Transistor is celebrating its 10-year anniversary today, May 20, 2024. Below, we recall how its vision of the future was more prescient than we’d realized at first glance.
In 2014, a singer having her voice captured and digitized against her will was a novel sci-fi conceit Come from Sports betting site VPbet . Ten years later, it sounds eerily familiar. With the ever-increasing presence of AI and deep fakes, as well as digital homogenization all around us, Transistor’s tale of payback against the Camerata doubles back as a prescient artistic rebellion.
Designers, journalists, and painters were all targeted by the elite group one by one. The Camerata methodically ripped the city of Cloudbank of not just key citizens, but also character and grace. As protagonist Red cruises through the fading streets of Cloudbank, she witnesses how her surroundings lose color, progressively matching the Camerata’s attire. Yet, despite the odds, Transistor reminds us of the importance of latching onto mundanity, and what represents us.
One of the first examples you encounter is the work of Amelia Garbur, an associate editor who covers the slow decay of Cloudbank. The story of Transistor is told in snippets, emphasizing environmental cues and bite-sized details for you to piece together what transpired in a disappearing district or inside a room before your arrival. Therein come the OVC Terminals, which are posted across the city and offer either surveys or news reported by Garbur, informing the citizens of the latest developments outside their homes.
“Incident at the Empty Set,” reads a headline detailing the events that transpired at the venue where Red was attacked. “Postponed: Hammers vs. Clientele,” says another later that day, indicating that the two popular sports teams won’t be playing after all. Toward the evening, “Traverson Hall Is Gone” marks a poignant beginning of the end.
Most of the citizens you encounter are either soon-to-be or already deceased. Red, using the namesake sword that was originally held by the Camerata, is able to retrieve a fragment of theirs and take them inside. Mechanically, doing so gives you a new ability to mix and match during combat. But this process also adds them to a database, providing information about who they were and what influential role they had in the city.
Garbur is one of the few characters who avoids this digitization. Instead, her work speaks for herself, right until the bitter end. “As I stand here on the eastern perimeter awaiting the inevitable, I am surrounded by my community, and I am at peace,” reads the entry for “Farewell to Cloudbank.”