Review for Transient. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 01/10/2020 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 31/12/2020 The version for Xbox One came out on 31/12/2020
At the dawn of the release of heavy calibers such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin's Creed Valhalla, together with the next gen, a new production peeps out whose basic idea is something as original as it is weird. Transient is the latest title produced by Iceberg Interactive and developed by Stormling Studios which aims to immerse us in a futuristic world with atmospheres similar to those of the aforementioned CD Projekt RED title, but with dreamlike and Lovecraftian shades.
The setting is certainly interesting: a mix of two apparently distant and different worlds can lead to results never seen before but the misstep, when conducting such experiments, is always around the corner. Transient therefore moves on a tightrope: a leap into the void between cybernetic implants and Nyarlathotep.
Infinite worlds
Randolph Carter is a professional hacker of the ODIN group and, under payment, he carries out any assignment given to him thanks to his extraordinary skills. He and his companions, as well as most of the other inhabitants of Domed City, do not often leave the house except for urgent needs, since they all spend a good part of their time on the Net. Living on the Net is a 360 ° virtual experience (hello, VR) but what happens during the browsing sessions can then physically affect the users' body. This also exposes hackers to manipulation or removal of memories, which can still be digitized and relived. Carter, in particular, in addition to working as a hacker is a lover of particular rituals that have to do with the dream world.
Randolph is able to prepare particular exotic substances able to enhance the senses or lead to lucid dreams where, thanks to his preparations, he is able to accumulate knowledge of the world of dreams and the Lovecraftian creatures that populate it such as the Mysteriarch. Unbeknownst to him, however, Carter has been entangled, for some time now, in something much greater than himself: to lead him on the right track to investigate will be the mysterious death of some of his friends.
Accompanied by Phi, Carter's favorite environmental scanning tool, Ours will have to shed light on the mystery that surrounds his life and that has taken away that of his fellow adventurers. The narrative plot of Transient has a very interesting incipit and ideas that are developed in a rather confusing way, in addition to the fact that the dialogues, sometimes too thin, make the events devoid of pathos, acting as a counterweight to the evocative setting that accompanies journeys into the world of dreams. The ending also - reachable in a few hours - left us quite dumbfounded, as it is devoid of bite and impalpable, as well as of a real sense.
There are very brief moments in which we felt compelled to cross the last corridor again or solve a short puzzle to find out what the title would have in store for us but, more often than not, we find ourselves holding a handful of flies.
Corridor + Puzzle = Transient
Leaving aside the narrative aspect, Transient fails to be truly engaging even in terms of playability. Most of the game time is spent walking through the corridors that make up the setting and solving puzzles. These, to be honest, are not even that complex, quite the contrary it takes very little time to solve them without too many problems. During our run we found it more difficult to find the right place to place a lever, rather than to solve the puzzles that the title offered us. From this point of view, opening any puzzle magazine that can be bought at newsstands is possible that it will make us struggle more with our brains.
Between one puzzle and another, in the role of Carter we will also have to investigate murders and suspicious areas, with the help of Phi, but all this will materialize in following the point indicated by the protagonist's AI and clicking on the clues, nothing of more. Everything could certainly be more in-depth and better studied, instead the gameplay system is very thin and superficial, so much so that you get to see the end credits in just over 4 hours of play.
Cybercity polypose
One of the positive aspects of Transient is certainly the setting: walking around the digital meanders of Domed City and in the dream world of Carter is a pleasure for the eyes, above all. if you are fond of HP Lovecraft cycles. In the protagonist's dreams, which are comparable to real journeys to other dimensions, there are many references to the creatures of the universe created by the American writer, from Cthulhu to Nyarlathotep.
The creatures as well as the architectural structures or everything that is "non-human" are treated in detail and meticulous. The quality, on the other hand, is less when you see human faces (to tell the truth very few): features that we will not struggle to forget and quite questionable styles. The same rule applies to animations, some uncertainty about liquids and electric discharges but otherwise they seem to be fluid. The opposite, on the other hand, occurs when it comes to humans and especially Carter: the protagonist's body responds in a mechanical, woody and not very fluid way, as is also clearly visible in the other supporting actors.
Transient is a wasted opportunity: the concept behind the production could have been developed in a much more interesting and full-bodied way. Stormling Studios and Iceberg have not seized the ball as very few have ventured into such territories, especially in the videogame field. The great care of the settings and the sometimes surreal atmosphere are not enough to buffer the superficiality of the gameplay, the impalpable plot with a poor ending and the mechanical animations.
► Transient is an Adventure-indie game developed by Stormling Studios and published by Iceberg Interactive for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 01/10/2020 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 31/12/2020 The version for Xbox One came out on 31/12/2020
