History VideoGame / Transistor

** In a track "She Shines" has a set of lyric that could be a nod to Flim/BladeRunner.

* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler: Red and the Man in the Transistor]]. It's unknown what will happen from the end on.

[[caption-width-right:253:''[[https://youtu.be/dw3VoxL36Vo When you speak, I hear silence...]]'']]

* PowersOfTwoMinusOne: As is fitting for the setting, two of the achievements require you to do 1024 and 2048 points of damage in a single Turn() during Practice and another three require you to reach level 8, 16 and 24. You also start with 16 MEM and the most you can get is 32.

[[caption-width-right:253:''When you speak, I hear silence...'']]

* HideYourLesbians: Sybil's infatuation with Red is only explicitly stated in her Trace profile (and even then rather obliquely) and Grant and Asher are not explicitly confirmed as a couple at ''all''. Red and The Man in the Transistor, on the other hand, get an "I love you" and a romantic reunion [[spoiler:within the Transistor]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After restoring part of Cloudbank, Red [[DrivenToSuicide elects to kill herself]] so she'll [[TogetherInDeath be with her lover inside the Transistor]]. The entirety of Cloudbank is dead and doesn't seem salvageable, so it is abandoned and remain [[CessationofExistence processed]]. [[ItsAllAboutMe So at least Red and 'Nobody' have an esoteric happy ending!]] ]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The MAN Process fires ActionBomb {{Attack Drone}}s. The drones explode if damaged or if they connect with you, and the former property can be used to send them back at MAN, which will take damage from the blast. Even better, Switch() can be used on the drones to cause them to actively hunt down and destroy their former owners.

* YouAreWorthHell: In the ending, [[spoiler:Red and her friend]] have been processed, and now live happily in the Country.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: The fact that your skills are functions explains why they can be used as upgrades to other functions despite being abilities themselves, since because they are literally representations of programming functions, it is entirely possible to use a function inside another function, causing the output of the outer function to be modified by the inner function (like an upgrade), while the inner function can be used by itself (like a skill).

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After restoring part of Cloudbank, Red [[DrivenToSuicide elects to kill herself]] so she'll [[TogetherInDeath be with her lover inside the Transistor]]. [[DownerEnding Or it's seen as a ...]] ]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Unless you consider it to be a BittersweetEnding seen above. Red abandons the destroyed city and the citizens of Cloudbank to remain [[CessationofExistence processed.]] She instead decides to join 'Nobody' in what is basically a LotusEaterMachine. [[ItsAllAboutMe So at least Red and 'Nobody' have a esoteric happy ending!]]. ]]

* ThemeNaming: Many things in the game are named after computer or mathematical terms, like the Empty Set, Raster Plaza and the Backdoor, or the authorities being called admins. Attacks and skills in planning mode are stylized like names of functions in (most) programming languages. Transistor says "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_world_program Hello world]]" at one point near the beginning.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After restoring part of Cloudbank, Red [[DrivenToSuicide elects to kill herself]] so she'll [[TogetherInDeath be with her lover inside the Transistor]]. Or it's seen as a ... ]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Red abandons the destroyed city and the citizens of Cloudbank to remain [[CessationofExistence processed.]] She instead decides to join 'Nobody' in what is basically a LotusEaterMachine. [[ItsAllAboutMe So at least Red and 'Nobody' have a esoteric happy ending!]].]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After restoring part of Cloudbank, Red [[DrivenToSuicide elects to kill herself]] so she'll [[TogetherInDeath be with her lover inside the Transistor]].]]

''Transistor'' is the SpiritualSuccessor (and not an actual {{sequel}}) to Supergiant Games' previous hit ''VideoGame/{{Bastion}}'', featuring the returning voice talent of Logan Cunningham as the titular weapon. In the city of Cloudbank, a young singer known as Red is attacked by a mysterious organization known as the Camerata. Somehow, she survives (although she loses her voice) but finds the dead body of a man she knows. Impaled in his stomach is a mysterious sword called the Transistor, and contained within the sword is the soul of the man himself. Red takes the sword, and together they set out to discover the intentions of the Camerata and stop the dangerous force known as the Process from overtaking the city.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Using Help() as a passive command gives you a 25% chance of becoming a Superuser whenever you use Turn(), giving you access to the unique Kill() command that has the highest base damage in the game, but it can't be enhanced with support commands and using it once takes up your entire Turn(), meaning you can't perform any combos with it either. Borders on StopHelpingMe (or [[JustForPun Stop Help()ing Me?]]) if you were lining up for a piercing attack like Breach(); you're out of luck since you can only use Kill() this turn and it explodes on first impact.

** One achievement requires doing 2048 damage in the practice arena. The total health of the five enemies within is only 1750.

'''''Transistor''''' is the SpiritualSuccessor (and not an actual {{sequel}}) to Supergiant Games' previous hit ''VideoGame/{{Bastion}}'', featuring the returning voice talent of Logan Cunningham as the titular weapon. In the city of Cloudbank, a young singer known as Red is attacked by a mysterious organization known as the Camerata. Somehow, she survives (although she loses her voice) but finds the dead body of a man she knows. Impaled in his stomach is a mysterious sword called the Transistor, and contained within the sword is the soul of the man himself. Red takes the sword, and together they set out to discover the intentions of the Camerata and stop the dangerous force known as the Process from overtaking the city.

* BackFromTheDead: When killed, Processes will drop a cell which can then be collected. If you fail to collect it, it will either regenerate back into the Process you just killed, or a speedy little Badcell which only needs to be killed to get rid of it for good. Younglady spits out nearly a dozen of these things when they die, all of which regenerate into Badcells. One Limiter can cause Processes to drop multiple cells, all of which respawn into the same enemy which spawned them.

* {{Cap}}: Your level is capped at 30, though it takes at least two playthroughs to reach it.

* CherryTapping: Ping() does almost no damage, but has an [[SpamAttack extremely high attack speed and really low Turn() cost]].

* CosmicHorrorStory: A group of {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s [[DugTooDeep Dig Too Deep]] and unleash something [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow beyond their understanding]] they hope to control, [[spoiler:but end up consigning everyone and everything to inevitable destruction]]. It ends with [[spoiler:Red technically winning, but Cloudbank is gone and she's the only one left alive, and is DrivenToSuicide.]]

* {{Cyberspace}}: Cloudbank itself is implied to be some sort of virtual reality, with the power to [[GeniusLoci reshape itself through the will of the populace]]. As the Process spreads, [[spoiler: doorways start spitting out computer errors, Cartesian coordinates for their endpoints, and hexadecimal file locations]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: The game is noticeably darker than ''Videogame/{{Bastion}}''. While ''Bastion'' takes place AfterTheEnd, Transistor puts the player right in the middle of the ongoing apocalypse as they get to watch everything fall apart around them. [[spoiler: And unlike Bastion, ''nobody'' survives to the end of the game (or at least nobody survives unprocessed.)]]

* DeadlyEuphemism: It soon becomes clear that [[spoiler: "The Country"]] is a nice way of referring to the afterlife.
** Though, assuming Cloudbank is indeed some sort of virtual reality, it could simply be the offline world.

** Seems to be the motive of the Camerata, seeking to build a better system through the use of the Transistor and the Process though the exact details are never revealed.

* [[GainaxEnding Gainax Final Boss]]: [[spoiler:Where ''is'' the Cradle, exactly? Is it inside the Transistor? Is it the real world outside of Cloudbank? What exactly happens to trap you and Royce there? Why does one of you have to kill the other to escape? In a game that already explains itself very poorly, these questions have very elusive answers.]]

* GoneHorriblyWrong[=/=][[GoneHorriblyRight Right]]:

* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: The Transistor is, essentially, a giant programming tool. That serves as a handy weapon and, in the later game, [[spoiler:as a RealityWarper tool.]]
* HideYourLesbians: Sybil's infatuation with Red is only explicitly stated in her Trace profile (and even then rather obliquely) and Grant and Asher are not explicitly confirmed as a couple at ''all''. Red and The Man in the Transistor, on the other hand, get an "I love you" and a romantic reunion [[spoiler:within the Transistor.]]

* LifeDrain[=/=]VampiricDraining: What Tap() is.

* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler: Red and the man in the Transistor]]. It's unknown what will happen from the end on.

*** Special mention goes to an abyss with a listed depth of "[=NaN=]". [=NaN=] in programming is shorthand for ''Not a Number''. Since you are actually upside down when this appears, it is likely referring to ''the sky''.

* NeverSayDie: Most of the time dying is referred to as [[spoiler: "going to The Country".]] The vagueness is further compounded by the game's lack of details about what kind of world ([[CityPlanet if any]]) exists outside of the city of Cloudbank.

* NobodyPoops: Averted. A one time deal, Red can use a washroom in the records hall. The Transistor lampshades that they have been running around for a while and he won't look while she does her business.

* PowersOfTwoMinusOne: As is fitting for the setting, 2 of the achievements require you to do 1024 and 2048 points of damage in a single Turn() during Practice and another three require you to reach level 8, 16 and 24. You also start with 16 MEM and the most you can get is 32.

* SeeYouInHell: [[spoiler: "See you in the country" is a somewhat less insulting version of this, apparently. It's the last thing that Asher says to Red in recording after he suicides, and she types it right back at him.]]

-->"Lost in the cloud, like tears in the rain."
* ShrinkRay: Enemies debuffed by Void() will shrink. Stack it up to three times to make them tiny!

* SpannerInTheWorks: Red's friend, the Man in the Transistor and the "Breach()" function, had completely destroyed the antagonists' plans by getting killed and processed by the weapon instead. After Red goes off with the weapon, absorbing the other people that have been turned into data, things just start to go downhill fast...

* TakeCover: Encouraged. Several enemies can't see through it - others can, though. And a few can break it down.

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Red and the Man in the Transistor]] meet in The Country in the end.

-->[[spoiler: ''''Asher''']]: "We always said that if we were to fail, we would do so together, as one. See you in The Country."
** This is really taken UpToEleven if you believe that [[spoiler: Takes the souls and send them somewhere called The Country to live ever after]].

** Red's jacket has an inexplicably glowing yellow triangle on the back [[spoiler:which she took from her friend/lover.]]
* TheUnfought: [[spoiler: Two members of the Camerata, Grant and Asher, are never actually fought, having committed suicide just before Red could reach them. Especially surprising in regards to Grant, who was played up as the main antagonist in both the launch trailer and the game itself. He never gets a single line of dialogue.]]

* FutureSlang: A minor example: "pizza" is called "flatbread".

* CosmicHorrorStory: A group of {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s [[DugTooDeep Dig Too Deep]] and unleash something beyond their understand they hope to control, [[spoiler:but end up consigning everyone and everything to inevitable destruction]]. It ends with [[spoiler:Red technically winning, but Cloudbank is gone and she's the only one left alive, and is DrivenToSuicide.]]

** "When everything changes, nothing changes." The Camerata creed, which is mentioned at least twice, comments on the nature of all-encompassing changes, many of which has occurred through out the game, such as how Cloudbank votes for the weather and the color of the sky, [[spoiler:the complete destruction and processing of the city, as well as the fact that every one went to the country in the end. Though should Red let Royce win, then instead, Royce gets to completely rebuild the city.]]