This month’s podcast was on Super Giant Games’ Transistor. The developers, of Hades I and IIfame most recently, released Transistor, their second game, in 2014 to acclaim and general contentment from critics and fans. The game is also often cited as a fan-favorite. But unfortunately, we had some issues playing through it in 2025. Maybe we’ve been been too taken or used to the mechanics and the feel of Hades, maybe it wasn’t the ideal time to play through a second effort from a studio that now relies on a early access refinement model to tune their games (arguably to a kind of perfection). Either way, we discuss Transistor and how it works or doesn’t, discussing its in some ways inspired world building and design, soundtrack, hybrid turn-based battle system, and other aspects, along with how it fits into the grand pantheon of Super Giant’s catalogue.
Check out the liner notes for the usual ephemera and side quests, and feel free to reach out with how Transistor has or hasn’t hit home with you (especially the fans out there). We’d love to hear it and try to understand better why it doesn’t work for us — but clearly does for others.Also stay tuned for next month (December’s) podcast on Earthion, the Yuzu Koshiro and Ancient produced throwback side scrolling shooter (with a Genesis/Mega Drive physical edition coming in 2026!).
*The game I couldn’t remember the name of that reminded me of what if Super Giant did a side scrolling shooter was Devil Engine: https://store.steampowered.com/app/891790/Devil_Engine/
