Transistor

 Switch
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 91 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 91
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 91
  3. Negative: 2 out of 91
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  1. b00lpr0p
    Apr 8, 2019
    6
    The irritating voice of Transistor talking all the time makes this game annoying as hell, lol. The combat is boring after a few hours of gameplay. It could be way better than it is, as it has nice graphics and visual in general.
  2. Denis94
    Feb 19, 2020
    6
    Un indie con todo el toque a "Cyberpunk" que emplea distintos tipos de combates tanto en tiempo real como por turnos sumando las distintas habilidades que varían cuando te hacen daño, ese es el curioso "castigo" si recibes muchos golpes de los adversarios, La historia sin ser nada del otro mundo consigue mantener nuestra curiosidad nuestra protagonista es Red y estará acompañada deUn indie con todo el toque a "Cyberpunk" que emplea distintos tipos de combates tanto en tiempo real como por turnos sumando las distintas habilidades que varían cuando te hacen daño, ese es el curioso "castigo" si recibes muchos golpes de los adversarios, La historia sin ser nada del otro mundo consigue mantener nuestra curiosidad nuestra protagonista es Red y estará acompañada de Transistor que es una espada y juntos intentarán acabar con una organización llamada Camerata, un clásico en este tipo de juegos pero se hace amena, en el tema gráfico es muy bonito de ver el "dibujo" es muy suave y quizás esté sea su punto más fuerte junto a la banda sonora, como punto en contra es bastante monótono y repetitivo a pesar de su corta duración unas 6 horas, y poco más que decir me esperaba más por parte de Transistor y se a quedado en un "Meh".… Expand
  3. TheFlannelFox
    Dec 31, 2018
    7
    Originally released in 2014 from Bastion and Pyre creators Supergiant, is the sci-fi action rpg, Transistor, which has now Crashed it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch.

    You play as Red,a singer, whom in the beginning is on the ground kneeling next to a man impaled by a huge blade, known as the Transistor. While the man is dead, his soul and voice have been absorbed by the blade allowing    Originally released in 2014 from Bastion and Pyre creators Supergiant, is the sci-fi action rpg, Transistor, which has now Crashed it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch.

    You play as Red,a singer, whom in the beginning is on the ground kneeling next to a man impaled by a huge blade, known as the Transistor. While the man is dead, his soul and voice have been absorbed by the blade allowing him to speak to Red throughout the game, narrating it. It also has absorbed Red’s voice, leaving her mute.

    Red is burdened by this enormous sword, so large that when she is walking around it drags behind her on the ground. Yet, she needs it to survive. For the city she lives in, Cloudbank, has been overrun by a robotic army, known as The Process.

    Head in the Clouds
    The world of Cloudbank is a beautiful one. Viewed from an isometric perspective is a stunning art deco world, elevated with a sci-fi touch of being in the sky and overgrown with foliage as it has been deserted. The lighting and atmosphere in Cloudbank, gives a rich nostalgic feeling, that when walking miles above with ground with futuristic buildings in the distance you still feel like this happened long ago in a place you’ve been to before. Making the your journey into the unknown a little bit less frightening.

    If at first you don’t succeed, die die again
    The combat system in Transistor is incredibly unique. As you play through you gain new powers or “functions” that can be mapped to one of the four face buttons. Crashing your huge sword, shooting energy beams across the screen, or lobbing grenades at your foes to survive that much longer in this harsh environment. While in typical action-rpg fashion you can run around in real-time trying to even the battlefield, but quickly you will find yourself pushing up daisies.

    Fortunately, Red has the ability to stop time, map out her actions carefully, then execute them. Bringing you the forethought of turn-based combat in an action setting. After you use this tool, you scramble around the level trying to dodging incoming attacks until your time-stop ability recharges. This is the most dangerous time for Red, as she moves quite slow and her dash ability isn’t all that great. Eventually I began ending my time-stopping attacks with an invisibility function that kept me hidden long enough for my time-stop to recharge.

    After hours in the game I found myself heavily relying on the time-stop ability, but playing real-time has its benefits. For example your attacks don’t have to recharge, so if you have a powerful attack you can spam it destroying the robotic enemy hordes, if you can keep out of the line of fire.

    Each function or power that you pick up along the way can be unequipped and swapped for another. Or you can use one function to upgrade another. For example, breach an attack that shoots an energy beam, can be used to upgrade my sword crash, increasing it’s range and speed. Given the fact that you can swap these functions in absolutely any order gives you a huge amount of combat customization. Helping you find the perfect loadout for your playstyle.

    Unfortunately for me the combat began feeling incredibly repetitive after the first couple of hours. Seeing a lot of the same enemies, in the exact same situations, a battle in the beginning is very similar to battles later on; heightened by the fact that the real-time combat feels so good, I wish that there were functions to help you better adapt to that playstyle.

    This game runs great on the Nintendo Switch, handheld or docked I didn’t have any hiccups and it certainly looks fantastic in handheld mode. If playing on a commute headphones are a must as the narrator and background music contribute so much to the story that you won’t want to miss it.

    Transistor is a beautiful game with an incredibly interesting story, that will reward you if you stick it out. Unfortunately the combat system was a low point for me, even with the amazing amount of customization allowed. typically I want to play a game for the moment to moment gameplay not the story. Well with Transistor this was reversed, watching Red’s story come to a conclusion was the real drive for me, not slaying gaggles of repetitive robotic foes. Which in my opinion keeps this good game, from being a great game.    … Expand
  4. Hypes11
    Jan 6, 2020
    6
    Only played the first 2 hours before it deleted my save file for no apparent reason. The gameplay seemed interesting. Reminded me of the shadow mode from Shadow Tactics combined with an isometric RPG making for a fun mix of real time and turn based combat. Seemed like there were lots of new abilities and mods to strategize different combos and playstyles. Unfortunately I wasn't a fan ofOnly played the first 2 hours before it deleted my save file for no apparent reason. The gameplay seemed interesting. Reminded me of the shadow mode from Shadow Tactics combined with an isometric RPG making for a fun mix of real time and turn based combat. Seemed like there were lots of new abilities and mods to strategize different combos and playstyles. Unfortunately I wasn't a fan of what little I experienced of the story and the awesome soundtrack everyone boasted of must not kick in for a while.… Expand
  5. ramayan
    Jan 20, 2021
    6
    Like the overall theme, music, but not a big fan of the story or the gamplay
  6. Gerdo
    Jun 30, 2020
    7
    Wished it was like Bastion. We got an enjoyable game, however nothing compared to Bastion. It became a little boring, repetitive and confusing. Still loved the story telling part of it.
  7. Denvers
    Jul 14, 2021
    6
    Supergiant Games is known for its consistency in the gaming landscape. All of their releases have been met with overwhelming amounts of praise and love by fans of the studio and newcomers alike. Transistor failed to impress me like the company's other games have. I'm not a fan of the way that Transistor and Bastion tell their stories as I have trouble focusing on the game and a constantSupergiant Games is known for its consistency in the gaming landscape. All of their releases have been met with overwhelming amounts of praise and love by fans of the studio and newcomers alike. Transistor failed to impress me like the company's other games have. I'm not a fan of the way that Transistor and Bastion tell their stories as I have trouble focusing on the game and a constant narrative at the same time. I was able to look past this with Bastion because it excelled in other ways that Transistor did not. While this game has many interesting and unique mechanics that I have never seen in any other game ever, the boring and slow fights combined with the lack of world identity ruin the experience for me. Each combat feels exactly the same, partly because my strategy always works perfectly, and partly because every area looks identical.

    Transistor is a disappointing game because it is every close to being good. The game's unique mechanics make it appear super interesting at first, but after realizing how little the game has to offer content-wise, Transistor disappoints on many levels.

    Final verdict: 6/10 (fine)    … Expand
  8. rookfire
    Aug 19, 2021
    7
    I liked this game. Unique combat system, really great voice-acting and graphics, and set in a really interesting world. I did lose steam halfway through because the combat gets a little repetitive.
  9. MADuser23
    May 27, 2020
    7
    People should consider Transistor if only to experience an ingenious way to tell a story. Set in a visually appealing steampunk world with a delicious soundtrack, coupled with an engaging combat system makes Transistor an indie action RPG worth playing today, roughly 6 years after its initial release. An interesting blend of music, traditional story-telling, and even combat mechanics playPeople should consider Transistor if only to experience an ingenious way to tell a story. Set in a visually appealing steampunk world with a delicious soundtrack, coupled with an engaging combat system makes Transistor an indie action RPG worth playing today, roughly 6 years after its initial release. An interesting blend of music, traditional story-telling, and even combat mechanics play a part in unraveling the lore and destruction in the world of Cloudbank. Add in a leveling system, and a way to customize your protagonist, Redd, to fit your style of combat-engagement and you have a game that'll stand up well past a single play-through.

    This game is an easy recommendation for people who enjoy unconventional story-telling, a dynamic combat system.    … Expand
  10. poggomobile
    Apr 25, 2022
    7
    Look, it's OK. but after playing bastion, it's not in that league. I bought this on an eshop sale with a handful of other games, and maybe that's the problem - but I found the whole weapon slots thing unnecessarily fussy and honestly I'm not sure if I'm ever going to put the time in to figure it out because by the time they started becoming necessary to really get into, I wasn't reallyLook, it's OK. but after playing bastion, it's not in that league. I bought this on an eshop sale with a handful of other games, and maybe that's the problem - but I found the whole weapon slots thing unnecessarily fussy and honestly I'm not sure if I'm ever going to put the time in to figure it out because by the time they started becoming necessary to really get into, I wasn't really being drawn into the story of the game or really prepared to dig in to keep at it....

    Maybe if I'd bought less games at the same time then I wouldn't have had other options to play and would have stuck with it? I don't know... but I didn't have this issue with the other games I bought at the same time.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

24
#24 Best Switch Game of 2018
61
#61 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. God is a Geek
    Sep 3, 2019
    90
    This is a great way to experience on of the best games ever. I really wish they had added the touchscreen functionality from the iOS version as an option to make this the definitive version of the game. If you don’t care about touchscreen controls, the Switch version is amazing and absolutely worth getting if you’ve never played this game before.
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  2. Switch Player
    Nov 15, 2018
    90
    Beautiful, graceful and full of charm. Transistor is a gem that should be in everyone's collection.
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  3. FNintendo
    Nov 12, 2018
    90
    Transistor is a marvelous piece of gaming worthy of all praises. Whether for fans of action games or turn-based combat games, this is definitely a game to invest in and where players will find themselves experimenting in many ways thanks to the game's long lifespan, with an absolutely exquisite soundtrack in the background.
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