Transistor
Give it 5 hours
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 4 reviews are negative (23%); after 7h it's 1 in 45 (2%).
- Fully opens up by hour 7.
- 31% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Reisz()” (Confront Sybil at the Empty Set) and “Spine()”: from 75% to 42% of starters.
- 81% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 31,437 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 9.1h for positive, 3.5h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (81% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Drive() Reach the Goldwalk District. 100%
- Reisz() Confront Sybil at the Empty Set. 75% −25
- Spine() Confront the Spine at the Bracket Towers facade. Most players quit here 42% −33
- Kendrell() Confront Grant and Asher at Bracket Towers. 36% −6
- Bracket() Confront Royce beyond Cloudbank. 31% −5
- Bye() Complete the story. 31%
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (33)
story milestone ending side
- Drive() Reach the Goldwalk District. 100%
- Reisz() Confront Sybil at the Empty Set. 75%
- Bet() Complete five encounters with one or more Limiters in use. 51%
- News() Use 10 different OVC Terminals. 47%
- Spine() Confront the Spine at the Bracket Towers facade. 42%
- Align() Achieve User Level 8. 41%
- Kendrell() Confront Grant and Asher at Bracket Towers. 36%
- Bracket() Confront Royce beyond Cloudbank. 31%
- Bye() Complete the story. 31%
- Stability() Complete each Stability Test. 19%
- Search() Inspect five completed Function Files. 18%
- Function() Unlock every Transistor Function. 16%
- Anything() Deal at least 1024 damage in one Turn() in the Practice Test. 14%
- Find() Inspect 10 completed Function Files. 12%
- Dare() Complete five encounters with five or more Limiters in use. 12%
- Planning() Complete each Planning Test. 11%
- Limiter() Unlock every Process Limiter. 11%
- Focus() Achieve User Level 16. 9.1%
- Memory() Unlock 32 MEM. 8.8%
- Everything() Deal at least 2048 damage in one Turn() in the Practice Test. 8.1%
- Sandbox() Clear one of each Test. 7.8%
- Self() Upgrade a Function with a copy of itself. 7.4%
- Stack() Create a Function combination requiring 12 MEM. 7.3%
- Speed() Complete each Speed Test. 6.8%
- User() Unlock every Upgrade Slot and Passive Slot. 6.5%
- Reveal() Inspect all completed Function Files. 5.7%
- Goodbye() Recurse through the story. 5.2%
- Process() Inspect all completed Limiter Files. 5.2%
- Agency() Complete each Agency Test 5.1%
- One() Achieve User Level 24. 5.1%
- Contest() Clear every Test. 4.7%
- Performance() Complete each Performance Test. 4.7%
- Risk() Complete five encounters with all 10 Limiters in use. 4.3%