Transistor

At first, it feels like a simple indie game, but the further you progress, the more you start questioning everything around you. The combat system isn't just about fun—it reflects how you understand and experiment with it. Every ability you choose reshapes your entire playstyle, as if you’re redefining yourself with every battle. The story doesn’t explain itself directly; Instead, it gives you space to observe, infer, and understand. And when everything finally clicks, it hits much harder than you expect. Transistor quietly asks its main question: If everything about you could be turned into a “power”...would you still be yourself? Rating: 8/10

Do you love the art style and amazing soundtrack of hades but want a more tactical and less frenetic experience? Then get this gem of a game. Again, in my opinion, this one has the best soundtrack of all supergiant's games, from ballads to electronic, i love every song.

This game is short, very short. With clunky combat but it is visually and audibly a work of art. You have two combat options 1) Real time, enemies attack simultaneously. There is no cooldown or mana for skills, the only limit is animation speed. 2) Turn based, you give orders then go back to real time until your next turn. Except you aren't allowed to use any skills (except for one, the default is dodge skill and I stuck with it) till your turn comes back. But enemies are free to hunt you meanwhile It’s essentially a turn-based game where you take turns, give orders, and desperately try to dodge attacks while waiting for your next turn because the first option is impossible except for specific times where there are small number of enemies etc. The first option could simply not exist and I don't think it would matter much, maybe it would be more fun even due to better balance around only one mechanic? It felt clunky and unfair, I am not sure how possible it is to finish this game without taking any damage. There is even an animation lock at the end of dodge. I didn't feel in control of the flow of combat as much as I would like. However there is a decent build variety in this game with 4 active skills to choose and (up to 2 per skill) passive effects to boost them. You also get universal passive slots. You use the same set of skills for the passive effects. The amount you can have active is limited by your ram slots, with each skill taking up various amounts. When you level up you choose from a selection of 2 skills or 2-3 character stats (extra ram or passive slots), or from enemy modifiers. The modifiers are toggles to make the game more difficult and reward you with bonus exp in return. The bonus reward felt too negligible for the difficulty spike it brings, especially some stuff like shells dropping with shield felt too clunky. Or you can double enemy damage for a whopping 4% bonus EXP. What are these shells? Enemies drop shells when they are dead, if you don't pick them up in time they turn into weak enemies. If they have a shield you have to break it first before you pick them up. The biggest problem with this is during a turn, even if you attack multiple times, you can’t kill an enemy, spawn a shell, and then break its shield within the same combo. You have to either take another turn or do it outside your turn (remember you can't use skills till your turn become available again!!). I honestly and simply found this lame, clunky and unfun. The story can be hard to keep track of but there is a story. You need to actually listen and check every optional interactive thing to make more sense of it. I didn't expect much but it was better than my expectations. You won't find some massive depth that will leave you thinking for days after you finish this game but it will add enough sauce for your enjoyment. Remember, the game is very short and that time is mostly spent in this turn based/real time mix combat. There is no time for a compelling story. My verdict in short is: This game's combat has a very good premise, but it falls short due to all the clunk. However it is not difficult. Couple that with the short duration of the game and the combat becomes *bearable* just to enjoy the strengths of this game. It's also extremely cheap, I even bought the game with the soundtrack bundle because it captivated me. I don't regret playing this game, I enjoyed my time outside combat and endured the combat. If it wasn't short I would hate it because combat would eventually become frustrating.