Transistor is a cyberpunk tale of romance, with a hybrid turn-based/real-time RPG combat system. Tl;dr: story and soundtrack are on par with Bastion, even if the gameplay itself is not.

There are quite a few downsides to this game. It has limiters similar to Bastion's idols, which can be toggled on for extra challenge/XP at checkpoints, but they start to feel cheap at times (one of these limiters wrecks any functions you uninstall and renders them unuseable until the next checkpoint you configure your sword at, and another limiter causes enemies to drop cells on death that inflict damage onto you upon absorption, and it's hard to quickly tell the difference in the heat of the moment). It has a Turn function to let you freeze combat and queue up actions/functions with the threat of enemy bombardment minimised, which can also let you outrun enemies to get away or line up shots to hit them before they can evade, but the downside is that you're locked out of using any functions until your Turn() function has recharged, and enemies can move while you perform your attacks, meaning you might waste a Turn aiming and empty space because a Fetch moved an inch to the right. During combat your fight area is usually tiny as well with a border you can't escape, so you can't run far enough to be safe from enemies using the remainder of your Turn cooldown chasing you into a corner and shooting at you. Losing a full bar of health causes your sword to consume one of your (up to 4) active functions to refill your health, making the fight and subsequent game harder, as you can expect fights to get progressively challenging. I gave up on the game for a week when I got to the final boss fight, after facing several groups of cloaked enemies that remained invulnerable for 99% of the time, only showing an opportunity to strike for half a second at a time.

I started to have fun with the game right at the end of my first playthrough, when I discovered effective builds to beat the final boss and generally survive Recursion (NG+) without having to call on Turn(), which as it turns out, becomes a crutch that slows you down if you keep relying on it beyond your first playthrough. The game's Steam Community Guides really saved me many headaches there. Not being distracted by the awfully-thought-out combat system meant that for my second playthrough, I could experience the story and music the way the developers intended, and I began to enjoy every minute of it.

As for the story itself, it's similar to Bastion. Person in dead/dying world, first order of business is trying to survive, and somewhere along the way, they find the power to shape their reality. No point in sharing fan theories about the nature of the Process and Cloudbank here, but it's a fun read. It has a more mysterious, intriguing, and subtle atmosphere compared to Bastion which does help.

Bottom line, I think it's pretty fun IF you can manage to get past the very experimental-feeling combat system.

Transistor is a cyberpunk tale of romance, with a hybrid turn-based/real-time RPG combat system. Tl;dr: story and soundtrack are on par with Bastion, even if the gameplay itself is not. There are quite a few downsides to this game. It has limiters similar to Bastion's idols, which can be toggled on for extra challenge/XP at checkpoints, but they start to feel cheap at times (one of these limiters wrecks any functions you uninstall and renders them unuseable until the next checkpoint you configure your sword at, and another limiter causes enemies to drop cells on death that inflict damage onto you upon absorption, and it's hard to quickly tell the difference in the heat of the moment). It has a Turn function to let you freeze combat and queue up actions/functions with the threat of enemy bombardment minimised, which can also let you outrun enemies to get away or line up shots to hit them before they can evade, but the downside is that you're locked out of using any functions until your Turn() function has recharged, and enemies can move while you perform your attacks, meaning you might waste a Turn aiming and empty space because a Fetch moved an inch to the right. During combat your fight area is usually tiny as well with a border you can't escape, so you can't run far enough to be safe from enemies using the remainder of your Turn cooldown chasing you into a corner and shooting at you. Losing a full bar of health causes your sword to consume one of your (up to 4) active functions to refill your health, making the fight and subsequent game harder, as you can expect fights to get progressively challenging. I gave up on the game for a week when I got to the final boss fight, after facing several groups of cloaked enemies that remained invulnerable for 99% of the time, only showing an opportunity to strike for half a second at a time. I started to have fun with the game right at the end of my first playthrough, when I discovered effective builds to beat the final boss and generally survive Recursion (NG+) without having to call on Turn(), which as it turns out, becomes a crutch that slows you down if you keep relying on it beyond your first playthrough. The game's Steam Community Guides really saved me many headaches there. Not being distracted by the awfully-thought-out combat system meant that for my second playthrough, I could experience the story and music the way the developers intended, and I began to enjoy every minute of it. As for the story itself, it's similar to Bastion. Person in dead/dying world, first order of business is trying to survive, and somewhere along the way, they [spoiler]find the power to shape their reality[/spoiler]. No point in sharing fan theories about the nature of the Process and Cloudbank here, but it's a fun read. It has a more mysterious, intriguing, and subtle atmosphere compared to Bastion which does help. Bottom line, I think it's pretty fun IF you can manage to get past the very experimental-feeling combat system.