On May 20, 2014 developer Supergiant Games (the team behind 2020’s hit roguelike Hades and its recently-released-in-early-access sequel ) released its second game, Transistor. The sci-fi action RPG was widely considered a wonderful sophomore outing for the developer, receiving a 9/10 from the likes of Game Informer and IGN . I bought Transistor days after its release (May 24 according to my PSN trophy list) and immediately fell in love with its unique world.
Jen Zee’s gorgeous art , Darren Korb’s energetic score, tight combat that mixed real-time action and planning, and a top-notch story made it one of the best games I had ever played). I was so in love with the game that I did something I rarely do, I bought merch in the form of a T-shirt. A decade later, I still love Transistor and I still wear my T-shirt.
Let me tell you about this T-shirt. It’s a grayish-blue short-sleeved number with a big piece of art emblazoned across the front. The art, done by Zee, is a rendering of protagonist Red on a motorcycle atop a beautifully simplistic line drawing of the game’s setting, Cloudbank.
It all combines to form a shape evoking the titular Transistor, a cyberpunk sword. The simple line work and the use of only white and light blue make it stand out in a sea of boring, derivative video game merch. It doesn’t have the game’s title or main character ostentatiously and lazily slapped on a shirt, which is why I bought this merch in the first place—it evoked the game’s .