Is Transistor Confusing on Purpose?
6Was I the only one utterly confused by Transistor's story while playing it? I had no idea about the world, who the main character was, why the sword was talking, and why they were being attacked. This video explores my confusion, what I found out through my research, and whether or not I feel the story of Transistor was confusing on purpose.
This game was a first for me. The art, music, and most importantly the gameplay was of such a high quality that I was able to enjoy myself and like the game despite not knowing what was going on. After watching some videos on story explanation and literary analysis, I am able to reflect on my time with Transistor more favourably, and a second playthrough would likely strengthen these feelings.
The question I wanted to answer is if this confusion was a design decision on the part of Supergiant, or if it was my own failings as a player. The introduction of the game threw me off, and I felt like I was always playing catch-up, always off-kilter. the larger brush-strokes of revenge and survival came through, but there was no anchor to ground them, and no framework to piece them together in. Nothing seemed to make sense, and it was only the presentation, enjoyment of the turn based combat and levelling-up system that kept me going.
Enjoy the video? Why not buy me a coffee? - https://ko-fi.com/daveflodine
Subscribe to the channel for more great videos! - http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=DavetheTurnip
Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/Dave_the_Turnip
Buy the game - https://store.steampowered.com/app/237930/Transistor/
Transcript - https://davegamethoughts.blogspot.com/2020/07/is-transistor-confusing-on-purpose-game.html
- Sources -
Transistor Story Discussion by Super Bunnyhop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENXToEvaCKc
Transistor Analysis & Why You Need To Play It by Foxcade - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqE02T7XRl8
Games as Lit. 101 - Literary Analysis: Transistor by Games as Literature - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h4YEQqLqtY