Nintendo Switch Review Copy Provided by Stormling Studios
As someone who loves a good mystery or challenge, I was very eager to test out the newly released console version of Stormling Studios’, Transient. Transient: Extended Edition promised better visuals, a new ending, and improved gameplay to help fully bring the game together.
While I applaud the devs for having a great vision when it came to the story and overall idea of its gameplay, Transient’s controls really seem to bog down any fun the game could be on console. Use a keyboard and mouse if you can.
Gameplay
As far as the gameplay goes, there are a lot of great ideas here. Between the puzzles, mini-games, and investigation sections, this bite-sized mystery-thriller offers quite a bit for its modest price.
Unfortunately, though, this game was not built with controllers in mind whatsoever. And it is definitely not meant to be played on the Switch Joycons either. Trying to play this game was a workout on my thumbs for sure.
Because this title was originally created for keyboard and mouse, you can expect that the majority of it is you moving a cursor around the screen and clicking on things. You do this in order to investigate crime scenes, solve puzzles, or just move through the menus in-game.
It’s not the worst thing ever but it is close. The cursor moves horrendously slow and the movement itself when walking around is terribly stiff. I was just happy that the game only takes about 4 hours to beat as I really couldn’t take much more of it.
Audio and Visuals
The audio was pretty good and as Dean said in his full review, having the main character say what they’re doing is a great thing for folks like myself who enjoy that kind of stuff.
I will also say that I’d agree with his point that the character models look ridiculous. I really couldn’t get behind a single one of them if you asked me to choose my favorite. Especially when in comparison to the cool worlds, they really do look laughable.
Playing on the Switch itself gave the game a blurry effect that didn’t jive too well with me. Luckily, playing on the TV with the Switch docked though was pretty great. The game looks fantastic and you really wouldn’t even be able to tell that I wasn’t running this on next-gen hardware.
Replayability
Though the game teases a couple of other surprises besides a new ending, I really wouldn’t say that anything warrants another playthrough. I’d say a single playthrough is enough anyways but if you really do want to see what there is to offer and you already own it on PC, just play it again there since the update brings the new features anyway.
What It Could Have Done Better
The worst thing about this new “Extended Edition” is the fact that the controls stink. It’s a painfully stiff experience that sucks up all the fun. Not to mention that the cursor usage is yet another reason why you shouldn’t port a PC title just because you can.
Verdict
Picking Transient up on console is a redundant choice when compared to playing on PC. I mostly enjoy PC games when they come to console but this one just doesn’t even try to make the change in gaming hardware worth it. I’d say, buy it on PC and enjoy it for the 4ish hours it gives you to see its world and learn its lore. It wasn’t made for console and it shows.
