Transistor (computer game)

transistor
Studio	Supergiant Games
Publisher	Supergiant Games
Senior Developer	Amir Rao Greg Kasavin
composer	Darren basket
Erstveröffent- lichung	May 20, 2014
platform	iOS , Linux , macOS , Microsoft Windows , Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4
Game engine	MonoGame
genre	Action RPG
Game mode	Single player
medium	Download
Age rating	PEGI

Transistor is a science fiction - action role-playing game of the independent American game developer company Supergiant Games. The game was first released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 on May 20, 2014, and finally for OS X and Linux on October 30, 2014. Supergiant Games has since sold more than 600,000 copies of the game.

action

Summary

Red, a famous singer from Cloudbank, is attacked with a greatsword-like weapon called a transistor during a performance by an organization called Camerata. But the attack fails because a man throws himself between Red and the transistor and sacrifices his life for Red. However, the gun absorbed the man's consciousness and Red's voice. Red is now on a trip through Cloudbank to find out what happened that evening and how to undo it. In search of answers, she is attacked by the process, a robot unit commanded by the Camarata. The organization pursues Red and the transistor to recover the gun for a purpose as yet unknown.

Course of the game

The game starts with the playable character Red, who kneels over the slumped torso of the unknown man who was murdered with a glowing great sword - this sword is the transistor. However, this is not just an ordinary murder, because the transistor sealed the voice of the singer Red at the moment of the attack. In addition, the consciousness of the murdered man was sealed in the sword, who is now able to use the transistor with Red speak and act as the narrator of the story. Red takes the transistor and makes his way out of the district, but the process gets in her way. She has to fight her way through the ranks of this army of artificial intelligences to escape.

On the way to the site of the attack, Red encounters Cloudbank residents who were assimilated by the trial; it is able to include these people in the transistor. Upon reaching the stage in the Goldwalk district where the attack occurred, Red learns that the process is controlled by the Camerata, an eerie group of high-ranking officials. It was this organization that attacked Red, which was prevented by the man who intercepted the thrust of the sword. Arriving at the stage, the protagonist meets Sybil Reisz, a Camerata member with whom she had befriended before the attack. Sybil, corrupted by the process, attacks Red, whereupon the singer defends herself and defeats Sybil. After the argument, Red also absorbs Sybil's consciousness into the transistor in order to exploit her knowledge of the Camerata and in this way finds out the location of the leader of the organization, Grant Kendrell - an administrator of Cloudbank.

Red enters the Highrise District with a new goal. The actions of the process are now becoming more and more aggressive, leading to the headlines for the process invasion. Asher Kendrell, another member of the Camerata, intervenes and publicly apologizes for the actions of his organization. He reveals the Camerata's involvement in the invasion of the trial and even apologizes to Red, the stranger in the transistor, and everyone else in influence who were killed by the trial. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Camerata has lost control of the process and that the current situation does not match the vision of the organization. During the arduous climb up the Bracket Towers on the way to Grant, Red has to face countless members of the trial. Here she also comes across a huge creature called "Spine". After a fight with this creature to save the stranger in the transistor from the influence of the Spine, Red reaches the Camerata's hiding place in the Bracket Towers. To her regret, she learns that Grant and Asher committed suicide. But since Red is in possession of the transistor, she can also include it in the sword and thus identify the hiding place of the last member.

After deciding to hunt down the last of the Camerata, Royce Bracket, and then flee the city, Red and her companion set off for the Fairview District, where it all began. The process has already completely assimilated it and all that remains is a white blocky copy of the original shape. Upon reaching the district, Royce made contact via a proxy robot. He offers a truce to stop the process. Royce reveals that the transistor is a "remote control" that can manipulate Cloudbank's landscape and environment. The sword is part of the central apparatus which is used by the city administrators to adapt the city to the needs of the residents. After countless fights against the process, which has now developed into a humane form on the way through a completely assimilated part of Fairview, where the laws of physics are only loosely effective, Red reaches the "cradle". This system supplies the transistor with energy in order to manipulate the process - which is a central part of the system that changes Cloudbank - and to stop the invasion. After Red puts the transistor in the "cradle", she and Royce are absorbed into the transistor. In the transistor they encounter a virtual world. Royce has his own transistor in this world and informs Red that only one of them can escape this world to save Cloudbank. He apologizes to Red and they begin the duel.

After Red's triumph over Royce, the protagonist leaves the world of the transistor, which keeps Royce trapped in the world, and begins to rebuild the city. When she comes across the body of the man who saved her from the attack, she realizes that it cannot be released from the transistor. She decides to sit down next to him and, despite the protests and pleadings of the man in the transistor, commit suicide in order to be reunited with him. She impales herself with the transistor and kills herself in the same way as it was taken from the mysterious man. In the credits it is revealed that the man was the lover of Red and that now both are reunited in the world of the transistor. The warm exchange of greetings reveals that her voice has been restored.

Gameplay

The game of transistor is in the isometric perspective presented. The player takes on the role of the singer Red, who travels to different places in the city of Cloudbank and defends herself against the legions of the "trial". A real-time combat system and the "Turn ()" planning mode, which stops time, can be used for this. But there is a price to using the turn () because the mode empties the action bar. The next turn () and many abilities cannot be performed again until the action bar fills up again after a delay. After successful battles, Red receives experience points that help her level up. When you reach the next level, new abilities - the "functions" - can be unlocked. These "functions" open up a more complex system. Each function triggers one of three effects when used. The activated functions can be equipped and converted at so-called "access points". Here you can choose four active functions that act as Reds attacks. Passive functions also have four access points that give Red various passive bonuses. There is also the option of modifying the active functions with two additional functions each in order to create new attacks. For example, the Spark function can be equipped as an active function to carry out a large-scale attack. As a passive function, it creates copies of Red when hit to distract opponents. The function can also be connected to another function as an upgrade, which divides the active function in order to cover a larger area.

development

music

Transistor Original Soundtrack
Music album by Darren Korb
Publication (s)	May 20, 2014
Genre (s)	Electronic
running time	72:23
production	Darren basket

The transistor soundtrack was produced by Darren Korb and was released simultaneously with the game on May 20, 2014. Ashley Lynn Barrett, who had already worked on the soundtrack of the previous game Bastion , sang the songs The Spine , In Circles , We All Become , Signals and Paper Boats . The musical style of the soundtrack is (according to Darren Korb), electronic post-rock. To match the atmosphere of the game, electric guitars, harps, accordions, mandolins, electric piano and synthesizer pads were used. In addition, an equalization filter was placed over the music in order to make the music sound removed and distorted when one is in pauses and turn () menus.

The soundtrack sold 48,000 copies in the first ten days.

Transistor Original Soundtrack Track List
No.	title	Vocals	length
1.	Old Friends		3:21
2.	Stained glass		2:11
3.	Forecast		2:39
4th	The Spine	Ashley Lynn Barrett	3:14
5.	Coasting		3:29
6th	Vanishing Point		3:40
7th	Traces		2:02
8th.	Water wall		3:56
9.	Cut apart		0:52
10.	In circles	Ashley Lynn Barrett	3:26
11.	Gold leaf		2:43
12.	Heightmap		4:23
13.	Dormant		2:51
14th	Apex beat		3:10
15th	Gateless		4:19
16.	Sandbox		3:29
17th	We All Become	Ashley Lynn Barrett	2:29
18th	Interlace		4:06
19th	Tangent		3:23
20th	Signal	Ashley Lynn Barrett	2:55
21st	Impossible		4:40
22nd	Blank canvas		0:52
23.	Paper boats	Ashley Lynn Barrett	4:00
Overall length:			72:23

reception

Reviews and sales

Meta-ratings Database Rating Metacritic 83% reviews publication Rating Destructoid 8.5 / 10 Game Informer 9/10 GameSpot 8/10 IGN 9/10 Polygon 8.5 / 10

Transistor was perceived with mostly positive reviews. GameSpot gave the game 8/10, Destructoid 8.5 / 10, IGN 9/10 and Polygon 8.5 / 10 points. The game achieved 83% on Metacritic , the rating consists of 47 reviews, which are generally positive about the game.

“It feels like we spend almost as much time understanding Transistor as playing it. Transistor does not want to explain, it needs to be understood - even explanations of the combat system are limited to an absolute minimum. Yes, those who take the time and the will to learn will at some point discover an exceptionally well thought-out and clever action adventure. But if you hit too many hooks, you shouldn't be surprised if the player loses sight of the goal and gives up in exasperation. "

- Tobias Veltin, Patrick Mittler : Gamestar

The game had sold more than 600,000 copies by January 2015.

Awards

List of awards and nominations

year	Award	category	result	reference
2014	The Game Awards	Best Independent Game	Nominated
		Best Score / Soundtrack	Nominated
	Giant Bomb's 2014 Game of the Year Awards	Best music	Nominated
2015	IGN 's Best of 2014	Best Graphics - Art	Won
		Best music	Nominated
		Best overall game	Nominated
		Best PS4 Game	Nominated
		Best sound design	Nominated
		Best strategy	Nominated

Web links

• Official website
• Transistor at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Greg Kasavin: Transistor arrives May 20 on PS4 and PC . Supergiant Games . April 10, 2014. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved on April 10, 2014.
2. ^ Greg Kasavin: Transistor Out Now on Mac and Linux! . Supergiant Games . October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
3. ↑ Alasdair Duncan: PAX: Transistor is a worthy follow-up to Bastion . March 22, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
4. ↑ Transistor Original Soundtrack . Supergiant Games . Retrieved June 5, 2014.
5. ^ Darren Korb: Behind the Music and Sounds of Transistor . Sony Computer Entertainment . May 23, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
6. ^ Byrne John Aidan: Wall Street exec moonlights as manager for indie rockers . June 7, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Transistor for PC Reviews . Retrieved May 23, 2014.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Transistor for PlayStation 4 . Retrieved May 23, 2014.
9. ^ ^{A b} Alasdair Duncan: Review: Transistor . May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
10. ^ ^{A b} Matt Miller: Transistor: Weird And Wonderful Discovery . May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
11. ^ ^{A b} Carolyn Petit: Transistor Review . May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Gamestar test
13. ↑ ^{a b} Marty Sliva: Transistor Review . May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Danielle Riendeau: Transistor Review: A Girl and Her Sword . May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
15. ↑ Yannick LeJacq: Transistor: The Kotaku Review . May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
16. ↑ Eddie Makuch: Bastion Sells 3 Million, Transistor Hits 600,000 . In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive . January 9, 2015. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
17. ↑ Nominees - Game Awards 2014 . Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 6, 2014. 
18. ↑ Erik Kain: All The Winners Of The 2014 Game Awards . December 6, 2014. Archived from the original on December 14, 2014. Retrieved on December 14, 2014.
19. ↑ Giant Bomb's 2014 Game of the Year Awards: Day Two Text Recap . CBS Interactive . December 27, 2014. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved on December 28, 2014.
20. ↑ Winner: Best Graphics - Art . Point Davis. January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved on February 12, 2015.
21. ↑ Best Music . Point Davis. January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved on February 12, 2015.
22. ↑ Best Overall Game . Point Davis. January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved on February 12, 2015.
23. ↑ Best PS4 Game . Point Davis. January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved on February 12, 2015.
24. ↑ Best Sound Design . Point Davis. January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved on February 12, 2015.
25. ↑ Best Strategy . Point Davis. January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved on February 12, 2015.