The age-old argument as to whether games can be justly referred to as art has already been won, and any gamer would defend the industry in that respect. However, it's always nice to see games release that further enforce that ideal, and no other game released in 2014 embraces that ideal more than Transistor. Supergiant hit it out of the park with this title, and once again proved that games can be more than just pure entertainment. They can challenge us intellectually and philosophically. They can inspire spiritual debates, and even make us question our own existence as much as any other medium can, and in some cases, even more so.

On its surface, Transistor is a game about survival and revenge. Surviving the coming onslaught of the Process, a mindless virus destroying the virtual world of Cloudbank, and avenging the loss of your voice, not to mention the death of your one true love. Peel back that layer however, and just like any other great work of art, there are many more layers to be discovered. The depth and careful attention to detail in this masterpiece is there for those who pay attention, and if they do, they will experience something truly spectacular that will change the way they approach video games in the future.

As the name suggests, Cloudbank is a virtual city, one ruled by its citizens. Just like any other city, there are scientists, musicians, artists, and sports players. All significant decisions that affect the citizens are put to a vote at kiosks. Changes in aesthetics, buildings, weather, even the color of the sky itself, are all decided in this manner. This is an issue for a handful of usurpers scheming in the shadows however, claiming with conviction, that when everything changes, nothing changes.

You play as Red, a famous musician in Cloudbank, who unfortunately for her, is also a popular voice in the social hierarchy of the city. It seems that there is a group of people who are unhappy with the current state of Cloudbank, and they want to change it, by resetting it. The Camerata, as they call themselves, seek out the popular voices to assimilate them into a Transistor so that they can give the citizens what they don't even know they want. This will be useful once the Process finishes destroying the current version of the city, and the Camerata take control of version 2.0. Of course, this brings about interesting questions concerning what the collective thinks versus the individual, and the merits of socialism.

The Camerata's plans hit a snag when Red's lover sacrifices himself to protect her, which results in the terrorist group losing the Transistor. Thus, the primary weapon of the enemy becomes a tool of self expression for Red, something a mute desperately needs. With it, Red is able to collect the consciousness of citizens who have already fallen victim to the Process, and unlock Functions for her to use to protect herself from the same fate.

These Functions are the foundation of the attack system. Each one has a primary attack, secondary attack, and a passive attribute to be strategically utilized in battle. Combining them in different ways provides you with an almost unlimited amount of customized attacks at your disposal. Experimenting with these Functions feels like a practice in programming, with the names mimicking those in existing development frameworks. The attacks can be triggered in real time easily enough, but the real fun is entering a Turn state, which essentially pauses the action long enough for you to plan out your moves in advance, and then ending the Turn state will allow you to watch them play out. One of my absolute favorite functions provides a passive ability that gives you a small chance to evolve into a 'Super User' when entering a Turn state. If this occurs, you can basically nuke the Process into oblivion, de-rezzing them TRON style. The developers encourage you to try out as many combinations as possible by unlocking more background information on the citizens of Cloudbank for using the Functions in different ways.

You will have plenty of opportunities to research these Functions by locating a 'Back Door', which grants you access to an administrative area of Cloudbank, which is full of challenges for you to complete. I recommend you take the time to complete these, since they will improve your skills exponentially. Practice makes perfect, and you can never have too much of it. You can also listen to Transistor's soundtrack here, which is absolutely brilliant, and I cannot stress that enough.

As great as the primary game mechanics are, the little details are what makes Transistor really shine. The commentary from your lover coming from the Transistor, for example. Character development is hard enough, but when the protagonist is mute, it's even harder. Supergiant did a fantastic job of pulling it off nonetheless. There's a flourish control that makes Red throw the Transistor up into the air and catch it before coming back down, which serves no purpose except for looking cool. You can also stop what you're doing at anytime and hum, which allows Red to dance with her lover's new shell and hum to the tune of the soundtrack currently playing. The backgrounds you unlock by experimenting with the Functions give you details on the lost citizens of Cloudbank, some of which are subtly implied to be LGBT is some way, which is not central to the story, and is entirely optional. It's nice that these kinds of details were considered, and every game would improve with such features.

Transistor never overstays it's welcome, and if the first playthrough wasn't enough time to spend in this amazing world, a game+ mode is available as well as difficulty modifiers similar to those found in Bastion, providing plenty of excuses to return to Cloudbank.

The story takes multiple turns before you reach the climax, which will hit you square in the gut to great effect. All the while exploring themes such as socialism, religion, death, love, revenge, sacrifice, and the afterlife in a postmodern cyberpunk setting. College level dissertations can be written using Transistor as a focal point, and that is an incredible accomplishment by the developers. Every time you play this game you'll discover a new layer you may have missed the last time through. Everything about this game is subtle, the story, the characters, and the themes, allowing the players to decide what to take away from their time in this world. It never feels as if Supergiant is using Transistor as a soapbox to shove their own agendas down our throats, which games this deep tend to do.

Not only is Transistor one of my favorite games of all time, I would go as far as to say it is my personal pick for Independent Game of the Year, if not decade. I would have gladly paid three times what they are charging for this game without regret, so if you're on the fence about spending $20, don't be. The soundtrack is also available on Steam for $10, which is easily worth it. The tracks carry some emotional weight though, so the developers have explicitly stated that experiencing them in the game first is ideal, and I would have to agree.