First off, I just finished Transistor yesterday and posted a review. In summary: its mechanics are more interesting than Bastion, but the plot & worldbuilding suffers from being more complex and more vague, capped by a final act that doesn't explain core aspects of the story and therefore leaves you more confused than emotionally-invested in the ending. I expect better of Supergiant; they showed they could nail story in Bastion, and this is a step backwards.

As an interesting point of comparison, Dark Souls' story was even more vague and left more things unanswered, yet it was an advantage for it rather than a disadvantage. Why the difference? First, Dark Souls didn't have two characters it wanted you to be emotionally invested in at its core; the core of its plot was the mystery surrounding the land of Lordran and your purpose in it. Vagueness and obscure hints emphasize that, while they just get in the way of Transistor's emotional investment. Second, Dark Souls still provides answers to all of the core story beats even if you don't explore around. You ring the two bells and learn you're the Chosen Undead meant to rekindle the First Fire and keep the Age of Flame going. The story makes sense. But then with some digging, you learn that story might not be... entirely true, which is ingenious: you don't have the whole story, but you think you do. Meanwhile in Transistor, you know you don't have the whole story, which means you're more worried about filling in the blanks than the relationship between the two main characters once the ending rolls. It just goes to show, you should make sure your players have a reasonably filled-in plot even if they just take the most direct route, unless the whole point of the game is to chide them for not exploring more to fill in the blanks. I might play Transistor's New Game+ in the hopes it fills in some of the blanks in the story, but I doubt it. There's other games to check out.

Such as the Adventures of Van Helsing 2. The original Adventures of Van Helsing was a cheap Diablo clone that... well, while I wouldn't call it good, it was interesting. Interesting enough I'm tempted to buy the sequel and see if they made enough improvements to make it a good game... or at least more interesting.

But that'll have to wait, because Tropico comes out tomorrow! I loved Tropico 4's character, and ever since the latest SimCity went belly-up, it's the only city sim I'm interested in. I approach Tropico like I approach a game of Paranoia: I want things to go hilariously wrong. That's why it was a disappointment when I realized how easy it was to keep everyone, even opposing factions, mollified in Tropico 4. In game after game, I managed to keep everyone happy and not revolting. I never had a reason to call out the death squads or crush a rebellion! It was a utopian banana republic, which should be an oxymoron. I'm eager to see how (or if) Tropico 5 solves that problem, providing conflict even if you're bringing in enough money to keep tax rates rock bottom. Hopefully it involves envy somehow (the more you have, the more other people want it). Ah well, I have to wait another day to find out.

I think, in celebration of Patrick visiting the Dominican Republic, my first Tropico island will be a highly-exploitative tourist trap. Now I just need to decide whether my first dictator will resemble Ryan Davis or Patrick Klepek...