Few experienced players needs to relearn how to swing a sword or complete superfluous tasks like finding a fish for the village cat. These Zelda games have often been criticized for what many gamers consider excessive hand holding. Many Zelda games, especially the 3D games, take time to orient the player to the game world, systems, and narrative background before sending you off on the adventure. One of developer Supergiant Games’s best decision is to begin Transistor‘s narrative in the heat of the action. With the power of the Transistor at her finger tips, Red and her companion set out on a quest to stop The Process and deliver payback to the Camerata. The Transistor is the key to controlling The Process and is sought after by the Camerata. Worst still, Red’s close companion has been killed with the Transistor, a sword/tool that will house the soul of Red’s companion for the remainder of the game. The out of control technology is spreading like an infection across the city, growing more powerful as the game progresses.Īs the game begins, our protagonist Red, an iconic scarlet haired jazz singer, has been stripped of her voice after an attack by The Process and Camerata. The Process was created by group of mad visionaries known as the Camerata, a group that desires to reshape Cloudbank. In the gorgeous world of Cloudbank, the city is being consumed by an out of control technology known as “The Process”. ![]() The game’s setting is the massive city of Cloudbank, a city that combines art-deco architecture and iconography with a futuristic cyber punk vibe. Transistor is a cyber punk experience that feels incredibly distinct among the crowd of video games released each year. ![]() The grand result is a companion who is one of the best in recent memory. Transistor deftly toes the lines between providing a companion that is essential to the story and a character who unobtrusively assists the player. From a game play standpoint, Transistor‘s companion teaches players the rules to the game in an obtrusive way that allows the player to experiment. The bond between Red and her companion are the foundation of the game’s story and provide its most potent and powerful moments. In a wild Cyber Punk experience, Transistor presents a gripping narrative built around the protagonist Red and her unnamed companion character. While there have been several well executed companions including Last of Us‘s Ellie and Bioshock Infinite‘s Elizabeth, Supergiant Game’s cyberpunk masterpiece Transistor feels like the true heir to Nintendo’s attempts to perfect the companion character. It is difficult to strike a balance between a companion character being helpful and a companion character being a nuisance. On the other hand, some players may not form an emotional connection with companion characters, leaving the player ambivalent to their survival and/or story role. Some companions slow down the flow of a game with unnecessary or unwanted hints or painfully dull tutorials. While some fans have criticized Nintendo for its inability to find the right formula for its companions, it is an incredibly difficult task. ![]() Companion characters are notoriously difficult to execute because they often need to serve an important narrative function as well as instructing the player about the game’s different systems.Įach of The Legend of Zelda‘s companion characters illustrate Nintendo’s attempts to tweak or perfect the idea of the companion character. While this was a convention that ended with 2017’s Breath of the Wild, the companion character has become an important design element in many games since Ocarina of Time’s release including popular games like Ico, Bioshock Infinite, and 2008’s Prince of Persia. Since Ocarina of Time‘s release in 1998, Nintendo has included a companion character in each new console Zelda game. The Difficult Task of Creating A Companion Most importantly, Transistor nailed the companion character, a common feature of many Zelda games, and by doing so Supergiant Games draws the player into the engrossing world within Transistor. Finally, the game’s combat systems reward experimentation and personalization that Breath of the Wild prizes so highly. Much like Wind Waker, Transistor has an incredibly distinct and iconic art style, resulting in a game that would never be mistaken for any other game. Like all Zelda game, Transistor has a wild and instantly iconic setting for the player to escape to. When I began to investigate Transistor as a possible purchase on the Nintendo Switch eShop, I was struck by how many things Transistor has in common with The Legend of Zelda series.
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