun experience, this one is depressing. Mechanically and narratively. And still, it's beautifull in many ways.

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it.

A lovely game with a lot of creative solutions. The music is fantastic and integral part of the experience.
On the downside - has very linear plot, although the setting itself is making up for it. A lot of inconsistencies and minor glitches which will reveal themselves throughout the game.

Hum to me like to one of your french girls
70 / 100

Transistor is one of those games that pulls you into its orbit and then spits you out the other side utterly changed. I was, like many, lured in by it's breathtaking art, level design and a soundtrack that I save and listen to on loop. But it's not just a pretty package.

The combat system is absolutely one of my favourites out of all games I've played so far and made each victory feel like a victory earned (especially mid to late game). As a long time Hades player, I was ready to mash my poor, ancient and abused laptop's buttons until I scooted to the next level, but Transistor stopped me up front. Having a game toe the line between the classic roguelike and turn based combat scratched an itch I never knew I had.
Every fight was a puzzle to solve, every enemy a component to study for weaknesses and patterns, every skill in my arsenal a multitool that I was addicted to rearranging until I found the perfect combination. It's rare a game manages to engage me to not only step outside what's most comfortable, but be excited about it. It's a genuine delight to be pushed to think outside the box. I've tried every test battle the Backdoor room (and beaten all but one) my first run through handed me and I'm still coming back for more in recursion!

And throughout it all, a story of devotion and love amidst a city falling to its knees spins itself around you.

In short, Transistor is a game that will train you up from nothing, show you a world and characters you can't help but love, sing songs in your ear as you beat its obstacles and then leave you with tears in your eyes and wanting more. Play it for an hour, play it for a day or play it for a month, but please. Play this game.

Every time I pick up a game from Super Giants it turns quite different from what I'm expecting.
Transistor was not an exception.
It is very unique semi-turn based RPG with ton of customization and different build and playstyles.
The story is intriguing and hearth-warming.
Voice acting is top notch and soundtrack is awesome and memorable.
The only real con of this game is too short. I definitely wanted more.

Sound design is on point. This is such an atmospheric game. The gameplay itself is quite innovative as well, with the ability to mix up your builds and tinker with skills. Worth the low price of entry.

The gameplay is good enough to hold your attention, but this game is really all about the art and music which are incredible. Fantastic job by Supergiant.

This game is art. The music, writing, voice acting, and visual style are all stunning. Absolutely stunning. I have played through this game three separate times and the ending never fails to make me tear up. The gameplay, however, is frankly mediocre. I'd still highly recommend this as a narrative experience, but it certainly lacks the gameplay bite of their later titles.

I don't know what this game has to offer, but during first 20 minutes;
1) Weird controls that don't seem to make sense
2) Bad visual style. A matter of preference of course, but I can't stand it
3) An annoying sword that talks
4) Some weird stuff is happening and you don't understand what's going on

Don't feel engaged enough to be bothered about anything of the above.
At least for now.

Supergiant is so good that even this, probably my least favorite of their games so far, gets a hearty recommendation from me. The story is sad and more intimate than you expect, if a little unengaging, and the progression gives you a nice range of abilities. The characters are interesting and beautifully rendered, as always. It's not a home run but it's good enough to be worth playing and it won't swallow your life for months on end like Hades.

Also this is my mandatory boost for Pyre, one of my favorite games of the past decade and one that does NOT get enough love. Please go play that one too if you buy this one.

Pretty game first and foremost, Excellent art and music.

Combat is interesting in theory with the player being able to enter a paused plan mode. In this mode you plan you attacks in actions while the enemies are paused after which you must wait for a cooldown to act again. This is supported by the function system letting you customize your abilities by combining them.
This boils down to pausing using a debuff followed by as many attacks that you can cram in that hit as many enemies as possible. The enemies are nothing more than hp sacks because of this. During the cooldown there is no gameplay, you run because they turn off most abilities during recharge.
Function ability customization is similarily half baked You got your debuff, crash, and follow it up with an ability that does damage and likely chains. Boring Boring Boring.

A good story would keep me playing but that's absent. I knew as much at the start as I did 3 hours into the game. Someone forgot to put it in I guess.

Can't and won't lie, it took me a couple hours before I started to really enjoy Transistor...it throws you in there without and training wheels and I felt lost and overwhelmed for a while. Once you understand the mechanics and combat it really opens up into something beautiful. Transistor offers a very unique playing experience. The art of this futuristic city and the soundtrack are gorgeous. Transistor(sword) narrates and helps "paint" the story.

It truly begins to shine through the Recurse (NG+)...by then you'll have a handle on things, figure out the combos you love to utilize. Enjoy the game! read the lore and the personas of your moves/enemies. It's a quick game, another Supergiant success in my opinion.

This game closely follows Supergiant's template, recognizable in other games from before and after Transistor, but still, this game feels different because the combat is much more slow-paced, the skills have a longer cooldown and you can even activate a 'timestop' ability where you have a limited energy to unleash your skills or move to cover, so not only the action of the game has been sized down, but the gameplay also relies in tactics when stopping time and in creating a nice build with all the skills, augmentations and passive slots you can freely mix up and test.

But taking gameplay out of the way, which I don't really think is the main spotlight of this game, the real main dish presented here is the stunning, absolutely gourgeous artstyle, with breathtaking scenarios and character designs, which has a stark contrast with the enemies of the game, hivemind robots which corrupt and empoverish the original beauty of the game, and only you can stop them.

Since the main character is a famous singer(that lost her voice, that is), music plays a great part in the themes of the game, and this is empowered by the great soundtrack, courtesy of the master Darren Korb, that delivers not only in the instrumental tracks but also with vocal tracks, that represent in-universe songs that were played by Red.

The other characters like the Transistor and the Camerata are very charismatic and they all have a strong presence in this game, be it through the overly narration, by audio logs, text files, conversations, stare, or even b singing themselves. The story and narrative itself may be a bit less engaging than the characters themselves, but the final parts of the game, and specially the ending, showcase the true theme of the narrative, which may go over the heads of many players when experiencing it, so I dearly suggest you should at least give it more than an afterthought.

Last but not least, unfortunately the combat system is very easy to handle and break overall, and you may struggle only in the optional challenges available in your hub. Other than that, the narrative and the game itself feels very rushed, I didn't feel like I had time enough to care about all the characters or events because they all happen a little too fast, and I definitely think I will need to play this game again at a later point because it was over a little bit too quick.

Great narrative, didn't really like the combat. But it's creative and you can try around different things, until you find something that works. Atmosphere and music are great.

Beautiful little game feels like it’s on rails in comparison to Bastion and isn’t as impressive on the surface. Crafting builds is more interesting here. Combat is more strategic with its ‘plan and execute’ optional turn power. The game is much more linear in feel. I liked the ending but the storytelling continues to be throwing out bits of lore to create a narrative that ultimately feels light. It’s a little short, too. I could use an in-between rating for this one. I imagine players who will want to replay to experiment with different builds, or play procedurally generated levels after the story, will be the ones to get the most out of Transistors.

Game play, story, music, art, are all not only spectacular but unique as well. Good stuff.

The visuals, the audio - top tier. The world and the setting - interesting. The gameplay - unique and fun. Among top games ever

Doesn't natively support any resolution above 1920x1080 without using launch options to force the resolution which is silly so this gets a thumbs down from me.

Gorgeous game, and more than a little melancholic. Brought me to tears, and multiple times throughout the game the story tugged on my heartstrings. Found the combat on the challenging side, but not overly punishing (losing all your health leads to a process overloading for a couple access points, and you're able to continue, and I never found myself with more than two processes overloaded). I loved the main characters and their dynamic, even though Red does not speak and very rarely communicates at all - you get a real sense of their dynamic organically and through the voice in the Transistor.

Playing on laptop is terrible. Good music tho

I've attempted to play through Transistor multiple times over many years, and I simply can never get very far into it. I can't really explain why. It has all the makings of a great game, but something seriously does not click with me about it.

Interesting game that really shines on the second playthrough

Transistor offers a unique turn-based role playing experience, with a steep learning curve on combat mechanics and a pretty interesting storyline. Set in a futuristic colourful city called Cloudbank, with a giant sword called the Transistor at your disposal, you start off uncovering the events that led to the desolation of the city. Transistor is more of a casual game, however requiring you to experiment the numerous combination of powers (functions) you acquire for the transistor as you progress. It gets confusing and overwhelming at the initial stages, however it becomes so much fun if you can make out the right combination of functions for your weapon. After that, you can just blaze through the game without even pausing during combat sequences. Overall, I really had a great time with the game.

A Quick Summary

[table]
[tr]
[th]🎲 ASPECT OF THE GAME[/th]
[th]📈 MY PERSONAL SCORE ON A SCALE OF 10[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🔶STORY & PRESENTATION
New and original concept. Keeps you interested.
[/td]
[td]8[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🔶GAMEPLAY
Steep learning curve but extremely enjoyable once you figure it out and start using OP combinations.[/td]
[td]9 🏆[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🔶GAMEPLAY LENGTH
Roughly around 10 hours. Doesn't get boring and there is good replay value, considering the ample number of function combinations for your weapon.

[/td]
[td]9[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🔶GRAPHICS
Looks hand drawn. Sci-fi style, unique and pleasing.
Screenshot[/td]
[td]9[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🔶SOUND
The environment vibes with the music, which is kind of cool. Plus the Sword speaks.[/td]
[td]9[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]🔶DIFFICULTY/CHALLENGES
Fair and enjoyable difficulty that requires tactical planning. You can use limiters to make the game more challenging. Achievements are very do-able.[/td]
[td]9[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

❗NOTE: The game does not output 4k resolution. You can manually do it though through the game's launch options on steam: Right click the game icon in your library and select properties. In the General tab you have Launch Options where you can enter: -x 3840 -y 2160.

Overall Score (Personal opinion): 8.8/10

Recommendation: ✅

Transistor is an action RPG that tells the story of Red, a singer whose voice has been stolen. The story is narrated by her sword, Transistor, and features an excellent voice performance by Logan Cunningham, who also worked on Bastion. Transistor boasts beautiful art design, with visuals that combine art deco with a vibrant color palette. The soundtrack is exceptional, but the voice acting is the standout feature of the game for me.

This game gave me mixed feelings...

The art is beautiful, with a "futuristic art nouveau" feel, the soundtrack is atmospheric and well implemented, and the game has a "narrator" (justified by the story) who brings a very characteristic tone, making the story engaging and easy to absorb.

The gameplay has some very interesting ideas but sometimes fails in the execution. The mix of real-time and turn-based (for those who played Fallout, it's like having a V.A.T.S. in this game) creates an interesting dynamic, but the low variety of enemies and abilities takes little advantage of this. I can say that the last boss was the only battle that got me excited.

The game is also very short, you can finish it in one or two days, which leaves you wanting more. It even seems to have a kind of new game plus, where it gets harder and possibly unlocks more skills, but the fact that it is too linear didn't make me want to play it again.

I still consider the balance positive, the game is stunning and provides a pleasant experience. However, it is more of a good "experience and story" than an "addictive gameplay", so if you are going to play it, adjust your expectations.

It had so much promise, potential was easily 9/10. But, because of some shortcomings, that I will explain, it's more of a 6/10, and in totality, not worth a play through.

Supergiant games are big on story-telling, but the story was more than a little confusing, if not niche to an audience that could even comprehend what is going on. The story at times was progressive and natural, in other moments, divergent with the hopes of enhancing a mystery, but ends up being convoluted. Generally, the average gamer could get the "gist" of it, but it built up tension and squandered it in the weirdest ways, not offering a payoff one may be looking for. Transitions within the plot did not feel smooth and felt abrupt in the worst ways.

Game play wise, while there is tactic driven/ability mapping that felt unique, the game play felt boring after some time. No matter how you built your character, as long you weren't a complete idiot, felt like there was no challenge, if not a chore.

The characters were also somewhat disappointing. The main character, being unable to speak, though interesting, really hampered how your character felt about what was happening. The developers tried to make this work, and while I can confidently say that efforts were made to creatively illustrate that gap, it ends up being underwhelming and uninspired. The relationship between your sentient sword and Red, also didn't work. The cast of villains are built up as an ominous force with unknown intentions. However, in the end, they felt little different from any other slew of baddies.

In the end, the story was not very compelling and the game play wasn't all that interesting despite some notable efforts, but because your decisions don't really have that much impact in battles, it didn't feel meaningful.

Fun visuals and gameplay but I feel like the game doesn't provide enough XP to explore different builds and I felt like the story was a little uninspired. By the end, I was just clicking through dialogue options. The game overall felt a bit easy as well.

I don't play a lot of games, so my experience is limited, but I believe this game will always be one of my favorite, no matter how many games I try in the future!
This game has such cool design, both gameplay wise and setting wise, the visuals and art are stunning, the music is very very lovely, the story line is so touching, and the voice acting are exceptional. I can't believe this game came out 10 years ago!

I played an early build of this game at a convention years ago, and it already looked like something special. Now it's one of my favorites. Supergiant hasn't missed yet!

Soundtrack and art is amazing. Combat is interesting. Unfortunately, the story and script is bad. Characters are missing personality or understandable motivations. Most dialogue is excessively ambiguous and doesn't feel natural.

play it without spoilers if you can

replaying this game after many years... well worth it 9.5/10

It's trying so hard to be art instead of just a game. As a game, it's not bad, and it's short enough to not overstay its welcome.

My favorite supergiant game.
A very cool fusion of story and gameplay, where experimenting and using new abilities gives you more story (and you’ll want more story). Melancholy in the way only a good writer can pull off with fantastic visuals (only minor gripe is wish enemy design had more visual variety, but the environments more than make up for this, and basically I just wish it was longer)

I don't review many games, but Transistor is by far one of my favourite single-player games. I absolutely loved the story, the art, and the music. Supergiant always gets the music spot on, as I still listen to a couple of the songs featuring vocals by Ashley Barrett.
I would 100% recommend this game to others.

When the soundtrack piped up on the first bossfight I instantly knew old Supergiant was just as good as the Supergiant we have today.

One of Supergiant's classics! Lots of fun making powerful builds, and a very powerful and emotional story to drive it home!

Transistor has aged marvelously, is the perfect blend of action and strategy. The NG+ is where the game really spreads its wings, the self imposing difficulty makes you really think about the mechanics. The ambiance and atmosphere is top notch. I loved the sci fi aesthetics.

喜欢音乐和画风，战斗不太舒服，走路太慢，疾行作为技能不方便，但各个技能都可以作为主动技能、强化技能和被动技能用还蛮有意思的。

Transistor is a fantastic action rpg with stunning visuals and a great narrator, The ability pool and upgrades kept the game fresh, and I ended up switching some stuff in and out quite a bit. Enemies were challenging, and you definitely needed to use some strategy. The bosses especially needed strategizing, and the final boss was a lot of fun.

My only gripe is that it was too short. The story/game was over before I knew it when I thought I was finally getting into the game. Bosses were fun, but there were only 2-3 of them.

Overall, I would highly recommend the game, Better yet, the game goes on sale for 80% off quite often, so for only $4, Transistor would be highly worth it!