Transistor
Developed by Supergiant Games
Published by Supergiant Games
You play as a singer named Red who was attacked by a powerful group of people who call themselves the Camerata. The love interest is a body guard that died protecting Red and his trace was absorbed into the Transistor. The Transistor is like a sword version of an USB, capable of storing the traces of dead people to use as weapons against this unthinking, uncontrollable army of robots called the Process and the Camerata. Red and the Transistor go on a quest to get Red's voice back and the body guard's body back, it's like a medicine journey story line. Things don't go as you would hope though.
Red is voiced by Ashley Barrett. Red is a spunky, confident, determined, and introverted woman. Becoming a singer was not something Red intentionally planned as she was going to college to become a civic planner. After years of involving herself into the college's art programs and writing, singing, and recording her own songs, Red became a Cloudbank sensation. A sensation that stirred up unintentional controversy with her songs.
The Transistor is voiced by Logan Cunningham. He does most of the talking since Red lost her voice. Not much is known about the voice of the Transistor. He has no name and information about him is corrupt in the data banks of the Transistor. What is know for sure about the voice of the Transistor is that he wholeheartedly loves Red and he does what he can to keep her safe. He's also a bit sassy at times but hopeful.
The Camerata is comprised of four people. Sybil Reisz, Grant Kendrell, Asher Kendrell, and Royce Bracket.
- Sybil Reisz is the eyes and ears of the Camerata who fell in love with Red and her actions directly instigated the events of the game because of her desire to have closer relations with Red.
- Grant Kendrell is the founder of the Camerata and it was created in hopes of making Cloudbank an exceptionally fantastic city, but the path of good intentions can lead to hell. He is married to the reporter, Asher Kendrell.
- Asher Kendrell's almost direct contact to the public helped keep news about the Camerata quiet. He also knew just what to say to the public to make them happy. He is married to the administrator, Grant Kendrell.
- Royce Bracket is an engineer and is the one who created the Process. His job was to build the city as the people of Cloudbank what it to be. Eventually he noticed the pattern of the people and had hoped to make monuments that would stand against the test of time and the wants of the people. It didn't work out and in his disappointment he managed to make the Process.
I appreciate and enjoy the fact that three of the four Camerata members are implied and/or confirmed LGBT, but I also disapprove of this because only the "Villains" of this story are of the LGBT community. If Red was a lesbian with the voice of the Transistor being female then we wouldn't have the problem of vilifying an inherently non-evil trait of humanity that is homosexuality. I know it seems that wasn't or isn't the case in the making of these characters, but the LGBT community is a minority community and when a minority group is villainized that helps validate the animosity created by large hate groups.
The Art of the Transistor is absolutely breathtaking. You see repeated color pallets of blue, gold, red, and white. The stark white of the Process most likely represents how when properly used they are a liberating tool for the public and the contrasting red eyes of the Process represents how much pain they are capable of committing. Then there's Red and the Transistor, gold and blue. Almost like their colors are the rising sun of a particularly dark night. Shining rays of hope to people of Cloudbank. The design, colors, and animation of this game was made with so much love and is fantastic eye candy.
My absolute favorite part of the Transistor was the music. Ms. Ashley Barrett's voice just melts with the music like ice cream in milk. The instrumental's vary between Hawaiian-esk to electric rock to jazz-ish music. It's hard to explain, when you listen to the Transistor's sound track it feels like you're being surrounded by a living, benevolent, non-human entity that just want's you to feel the full range of your emotions and see the world in a new light. I truly enjoy this music and I hope everyone else will too.
The game play of Transistor is a live action, strategic, and combative type of game. You get special powers from the traces of people that go into the Transistor called Functions. You can install these Functions into the Transistor and you can have four main powers to destroy your enemy with, then you have two blocks underneath each of your main attacks to enhance them to do double the normal damage. With two extra blocks on each side that unleash passive powers that allow you even more possibilities of combat. Then there are the Limiters that make the game more difficult. They are optional but if you do decided to use them they give you extra experience points for your difficulty level. I at first didn't know what the Limiters were for and I accidentally kept making the game much harder for myself with each new Limiter I added, but I leveled up phenomenally quicker before I realized what I was doing to myself and took out all of my Limiters. It's a fun mechanic.
You can mainly find the Transistor on Steam: $20, GOG.com: $20, and the Play Station Store: $20. If you want you can wait until there's a sale for this game but if you don't wait I say the 20 bucks are worth it. The story, characters, game play, and environmental design come together wonderfully making this a solid game.
I give this game a 4/5 stars. I hope you all enjoy this game as much as I have. Also you'll need some tissues for the end of the game if you're a weeper like me.
