G2A Pick of the Week: Transistor

Every week, Team Liquid will supply you with their pick for the G2A Game of the Week, which you can buy at an extremely discounted rate thanks to the G2A Weekly Sale. This week, we’ve chosen Transistor. You can get it right now at www.g2a.com/weeklysale for $6.60, a whopping 68% off its usual price.

Review: Transistor

Transistor begins by throwing you right into the life of nightclub singer Red at what might be the lowest point in her life. There's no explanation for who she is, or what this world is, or what happened the night before, but this sense of mystery makes your journey more captivating.




As you move through the world of Transistor, you encounter manifestations of the process, a force that's out of control. With the help of the Transistor--the strange weapon you pull from a dead man's body when the game begins, you begin to fight the process. You can run around fighting your enemies in real time, but you're always outnumbered, and you're just not quick enough or strong enough to overcome them this way. Thankfully, you have a trick up your sleeve called turn, which enables you to freeze time, plot out your upcoming movements and attacks, and then carry them out in rapid succession.


As you progress, you collect more techniques called functions, each the essence of a fallen resident of Cloudbank, the city in Transistor. Each one can be slotted as an active ability, or to upgrade another function, or to give you a passive benefit. There are plenty of ways these techniques can be combined and hitting on particularly effective combinations then putting them to use in battle is immensely satisfying.





Transistor's combat makes you feel powerful by giving you an edge on the process, but it also encourages you to think carefully about what you're doing, because the process is no pushover. It has tricks of its own, sometimes pulling you out of your turning phase without warning. It's a clever foe, which makes matching wits with it all the more enjoyable.

Transistor's artful presentation has some magic of its own. There are a few astounding moments in Transistor, like the moment when you step up to a microphone and press a button to sing, and Red's haunting voice comes in and carries you back to what had happened the night before, the visuals communicating in shorthand what words would take too much time to say. Or the moment when Red, silhouetted against the city, speeds across Cloudbank on a motorcycle, hunting the people who are responsible for everything that has happened.





Transistor is always a good-looking game, but in these instances, it demonstrates a rare knack for combining its visuals and music to powerfully convey both narrative information and tone. So in the end, yes, Transistor is a fun action role-playing game with a neat combat system, but beautiful moments make it a game with a soul.