This is a good game. This is a great game. This is a really, really, really great game. TLDR; Transistor is one of the most stylish games I have ever played, and features one of my favorite combat systems ever.

I'm playing all Supergiant games in order, and I'm glad to say they did it again. If Bastion was an appetizer, Transistor is the full course. You can see where the game comes from - the camera perspective, the combat style, the varied builds and loadouts, the difficulty modifiers, the customization, the parallel upgrade tracks for each weapon (function in this case), the beautiful watercolor artstyle, the ambient sountrack (this time with a powerful vocal singer in tow), the observant narrator (although this time he's a bit more subdued), the challenge levels, the replayability - there's a lot here which is a nod back to Bastion.

But then you have a new setting, a new protagonist, a new narrative method (which has similarities with Bastion, but to me mostly stood out as its own thing), and more importantly - a new combat system. The combat is the highlight here - we have an action game that will quickly overwhelm you during combat encounters, but which gives you a powerful tool: Turn(). When you enter Turn(), time stops and you can move/act freely. It's kind of a planning mode, where you can move and attack freely, and once you're happy with the planning, you can execute your plan. The downside of using Turn() is that you enter a Cooldown afterwards (proportional to how much of your Turn() you used), which leaves you exposed. So it's a great dance of entering Turn(), putting yourself into advantage, and surviving until you can use Turn() again. Or simply engaging in combat without Turn() to avoid the downside.

Combine that with your moves (functions) which can be placed as Active Functions (meaning you can map them to one of the four face buttons), Passive Functions (which enhance the Active Function it is attached to), or Passives (which applies to all functions and/or to your character). Customizing your build is a lot of fun, and since you unlock flavor lore by switching your loadout, you'll be doing it at every opportunity. I particularly think I never repeated a loadout all throughout the game - by the time I was almost settling on one, I'd unlock a new function and switch everything to make it fit in my builds.

Progression is also really good, with battles granting levels, which grants new functions, new difficulty modifiers, and new slots for passive functions and passives. Enemies grow with you, so even though you fight the same 10 grunts throughout the whole game, it hardly feels samey.

I said combat was king, but maybe the environment would be queen. Cloudbank is one of the most beautiful, haunting and stylish locations I've ever seen. You meet very few characters in person, but learn a lot about them via flavor lore, and they are all full of life and well realized.

If there are two things I'd fault the game is the length and the optional challenges. It's short. I've done most of the side content and beat it in 8 hours. Beelining through the main story probably would set you at 5 or 6 hours. If I complain about the game being short, it's because it's so good I wish it lasted longer. The way the devs found to make the game longer was with optional challenges, which mostly unlock in-game music and additional exp. While many were fun to tackle (like the ones that force you to finish a battle in one turn, showing you important combat skills you might not discover on your own), by the end all were too difficult. I could not beat all Speed Test ones, and the ones where you have to survive for 90 seconds were just a chore, not really fun or engaging.

At any rate, Transistor is definitely my favorite Supergiant game so far, and one of the best games I played in 2025 and ever. Must play.

Walking sims are weird; some are extremely captivating such as Firewatch and Tacoma, and some are a slog that sometimes are worth it (Gone Home), and many times are not (Suicide of Rachel Foster, Dear Esther). But Ethan Carter was the first one I abandoned. The game tries to take pride in leaving you to your own devices, i.e. providing no direction, and while it is a fine approach, it starts to become frustrating really quick.

I was able to hit certain cutscenes locked behind puzzles, but the puzzles were so aimless that I was wondering what was expected of me. I eventually stumbled upon the mine maze and I felt I was just going around in circles, no idea what to do, no idea how to progress the game, and really not connecting with any semblance of a plot or place.

After 1h30m of aimless wandering, I decided it was enough. I might watch a playthrough on Youtube, but most likely not. What baffles me is that I've seen this game being recommended quite often, and I cannot for the life of me understand why. Maybe I'm the problem, not the game, but I'll wait until someone proves that

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I can't believe I slept on it for so long. Arkham Asylum is a freaking masterpiece that has aged like fine wine.

You're thrown in a world that is fully realized and cohesive. It's big enough that it feels real, not just a series of videogame levels, but it's still small enough that you'll know your in and out from each and every building by the time you beat the game.

The pacing and the plot are explosive - villains get introduced and dangerous situations arise with every heartbeat, and the downtime is usually accomplished by you traveling between locations. Gameplay switches frequently between a melee brawler, an open-world free roam (albeit on a small open-world) filled with secrets and shortcuts to explore and discover, and stealth/predator sections where the power fantasy is complete. By the time you're getting used with your kit, the game throws another tool to your arsenal and asks you to make full use of it before repeating the formula.

Villains are not just memorable as a pacing mechanism - they are also accompanied by great setpieces, be it in the form of combat encounters or puzzle sections. You'll be surprised at how many villains you'll have kicked the ass of by the time the credits roll. And all of this is packaged in a beautiful game that has this light cel-shading which hasn't aged a day in the last 15 years. This is what they mean when they say that art direction never gets old, graphics do. I particularly experienced a lot of issues with the sound mixing being all screwed up, which is a shame since the few moments it worked well, it worked really well, and really showcased how the atmospheric music can really make the moment, and how crazy and undone the voice acting for the villains really is.

Arkham Asylum really encompasses the best of action, platforming, exploration, stealth, and technical aspects in a plot that never loses steam and is graceful enough to be over before it gets old. It's perfect. There's nothing else I can say here. It's a work of art made by people who are deeply passionate about the character and its lore.

If I have to find fault with one thing, is the melee combat. I played the game on Normal and most of my deaths were in combat encounters. A lot of praise has been showered in how 'fluid' the combat is, but the issue is that you don't really have a lot of options while in combat - it's be aggressive (and probably be retaliated by some attack that you couldn't counter in time), or be reactive (countering everything in a chicken game where it's hard to build a meter), which gets even harder when enemies start wielding knives (which can't be countered) or probes (which you can't attack directly). While innovative and probably ahead of its time, it's the aspect I liked the least 15 years after the release, and that I hope was improved in the sequels

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F.E.A.R. 3 is a disappointment, both as a FEAR game but as well as a standalone shooter. Released six years after the original, it manages to look worse and play worse, so kudos to Warner Bros for managing to mangle such a fantastic series. You know it's a 2011 shooter when they introduce you to cover mechanics before they teach you to slow-mo, because now there's regen health, and because of that piss filter and bloom plastered all over your screen.

If FEAR 1 is perfect and FEAR 2 is decent, FEAR 3 is waste of your time. Gone are the tactical elements that marked the first game, and the horror elements that were strong throughout the entire series. In are more non-humanoid enemies that are, again, a chore to deal with, and humanoid enemies that have no sense of self-preservation and sometimes are just bullet sponges requiring four or five headshots to go down. Gone is your own sense of survival, replaced by regenerating health bs. Gone are the three weapon options that allow you to be ready for any range of combat, in are two weapon slots with ammo constantly running out. Gone is the booster systems that reward exploration with improved combat options, in is a pseudo-ranking score / forced-challenge crap that rewards you with things you should have from the start. It feels that walking forward grants you achievements, then turning left unlocks a new one, and then turning right unlocks a level up. All of that super meaningless, undoubtedly inspired by the AAA gaming trends of the day. Give me a break.

If there's one addition I need to praise here is the slide kick - if almost reminds me of good movement shooters, and allowed me to imagine what this game could have been. The level design lacks the looping characteristic of the original game, but they are varied and pleasant enough.

Ah, there's an attempt at a plot, but at this point no one cares (including the writers) and neither should you

It feels weird butting this game in the Beaten category, since I'm only at the beginning of the bigger challenge, but I guess that's the nature of these infinite games, such as Slay the Spire, Luck be a Landlord, or Hades. Beating the main game might not be super hard, but getting the real win i.e. all the difficulty multipliers is when shit hits the fan

VotV definitely has a different rhythm to Slay the Spire. I think I still prefer StS, but ask me again once I've played 100 hours of VotV and I'll be able to tell you better haahahha

Definitely keeping this one in the "Still playing" list

A weird time. Welcome to Elk is a walking simulator, very focused on narrative and peppered with minigames that don't matter, but are there just to break the flow of the game a little bit and provide some diversity. It's extremely linear, which can be an issue for some people, but I didn't really mind it much.

Visually, it's simplicity is striking and the use of colors to denote interactions is generally well done, and I really like the animations that make the characters look like ragdolls. The soundscape is also really good, with music being mostly ambient but still showing personality while effectively setting the mood, and background sound effects never becoming too grating, generally pretty subdued but functional.

Where the game trips for me is in the narrative / writing. I just beat the game and it's unclear to me if I know what just happened. It walks that fine line between dream sequences, life/afterlife, real stories told by real people vs invented stories told by invented people, etc. It throws a lot on the wall, and I don't think it satisfactorily wraps everything with a bow. While some people might praise the narrative openness as it leaves a lot to interpretation, I don't think this was the intent here - I think here the game just suffered from poor writing, direction, or vision, and it feels unfinished. As other reviewers on Steam mentioned, the ending is just a cop out, and it feels like the game has just took you on a ride it never intended to satisfy you, which makes it a bit … cheap.

It looks cute and cool, but I don't think I'd recommend it after all. In a walking sim, narrative is king and the narrative here simply does not deliver

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I only played the campaign, but this was one of the most crack games I've ever had the joy and pleasure to experience. It's absolute batshit the level of action and spectacle that you have on display. Some of the most memorable and creative levels I've ever seen in a FPS game, movement unlike any other game that I've played, even the ones focused on parkour, and a 9 years old game still looks better than what's coming out from AAA studios today. After playing the campaign, it's no surprise at all the multiplayer scene is still alive to this day and kicking ass.

No FPS fan is complete until they beat this game with their buddy BT, the best boi

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Frog Detective 2 takes the best of its prequel and plays safe with it. Back is the incredible soundtrack, the quirky characters, the incredible dialogue and the interesting setting. There are new things too, the most noticeable being the notebook, which has pros (keeping track of your progress, fun commentary, the smallest sense of customization) and cons (brings the already slow pace to a halt), and extra scenes at the office with Lobster Cop. It's hard to say something is gone, but I felt the ending had less of a punch than the first entry, with the diminute dance party.

It's weird. I still like it, but if the third game doesn't shake things up a bit more, it'll be hard to justify it's existence. Also, for those who care, this is not as easy to 100% as the first game, since this requires some very specific interactions and two playthroughs. Not an issue if you use a guide, but good to know