Retro Game Review: Transistor

Back in May of 2014 I wrote a post about 4 games I wanted that caught my eye the 4 lil games... and one was Transistor. I finally got around to playing it and I loved it! A very fresh game with a cool art deco aesthetic and a refreshingly unique story and game play!
On the surface the game is about a weapon that absorbs the "souls" of it's victims and how a lounge singer named Red is saved by a mysterious dude "a fan". Red acquires the Transistor and seeks revenge on the group called the Camerata  that tried to "end" her. Along the way Red battles mobs known as "The Process". Defeating these processes you earn XP which help level up Red and in turn level up the Transistor.
As you and the Transistor level up you gain access to new abilities called Functions such as Crash, Breach, Spark, Jaunt, Bounce, Load, Help, Mask, Ping, Switch, Get, Purge, Flood, Cull, Tap and Void.
Each of these functions require a certain amount of Mem from 1-4 and as you progress thru the game you unlock additional Mem and additional slots; Active, Passive and Upgrade Slots to attach a Function to, and depending where you place the function determines the Functions purpose. So each of the 16 functions can be utilized 3 different ways. And later in the game you can actually earn multiple of the same function so in essence you can use Void in an Active Slot AND a Passive (sub) Slot.
There is alot of flexibility with how you fight the Process with the Transistor and tooling around with different combinations of Functions adds a great deal of depth to this game.
Once you get the gist of the game there are also Process Limiters that alter the effects of defeated processes adding a higher level of difficulty.
One of the most interesting aspects of the game is the story in my opinion, The whole story takes place in the city of Cloudbank, and the main antagonist is the "Process" that seems to corrupt high profile personalities in Cloudbank that when integrated into the Transistor become functions that compliment that personality.
The whole story feels very familiar, it reminds me ALOT of the original Matrix, where all these citizens of Cloudbank, Lillian Platt, Wave Tennegan, Henter Jallaford, Farrah Yon-Dale, Olmarq, Sybil Reiz, Asher and Grant Kendrell and Royce Bracket all exist in this reality but I believe their whole reality is artificial or with in a computer or perhaps in a cloud. And the transistor, unbeknownst to any of them is a gateway to another reality...our reality. The outro also somewhat supports my theory.
Great little game, definately worth the price!
8/10