Abzû vs Transistor
When comparing Abzû vs Transistor, the Slant community recommends Transistor for most people. In the question“What are the best PS4 (PlayStation 4) games?” Transistor is ranked 21st while Abzû is ranked 83rd. The most important reason people chose Transistor is:
The soundtrack is mostly a type of electronic music called "trip hop", which is heavily influenced by jazz, punk and soul. Most of the songs are very mellow and have a melancholic feel to them, giving Transistor's cyberpunk world a very distinct and memorable feel.
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Pros
Pro Soft and calming
Diving through the ocean with an array of colorful fish is very soothing. Your character can even meditate, allowing you to gaze at the surrounding aquatic life. The orchestral music further adds to the soothing feeling, while also giving most locations a sense of wonder. Nothing quite like seeing a school of fish swimming around to the soft tune of pipe instruments.
Pro Educational
Every time you encounter a new fish, you can learn what it's called. There is also the 'meditate' mode which cycles between all the different kinds of fish, naming them on screen.
Pro Absolutely striking art style
Abzû was made by Thatgamecompany, the makers of Journey and Flower. In each of their games, they emphasize taking a distinctive art style and Abzû is no exception.
It uses a very bright and vivid color palette to bring out the allure and mystique of the ocean. Lots of colorful fish and underwater plants with the sun shining down on you.
Each location looks so peaceful it makes you rethink if the ocean truly is scary. Some of those are followed by a dark area, dim lights and ominous creatures to remind you of the fear.
Pro Beautiful soundtrack
The soundtrack is mostly a type of electronic music called "trip hop", which is heavily influenced by jazz, punk and soul. Most of the songs are very mellow and have a melancholic feel to them, giving Transistor's cyberpunk world a very distinct and memorable feel.
Pro Excellent narration
Transistor uses narration to move its story along with the help of a talking sword. While it may seem strange at first, it really gives substance to an otherwise empty feeling world. The soft voice of the sword is also pleasing to listen to. If you ever feel like the sword is too talkative, you can disable the narration.
Pro Awesome hack and slash action with an interesting twist
Transistor is primarily an action RPG, but it has turn-based combat elements. You can use the ability ()Turn to pause time, which allows you to plan out your moves. This adds strategic depth to the combat, giving you ways to quickly take out all enemies or to get out of a tight situation. It's very fun to use and feels really unique.
Pro Deep customization that rewards imagination and strategy
In Transistor you'll get abilities called Functions(). They have three primary effects: the active effect, the upgrade effect, and the passive effect. These effects can be combined to produce really fun to use skills.
For example, the Get() active effect pulls an enemy close to you. If you add the Bounce() upgrade effect, it will jump to more enemies, pulling them all to you. If you add the Crash() upgrade effect, the enemies pulled will also fall asleep.
The game can be beat with simple combos that don't require much setup or strategy, but thinking up great combinations feels rewarding.
Cons
Con Extremely short
The first playthrough will take you only about 3 hours, which is way too short for a game of its price. You won't get much replay value out of it either, unless you want to get all the trophies.
Con Very simple story
The story focuses too much on the revenge plot and too little on the characters themselves. Even the ending wasn't a particularly satisfying, leaving way too many unanswered questions.