200 OK

But I'm paying a hell of a lot more attention to [Transistor] now than I was.

- Me, c. 2014

... well, anyway.

Transistor definitely succeeds at mixing Supergiant's colorful style with a techno-mystical TRON motif. And its blend of real-time and turn-based combat mechanics, though jarring at first, feels unique and exciting.

Unfortunately the narrative takes a hit from ... the narrator: while his character is better-integrated with the game than in Bastion, he talks so much - and there are so few other voice actors - that eventually the exposition sounds samey and repetitive.

And the gameplay is let down by an intimidating volume of progression options: being able to use every Function as an ability or an ability upgrade or a passive upgrade is a "cool idea," but the resulting matrix of choices is overwhelming, and wasteful. (After finding a setup that worked for me, I wasn't compelled to experiment any more.)

And -- both the story and the mechanics are limited by Transistor's short running length: 3-4 hours of content leaves a lot of unexplained backstory, and doesn't give that spread of Function options much room to breathe.

I guess the game might be expecting me to "recurse" and run it again - adding Limiters for extra challenge - but that's really not my thing.

I enjoyed my (brief) time with Transistor, to be clear; it just doesn't feel like it lives up to the potential of its ideas. And in retrospect, seems less like a setup for a TRON-like epic than it does a proof-of-concept for Hades.

Better than: Bastion, Tron: Evolution (PC, PS3, X360)
Not as good as: Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut
Maybe the best "inside the computer" game so far: But that competition isn't very stiff. Certainly way better than the hacking minigame in Fallout 4: Far Harbor.