Transistor: An Indie Masterpiece
Noirit Mustapha
After their critically acclaimed debut Bastion, Supergiant Games came out with their second ever release in 2014, an isometric cyberpunk action RPG called Transistor. In it, you play as renowned singer Red, who has her voice stolen by a group known as the Camerata, comprising of some of the most influential citizens in all of Cloudbank. While on the run, you come across a glowing and talking sword wedged onto a corpse on the ground. This is the titular Transistor of the game, a powerful weapon and ally that helps you through the numerous and relentless enemies of the game.
One of the most apparent and appealing aspects of Transistor is its aesthetics as a whole. Despite taking place in a futuristic modern era, the cultural themes displayed by the people harken back to a more classic era, brilliantly showcasing an interesting contrast. The sound design and music are once again a top-notch effort from Darren Korb, crafting possibly the best soundtrack of the year. Even the voice actors, though few, deserve props for their performance, especially Logan Cunningham as the Transistor.
During gameplay, you explore in real time through the streets of Cloudbank, regularly coming across the Process. In order to defeat them, you must use a combination of different functions with different effects. The depth in the system comes from being able to use functions not just as attacks, but also as upgrades to each other and passive boosts. You also have a time stop feature that sometimes lets you carefully plan out your next few moves. It makes for an interesting system that blends real time and turn based in a new way.
The plot is also immensely engaging in the way it makes the literally silent protagonist Red so fascinating, but unfortunately too many details cannot be mentioned without giving away too much of the plot. This really needs to be a piece of art everyone should experience at least once.
