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Transistor
Transistor is a single-player choice for anyone drawn to a science-fiction story that pairs real-time combat with strategic planning. Shifting music and the pursuit of the weapon’s former owners give the adventure its character, with procedural battles available afterward through Recursion. The offer is ≈ $11.37 at 
GOG. Compare ≈ $11.37 at GOG with Steam's current $19.99; DRM-Free identifies the activation platform for this offer.
All-time low ~ $2.99across Steam & third-party stores
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Price History
Past 36 months · Updated dailyHistorical Low~ $2.992025-09Current Low Across Stores~ $19.99Steamvs. Historical Low+569%
Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.
DLC
01About Transistor
Fight through a futuristic city with a mysterious weapon in Transistor. This science-fiction action RPG blends fast real-time combat with strategic planning, while configurable Function combinations and the search for the weapon’s former owners shape the adventure. Steam player rating: 93% from 28,019 reviews. Release date: May 20, 2014.
Credits
Composer
Darren Korb
Developer
Supergiant Games
Publisher
Supergiant Games
Lowest recorded in 36 months
$2.992025-09-29 · SteamBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.Language support
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | Yes | Yes | — |
| English | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| French | Yes | Yes | — |
Show 7 more languages
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italian | Yes | Yes | — |
| German | Yes | Yes | — |
| Spanish | Yes | Yes | — |
| Polish | Yes | Yes | — |
| Portuguese-Brazil | Yes | Yes | — |
| Russian | Yes | Yes | — |
| Japanese | Yes | Yes | — |
Steam PC edition data · 2026-10-19
02Before you buy
Play and controls
The Steam PC version is single-player, supports full controller use, and allows customized controls.
Languages
Listed language data confirms English audio and English and Simplified Chinese subtitles.
03Frequently asked questions
What kind of game is Transistor?
It is a science-fiction action RPG set in a futuristic city, combining real-time combat with strategic planning.
What is the story about?
The story follows the mystery of the weapon and the trail of its former owners.
What does Recursion add?
After the story, Recursion introduces procedurally generated battles.
8.0
Overall Score
Graphics8.5
Audio8.5
Gameplay9
Story7
Content6.5
“An eight-hour tactical action RPG blending real-time dashes with the Turn pause mechanic, elevated by Cloudbank’s cohesive synth art design.”
Our Verdict
Worth the eight hours, with one condition
If the question is whether Transistor is worth these eight hours, my answer is yes, but only if what you are buying is the part it does best. Buy the combat. Buy the style. Buy that cool, sci-fi temperament that other games find so hard to replicate. Do not buy it for a crystal-clear, neatly escalating story, and do not buy it for a long-haul adventure packed wall to wall with content. Transistor is not a do-everything kind of game. It is more like a restaurant with a very short menu: not many dishes, but two of them are cooked so precisely that you will remember them for years. Go in aligned with its priorities and it rewards you generously; go in expecting breadth and the brevity will sting. Think of it the way you would think of a tasting menu instead of a buffet: the portions are small, the choices are made for you, and the point is precision rather than volume. If that framing appeals to you, the eight hours will feel rich rather than thin, and the lack of filler will read as confidence rather than poverty. The Steam community reflects this split neatly, sitting at a strong ninety-three percent positive across nearly twenty-eight thousand reviews, a figure that signals a game beloved by the players it suits and quietly skipped by the ones it does not. That is the right way to read it: not a universal recommendation, but a near-certain hit for a clearly defined audience.
Sharper than its sibling, and still standing
Seen from today, its signs of age live mostly in its size and its expressive habits rather than in its art. The main path is on the short side and the narrative leaves a great deal unspoken, and both of those traits are more likely to give a present-day player pause. Yet it still holds together, because the core design at its heart has not dated at all. Turn() remains genuinely special, the free combination of Functions still makes you want to experiment over and over, and the audiovisual unity is as rare now as it was then. Set against Bastion it is a touch less warm and a touch more sharp-edged, trading approachability for a keener cut; set against other neon sci-fi peers it does not win by visual showmanship but by how tightly it binds system and temperament into one thing. That is also why it earns the studio's lasting reputation rather than coasting on novelty.
So no, this is not a masterpiece that everyone simply must go back and play. It is not. It is more like a small, flavorful, strongly opinionated film: short in runtime, long in aftertaste. You may not fall in love with every facet of it, but you will find it very hard to forget the one facet it does best. The recommendation, in a single line, is the one the game itself seems to whisper through that talking blade: it is short, but every single cut is worth its price.
Popular Steam reviews
Native-language selection · 10 reviewsSelected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.
RecommendedSteam player
Just beat the first playthrough, and I have to say this game was totally up to my expectations. -Combat was different and tactical, yet enjoyable -Art Style was beautiful, especially on the cut-scenes -Story kept me glued to the screen -I took about 6 hours going through the first playthrough, that is with some time spend on the challenges -Totally looking forward to the Recursive Mode 2nd playthough Update After Recursive mode playthrough and 100% Achievements -Combat still hasn't gotten old, I love how you can drastically change up how you play by just swaping some skills around -Art is still spot on -Enjoyed the story the second time even more, helped me notice little things I didn't pick up the first time -Limters were a cool concept -The later challenges were perfectly hard without being unfair -This game was totally worth $20 -Definate buy if this game is on sale!! Couldn't have asked for more. I totally recommend Transistor! Thanks Supergiant for making a fantastic game.Show moreShow less
12.1 hours at review1,108 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I know, negative reviews on overwhelmingly recommended games won't win me any popularity points, but hear me out. It breaks my heart to not recommend this. I had really high hopes due to how amazing Bastion was, and I went into this knowing that it is nothing like Bastion, so my dissapointment doesn't stem from that. Let me start off by saying that the combat customization is pretty neat, the art is nice, and the music is really nice. - The story just isn't that good. Futuristic world is being destroyed by virus-type-invaders and your sword/companion is the key to beating it. The ending is very predictable and there isn't much character development at all. There is such little story that I can't even expand on that without spoilers because of how little story there actually is. - The atmosphere is pretty but has very little variation. I got really tired of seeing the same grey blocks over and over. - The enemies have very little variation. You have turrets that buff/heal, fast dogs, floating objects that shoot beams at you, a mortar, am aoe tank, and guys that spawn suicide bombers. Not much else, the listed enemies all look exactly the same throughout the game; the only difference being small buffs as you progress. There are three bosses, each more forgettable than the last. - The combat is very tedious, and because (as above mentioned) the enemies lack variation, every fight feels the same. There are some great ways to customize your skills and buffs, but everything just feels the same. Since your last shred of action bar can perform skills that would normally take a huge chunk of action bar, every turn you take is just skill stacking just the right way so you can get the big one in at the end for free. It just feels exploity. - The backdoor area (a special zone where you can access challenges): probably my least favorite thing about this game. The trials are all (save for one) time consuming, tedious and pretty pointless. I did all the trials with very little to show for it other than maybe a level and a half and music tracks unlocked, which as far as I can tell, can only be listened to in the backdoor area.. A place that quickly becomes chore zone. Every time I finished trials, I was more than ready to leave. - No replayability. There just isn't. Restarting with all your skills would be nice if the skills weren't so bland. It's just doing the exact same thing over and over again a second time. -The game is incredibly short. I have 7.7 hours logged and I even took my time. I explored thoroughly and didn't move between areas until I knew that I had explored the whole area. I read all the dialogue and accessed/read/listened to/replied to all the terminals and still only got 7.7 hours out of it with no interest in or reason to begin ng+. - One of the things that irritated me the most is this game has an amazing soundtrack.... but it is hardly utilized in the game. When your in combat, you spend most of your time in a pause-type attack planning phase.. during that phase, the music is replaced by the same humming.. so you spend a lot of time listening to that one track that is her humming the same tune over and over. When you're running around/exploring, the sword is talking the whole time (not a bad thing) and you cannot hear the music at all. The game was probably overhyped to me, which is probably why I feel as dissapointed as I do. If you love SuperGiant and love hearing Logan's voice (like me) I'd recommend getting it on sale. Otherwise, you might be dissapointed.Show moreShow less
5.7 hours at review1,155 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Ever just sit back and watch the clouds? Just relaxing and watching them go by not a care in the world? So simple and beautiful and as a bonus the clouds can become whatever you imagine. That’s the best way to describe Transistor simple, beautiful, and filled to the brim with imagination. +Pros +Artstyle Absolutely gorgeous. All the art is done is stunning detail in the futuristic sci-fi city of Cloud Bank. As for the enemies easily identifiable but with enough color variation to make sure you can react appropriately to them in a combat situation. +Customization Quite simple at first but turns into an absolutely complex blast that let’s the players imagine exactly how they want to play the game. As an explanation, you’ll have one weapon ,the Transistor, but many different abilities to play around with starting with something as simple as slamming your Transistor into an enemy and then eventually making your Transistor a black hole generator that can obliterate a dozen enemies at a time. The game also takes these abilities and gives the player full control of customizing in the form of passive abilities for your primary skills that you use in combat ,say turning a death beam into a splitting death beam that goes in 3 directions and can bounce off enemies. As well as passive abilities for just the character such as being able to pull objects from farther away and having more health. Overall, this gives the player tons of freedom in combat playstyle. +Gameplay Again, simple at first with running around in a locked arena, dodging your enemies, and using your abilities but quite early on the game introduces the unique mechanic of “turns”, which is basically pausing the game and deciding precisely which moves and abilities you want to use and then executing it in a speedy fashion allowing the player to do some absolutely ridiculous damage combos. However, the drawback of using a turn is that you can’t use any abilities (without special enhancements) until your turn has fully recharged so it’s important that you leave enough space between you and the enemies to make sure you don’t lose a ton of health when your turn is up. A simple but super fun mechanic that makes you feel like a god when you dodge a ton of projectiles then proceed to turn around and annihilate everyone. +Soundtrack Possibly Transistor’s strongest selling point this soundtrack is so simple and mesmerizing but also fits the mood of the game perfectly for when you’re taking in more information on the lore of the world or for when you’re fighting and take a “turn” and you hear the soothing voice of Red as you plan your next action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zA1jRmAYfU +Story As this game was made by the same people who made Bastion it can be quite unclear what the game is about during your first playthrough but there’s a ton of information on the lore of the world and it’s characters that can be unlocked simply by using abilities in different ways in combat and interacting with terminals to get the latest news on what’s happening in Cloud Bank. However, once you do understand the background of the story and the purpose of the main character ,Red, it turns into a beautiful and tragic story about love, envy, and greed. For a full explanation on the story check out this guide. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=337587422 -Cons -/+Length Very short game (took me about 12 hours to complete the game on NG+100%) as with the right build you can obliterate all enemies very quickly but thankfully there is New Game+ so replayability is present in the game. -Repitition For combat, the game will lock you in a fixed area and until you defeat all the enemies that spawned you basically can't leave. This can get quite reptitive as you walk into an area, game locks you in, enemies spawn and then you kill them rinse and repeat for the whole game. However, because of the sheer amount of fun I had with the "turn" system and the abilities I never got bored. Final Verdict(9/10) An absolutely gorgeous masterpiece that leaves a lot of the fun to the player with speedy combos and a fantastic soundtrack to match. Worthy of buying at full price.Show moreShow less
11.4 hours at review985 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
*Acknowledgment* Before I delve into my review of Transistor, let me first state that I am first and foremost a tremendous fan of Supergiant Games. They released Bastion in a time I had ceased playing video games, because I found the quantity over quality insignia that most modern games paraded to be a bit much to bear. With that one release they managed to quickly overturn my decision to abstain from video games. So let me just say (to my own fault) that I have a very soft spot for the company and the diligent employees they keep. *End Acknowledgment* - With the acknowledgment in mind, I would like to begin with the good about Transistor. The strongest point for the whole game, in my opinion of course, is the soundtrack produced by Darren Korb. I could create a lengthy description for this, instead, I will just tell you “listen to the soundtrack”. The man is probably one of the best composers in video game culture, that is all. The artwork of Jen Zee is a wonderful thing to behold, and deserves to be seen. This game is no exception to that. As well, as always, Logan Cunningham's voice acting is an equal treat. The setting, world building, and most of the story are solid and deserve recognition. These things all speak strongly for themselves and no words I can put to them will do them justice. - Now with the bad. The battle system, while tremendously innovative, is irritating at best. I respect their attempt, but it clearly needed a great deal more work for creating a sense of balance. It contains all of the elements of strategy and turn-based RPGs that could be considered bad, without any of the rewards, progression, or smoothness. All in all, I feel that this aspect alone could have used at least another few months of consideration, if not a year, as it just feels hastily prepared and self-righteous. The length of the game adds to the feeling of speedy preparation without consideration. Now don't get me wrong, There are some situations where a small number of episodes, or a few hours of your time can move a piece of multimedia to create a lengthy wake of contentedness. This is not one of those cases and while replay is certainly an option, I feel completely no urge to do so. They try to expand the game with a number of puzzle based battle-challenges to unlock songs within the game, but that would bring us back to the battle system. The last of what I say rests with the story. This section contains a number of ***spoilers,*** so you should move on if you do not want this portion of the game revealed and I will post when spoilers are finished. As a majority, the story is interesting, explorative, and at many points, compelling. There are a few points within it, however, that while I understand most probably lend themselves to a particular ideology or thematic pursuit, are what I feel to be gargantuan mistakes in not only the story of the game, but in writing as a whole. With the exception of Royce, each and every confrontation with the Camerata was unfulfilling, if not completely vapid of context. The characters are introduced in a very dynamic scene where they murder Red's implied and nameless lover, which is roughly the most substance you are going to get from them. The battle with Sybil is almost confusing because it feels out of place and unexplored. We do have the before mentioned cut scene, yes, but that is all we have at that point and all we get. Then we move on to Asher, and the seemingly implied arch-nemesis, Grant. Here we receive a number of communications with Asher along the way, which seem to be imploring you to garner at least a little bit of sympathy, if not just understanding for these characters. However, finally reaching them and discovering they had committed suicide, without properly introducing these supposed antagonists was (pardon my language) a piss-poor story decision and shows (with evidence from the fantastic story writing in Bastion) that this was either a very unconsidered, or very lazy writing decision. I must apologize for my harshness in this respect, but I feel like I can give nothing but honesty to a company who's work I am so partial of. I must say that all of the confrontation/interaction with Royce felt incredibly well developed and was by far the most interesting part of the entire tale (with a lot of good progression leading up to it). However, the suicide of Red not only seemed entirely uncharacteristic of a protagonist who pursued the Camerata so vigorously despite her nameless lover beckoning her not to, and who also fought so desperately to prolong her life against Royce's assail to emerge to a world she can attempt to make a better place, but it also felt like an incredibly unnecessary punch to garner some strong emotional response. At pulling on heartstrings, Red's death was certainly success, but it was at the cost of abandoning all character and story development up to this point. Now if there is an alternate ending I am unaware of, I would be willing to explore further. With things as they are though, I don't see my self playing this game again at any point in the near future. ***end spoilers*** I had to take a lot of time to mull over how precisely I felt overall with this game, and as much as I truly desire to give this game a thumbs up, I am needing to go with the opposing thumbs down. I do wish Supergiant a great deal of success and hope that any future releases are true gems that speak for the greatness that I know they are ultimately capable of. Also, perhaps my response to Transistor may be best summed up by the Buddhist phrase “Expectation is the root of all disappointment”. Many people are really loving this game, and I will continue to have my gamer soft-spot for Supergiant Games, but in continuing with honesty, this game needed more development and consideration for gameplay and story and I'll just have to sit-back an enjoy the soundtrack and artwork while waiting for the next release.Show moreShow less
2.1 hours at review161 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
A fantastic humming simulator with an action/rpg minigame.Show moreShow less
24.4 hours at review955 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I was pretty excited for this game. It's an action RPG. developed by the same guys who developed Bastion. Nice art style. So, when it went on sale, I snatched it up right away. Overall, I was pretty disappointed. I found the gameplay very repetitive, the action very underwhelming, the story bland and on the whole very short and unchallenging. There was a lack of enemy variety, and no real strategy needed to get by them. Bosses were kind of a pushover too. Even tho I found this game disappointing, I'll likely give future games from the developer a shot. Despite my complaints listed above, I enjoyed the actual gameplay mechanics. The upgrade system was kinda neat and I liked testing out different combinations of attacks you get. Controls were decently responsive and fluid enough for purpose. Some other pros are the art style and music. But, graphics and music don't make a game. I feel it's more or less wasted here. To wrap it up. While the gameplay mechanics, art and music were great. The repetition, weak challenge, and bland story (no real character development either?) dragged it all down to create a forgettable experience. One little unrelated complaint too. The guy trapped in the transistor just never shuts up. I get it's supposed to be a narrative. But, holy hell.. a line between narrative and constant irritating rambling blurred together here.Show moreShow less
5 hours at review158 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
I'm older than the rest of you yahoos. Real life gets ... real. Games don't catch you like they did as a kid. Other worries vie for control of your mind even as you try to get away from them; after they're dealt with the mental fatigue often prevents you from getting immersed in a game (or anything) like you did in yesteryear. For a year or so I've been eye-ing Transistor, trying to discern its worth. It looked so flashy and neat, but experience has taught me that most such games nowadays have invested far too much in glitz and not enough in depth. They're shallow and vapid, something you regret wasting your time on after an hour. False promises and empty husks. A time waster at best. Transistor cut through all the old-age baggage and cobwebs-- all the accumulated life-experience that a younger me would just call cynicism-- and hit me in my gut. Maybe my heart. It sucked me in, keeping me up until 3 AM on workdays. There is genuine ART in this game. I'm thoroughly impressed, and wish I had bought it before. Thank you, Supergiant Games.Show moreShow less
7.5 hours at review799 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
Overall, there's just too many things about this game that rub me the wrong way. First of all, I definitely like the art, visuals, music, voice acting, and writing. They don't hold your hand when it comes to explaining the story and it forces you to pay attention and also encourages you to try lots of different function combinations so you can learn more about the characters, if you care to. Other than that, though, there's not much I like. The most important aspect of games to me is whether the gameplay is fun, and honestly transistor's gameplay isn't that much fun for me. Like others have said, not being able to do anything after you pause time and plan out a sequence of moves just sucks. They don't even give you enough mobility to dodge shots. All you can really do is try to get to cover and hide out until your meter replenishes. And if you opt to instead play without using turn (or using turn to pause and think and then unpausing and simply executing your actions manually), you'll probably disappointed by that experience when comparing it to the action oriented gameplay of bastion. One of the worst things, in my opinion, is that you lose access to functions when you lose all your health. Honestly I'd rather just die and restart from checkpoint. I can see that they're trying to encourage you to try different combinations of things, but it still just frustrates me losing the build that I was in the process of learning. And when your options are limited the gameplay just gets more and more boring because you might have to resort to gimmicky tactics depending on what functions you are left with. Overall, it's certainly a unique idea to blend the turn-based with real-time combat, but, in practice, it ends up just not being all that fun to me. I'd rather play a turn based game or an action game. My brain doesn't like switching between the two so rapidly. I would say get this heavily discounted and play it for the uniqueness and aesthetics. Don't come here expecting something very heavy or that you're going to really want to sink countless hours into or replay. My first playthrough was done in 6 hours and I was glad to be done with it. I have to complement them for not dragging it out or having some frustratingly long and tedious boss fight at the end. If the story went on even an hour longer I might've just gotten sick of it and given up. If you're into experience games more along the lines of how you experience art or other aesthetic experiences (and not necesarilly for the thrill of challenge and victory), you should definitely consider this game. There's a lot there to process. I personally don't care much about that sort of thing when it comes to games, though.Show moreShow less
6.1 hours at review99 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Transistor is the second game from Supergiant Games, the developers of the critically acclaimed Bastion. Those who have doubts about whether this game lives up to Bastion's expectation can be at ease: Transistor delivers and more. Story: You play as Red, a famous singer in the city of Cloudbank. One night after a performance, a group of people, the Camerata, attempted to kill Red with a strange, green sword, but she was saved by someone. Waking up, she found herself next to the corpse of a man, stabbed by that same sword: the Transistor. The sword starts speaking, and not only that, but seems to know her. Urging her to pull it out of the corpse, the two start tracking the Camerata down, seeking answers, while fighting what seems to be robotic creatures sent to hunt them down. But things may not be as they seem. The story of Transistor seem simple and straight-forward on the surface, but most of it isn't handed down to the player, instead inferred and concluded from various hints noticed in the environment, character interaction and character profiles. It encourages the player to seek answers along the main character, and leaves a lot up for interpretation. That's something I like in a game. One downside to the story however, is how short it is. It's far too short, the game is far too short. You'll be left wanting more, even with "recursion", playing a second play through with your stats intact. Gameplay: The gameplay is a mix of Action RPG and traditional turn-based RPG, using the Turn() system that I will touch upon soon. Red is able to equip up to 4 slots of "Functions", essentially abilities, upgrade those functions with up to two functions a slot, and assign functions as passive abilities, for up to 4 passives. In battle, Red wields the Transistor. In Diablo style, she can use the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 on the keyboard to select an ability, then the right-mouse button to use that ability. Abilities can be offensive, such as shooting a long-range beam or a destructive shockwave, or supportive, such as turning invisible for a period of time or turning enemies friendly. The Turn() system adds a new depth to the action RPG. It allows Red to stop time momentarily in order to plan and input a certain number of commands: attacking, setting up traps, maneuvering around the map to escape enemy clusters or get behind obstacles, you can do all that. But once all commands are preformed and the Turn() bar is depleted, Red is left (almost) unable to attack until it recharges again; use Turn() at your own discretion, balancing attack and defense. The game offers the choice of "limiters", handicaps that increase the difficulty of the game in return for better EXP awards. There are achievements you can only get by using limiters, the hardest achieved with all 10 limiters. In addition, there is a "sandbox" unlocked in-game that allows you to tackle specific-themed challenges, like a speed challenge, or a Turn-planning challenge. Graphics: Transistor uses an isometric point of view, being able to go in all 2D directions. The sprites are smooth and look good, but the highpoint of the graphics is the artwork. The character portraits, whether in-game or in profiles, are drawn beautifully. The artist, Jen Zee, did a brilliant, detailed job, and it shows even on the OST cover. Sound: Here is where Transistor really shines. The game's OST is amazing. From Ashley Lynn Barrett's beautiful voice in The Spine, In Circles, and other songs, to Darren Korb setting up poignant, melancholic instrumentals that fit the mood perfectly. Tracks play hand-in-hand with gameplay, showing up at specific times for maximum impact, further heightening the experience. I highly recommend getting the OST along with the game, if you can. Well worth the extra bucks. Summary: Transistor is a beautiful, enjoyable game. It has a bittersweet, albeit short, story that forces the player to think. Brilliant soundtrack, and beautiful artwork. The gameplay won't last you long, but there is decent replayability in it. Try picking it up immediately whenever it's on sale.Show moreShow less
9.6 hours at review627 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
Many people are powerfully in love with this game, so me not recommending it is going to absolutely enrage some people. While I realise it won't make many "be okay" with me having the "audacity" to have a differing opinion than them, I would like to simply state that I am not stating that the game itself is bad; simply that I don't like it, and I recommend games based on whether or not I liked them. Transistor is a beautiful game, both to the eye and to the ear. Visually, everything has a hazy glow to it, with dark colors and bright colors right where they need to be to pop out and be quite visually stunning...more so than a lot of Bastion was for me, even. The music...I...I don't even know where to begin, and nothing I can say will do it justice. The folks who made this game - in my opinion - make better soundtracks than games. Even if someone likes this game, it's plausible for them to enjoy the soundtrack even more. It's so good. The gameplay, however, is something you'll either like or you won't. I like the idea of the combat better than the idea of Bastion's combat, because it's more strategic/thoughtful in that you can pause the game, "schedule" your movements and attacks, then set them all off. For a while, I quite liked it while the enemies died in one or two hits each, and the bosses are fairly exciting, but a litttle ways into the game, the normal enemies you encounter take so many hits to kill that it no longer felt strategic to me. I would have much preferred dealing with a ton of deadly enemies that hit hard and are all over the place, but they die with a couple of hits each, instead of a small to medium number of opponents who I have to wail on 4-6 times while standing in place, each, to kill. The game no longer felt strategic to me...just dragged out and boring. The story didn't pull me in, either. It has quite a bit of mystery, but there aren't all that many reveals, at least up through beating the second boss. If the game drops a lot of interesting story, it must almost entirely come right around the end. That's fine for me with a lot of games, but with this one, I wasn't getting a nice flow of plot tidbits to sate my hunger for story. There are characters...but you read about almost all of them rather than meeting them, hearing audio diaries from them, etc. I'm a big fan of characters, even in small quantities, but I can read about them in a Wiki page...I don't need to read about them in the game without ever actually meeting them. There isn't much else to say about the game, expect perhaps that the controls seem alright. If you hold one key/button, Red (the protagonist) hums along with the music, which is lovely. But again, that's a music thing, and this game's music is magnificent. In conclusion, if sights and sounds are your biggest draws to a game, then Transistor is likely for you. However, if story, character interaction, and gameplay are your biggest draws to a game, then it might not be for you. These are all fairly subjective, so there's no absolute here I can give you - that you'll love it or hate it, etc., but do be wary if visuals and music aren't your primary concerns in games. I have played this game up until roughly the same point TWICE now, and cannot force myself to finish it as I get too bored even in the few hours it takes to get there. I wish I could be like all of you who can enjoy the game, and I went above and beyond to try to enjoy it by starting it a second time, but found myself miserable and had to stop. Whether you get this game or not, if you like female vocals, smooth music, etc., PLEASE at least listen to the soundtrack on YouTube. It's incredible. <3Show moreShow less
17.7 hours at review93 people found this helpful
Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.