Transistor

Transistor uses an isometric point of view. The player controls the main character, Red, as she travels through a series of locations, battling enemies known collectively as the Process in both real-time combat and a frozen planning mode referred to as "Turn()". Using Turn() drains the action bar, which refills after a short delay. Until it is full again, Red cannot use Turn(), or any other power (with a few exceptions). Red earns experience points after each battle, and may collect new powers (called Functions) from fallen victims of the Process.

Functions can be used in several ways. First, they can be equipped in one of four active skill slots. Second, they can be used as an upgrade to augment another equipped Function. Third, they can be equipped in a passive skill slot for a persistent effect during battle.

Red, a popular singer in the city of Cloudbank, kneels by the body of a man who has been killed with a glowing greatsword—the Transistor. The attack took away her voice, sealing it inside the Transistor. The sword also absorbed the man's consciousness, and through it he is able to speak to Red, acting as her guide and the game's narrator. As Red escapes, she is attacked by an army of intelligent robots known as the Process. She also discovers several Cloudbank citizens who have been "integrated" by the Process and absorbs their trace data into the Transistor, expanding the weapon's functionality.

Red makes her way to Cloudbank's Goldwalk district, where she learns that the Process is being controlled by the Camerata, a sinister group of high-ranking officials. The Camerata have been integrating individuals of influence through the Transistor; they were the ones who attacked Red, though the murder attempt was thwarted when the man stepped in front of the blow. At her former performance stage, Red confronts and defeats Sybil Reisz, a Camerata member in a corrupted Process-like form. She uses Sybil's knowledge of the Camerata to locate their leader—one of the administrators of Cloudbank, Grant Kendrell.

Supergiant Games began working on Transistor full-time in September 2012, though early concepts were already being developed the fall of 2011, around the time the studio wrapped up on their first game, Bastion. The game was created by a team of twelve people, up from seven on Bastion. The team was led by studio director Amir Rao, with Greg Kasavin as its creative director and writer. Jen Zee was the game's art director and Darren Korb was its composer and audio director. The game was developed primarily in Supergiant's new office in SoMa, San Francisco, though some audio work was done in New York City.

The studio decided early on that the game would feature a science-fiction love story in a cyberpunk setting. In designing Cloudbank, which eventually evolved into a "romanticized, anachronistic quasi-futuristic city", art director Jen Zee took inspiration from Art Nouveau artists such as Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha, whose work was characterized by elongated, natural patterns and liberal use of the color gold.

Transistor has been well received by game critics, receiving an 8/10 from GameSpot, 8.5/10 from Destructoid, 9/10 from IGN, and an 8.5/10 from Polygon. It also has an 83 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 57 reviews for PlayStation 4 and 35 reviews for Microsoft Windows, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The game's visuals and soundtrack have been praised by reviewers. Richard Niak of Game Critics wrote that the aesthetics of Cloudbank, the game's main setting, are "a key factor in understanding the story and the destruction being wrought by the Process." Danielle Riendeau of Polygon wrote that Transistor is "oozing with style and aesthetic charm," and that the music and voice "set it apart aesthetically" and infuse the game with personality and life.