Transient Review – Lovecraftian Cyberpunk

Transient brings Lovecraftian horror into a cyberpunk setting as hacker-for-hire Randolph Carter becomes ensnared by a dark conspiracy in a dystopian city.

Transient
Developer: Stormling Studios
Price: $20 (15% discount at launch)
Platforms: PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for review.

Transient is set in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity’s survivors live in a domed city filled with high-tech advancements and escape into virtual worlds rather than face the reality around them. Yet all is not what it seems in this city: Hacker-for-hire Randolph Carter has stumbled upon a dark secret that threatens to take the lives of him and his friends.

Right now, the H.P. Lovecraft fans reading this are probably doing a double-take at the protagonist’s name. Yes, the main character is Randolph Carter. While Transient tells an original cyberpunk story, it also draws clear inspiration from stories like The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and Through the Gates of the Silver Key. It’s a Lovecraftian horror story set in a cyberpunk universe, and these two styles work together quite well. You have the horror of encountering strange entities and forces humanity isn’t meant to know about combined with the fear of being hacked while in a virtual world. Together they create a surreal tone that frequently leaves you questioning what is reality and what isn’t.

Transient is an adventure game played mostly from a first-person perspective, although there are a handful of third-person sections. It’s a beautiful game with vivid environments that bring its worlds to life, both the cyberpunk areas and the more fantastic, alien worlds Carter frequently finds himself in. Strangely, Carter’s own character model struck me as looking more off than any of the other characters in the game, although since it’s a first-person game you won’t be seeing him often. It also has great voice acting for all of its major characters.

A variety of high-tech, investigative tools are available for Carter. The one you’ll use the most often is PHI, a “perception heightening implant” that lets you scan the environment for anything significant. Sometimes this is as simple as checking on the location of your objective, but other times you’ll use PHI to inspect dead bodies, trace wires to unlock a door, and so on. You’ll also encounter some puzzles to solve–mostly inventory-based–as well as a hacking mini-game and a couple other fun gameplay shifts that I won’t spoil here.

Don’t expect to be roaming the streets in search of clues, however. It might be an investigation from Carter’s perspective, but it’s a fairly linear experience. Notes that flesh out the game’s world, objects to examine, and collectibles to find are the main reasons you might stray from the main path, although even then that means exploring a small, self-contained area. And while it has horror themes in its storytelling, Transient isn’t a horror game–you won’t be pursued by monsters or trapped in dangerous situations. Most of the time, you’ll simply be experiencing the story with an occasional puzzle along the way.

Fortunately, the story is great. There are a few links to the developer’s previous game Conarium, since the two are set in the same universe, but the plot of Transient stands completely on its own. It makes good use of its themes and progresses at a nice pace, and I found myself caught up in the mystery. The only flaw is that it ends too soon. Transient only takes a few hours to beat, and the final few scenes feel slightly rushed. I finished it having enjoyed what I played but feeling disappointed that there wasn’t more. Then again, wanting more of a game isn’t necessarily a bad thing when the journey to get there is an enjoyable one.

The Final Word

Transient isn’t a long game, and its gameplay tends to take a backseat to its storytelling, but if you’re looking for a cyberpunk mystery or a cosmic horror story, Transient blends them remarkably well to create an engrossing journey.

-MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great