[1][2] In Transistor, the player controls Red, a popular singer in the city of Cloudbank, as she moves through the sci-fi-themed cityscape and battles robotic enemies collectively known as the Process.

The player controls the main character, Red, as she travels through a series of locations, battling enemies known collectively as the Process in both real-time combat and a frozen planning mode referred to as "Turn()".

[3] Red earns experience points after each battle, and may collect new powers (called Functions) from fallen victims of the Process.

Red can also collect and activate Limiters, which serve as optional debuffs during combat,[4] but in turn increase experience gained.

Red makes her way to Cloudbank's Goldwalk district, where she learns that the Process is being controlled by the Camerata, a sinister group of high-ranking officials.

The Camerata have been integrating individuals of influence through the Transistor; they were the ones who attacked Red, though the murder attempt was thwarted when the man stepped in front of the blow.

At her former performance stage, Red confronts and defeats Sybil Reisz, a Camerata member in a corrupted Process-like form.

After battling numerous Process enemies, including a massive creature referred to as the "Spine", Red reaches the hideout of the Camerata in Bracket Towers, only to find that Grant and Asher have committed suicide.

Resolving to track down the final member of the Camerata, Royce Bracket, and then escape the city, Red and her companion travel through Goldwalk, which has been "Processed" into a blocky, white facsimile of its original form.

He reveals that the Transistor, along with its docking point, the Cradle, are part of the apparatus used by the city's administrators to manipulate the landscape and environment of Cloudbank in order to satisfy the whims of the people.

[7] The game was developed primarily in Supergiant's new office in SoMa, San Francisco, though some audio work was done in New York City.

[7] They wanted to create a system which, according to Rao, would discourage players from "forming early or rigid attachments to particular abilities" and encourage experimentation.

[9] Magic: The Gathering was a key early influence on the game's combat system, which was eventually simplified to a "deck" of 16 functions.

Ashley Lynn Barrett, who was the female vocalist in Bastion's soundtrack, returned to provide vocals for "The Spine", "In Circles", "We All Become", "Signals", and "Paper Boats".

[19] On November 2, 2015, to commemorate Transistor's release on Apple TV, a new bonus track written and produced by Darren Korb, "She Shines" was added to the soundtrack.

[35] John Fisco of DarkStation wrote that the combat "never felt overly difficult or too simplistic", that the distribution of ability upgrades was "smartly implemented", and that the action is "both quick, and at times, thoughtfully composed..."[36] The game's storytelling has received mixed reactions.

Chris I. of Digitally Downloaded wrote, "Like Bastion before it, Transistor's strength isn't found in its action-RPG elements alone, but in the way that its narrative unravels along.