When comparing Shadowrun Returns vs Transistor, the Slant community recommends Transistor for most people. In the question“What are the best games on Steam with a rich story?” Transistor is ranked 23rd while Shadowrun Returns is ranked 63rd. 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.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Intuitive battle system
With a set amount of moves and action points it is fairly easy to understand how the battle system works. Everything is tun based and tactics are the main component to gameplay. Users must judge where they want to move, what attacks they want to use while taking into account the environment, if anything in it could shield them and then base all of these decisions off of their allotted action points.
Pro Fleshed out interesting world
There has obviously been painstaking care taken in crafting the world and story of Shadowrun Returns. A noir cyberpunk story that sees the main character trying to solve a murder-mystery intertwined with a conspiracy. Throughout the game are characters who the main protagonist crosses paths with that have a tin of great dialogue written for them that is entertaining to read and also flesh out his cyberpunk world.
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 Limited RPG paths
The story gets played out basically the same way on every play-through. Player choice only has moderate impact on the flow of the game.
Con Grammar errors
Needed a proofreader as their is tons of grammar errors which gives a rushed unfinished feeling.
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.