When I first watched the trailer for Transient: Extended Edition, I was given some pretty heavy Observer vibes. Both of the titles feature a dystopian future where horror elements overlap the cyberpunk setting, they’re both essentially walking simulators, and after having completed each of them, I can say they are boring as all Hell. But at least Observer had the late Rutger Hauer trying his hardest to keep it afloat.

The one thing Transient: Extended Edition has going for it is its visuals. Outside of the occasional blip or misstep, such as a transparent set of papers that show the woodgrain and slat marks from the floor, or the occasional wonky character model, this is a stunning game to take in. The bright neon lights bounce off of objects as they should, small groups of insects hover about as they would in real life, and there are a number of horrific set pieces that really set an eerie tone that never goes anywhere. The image of an entryway adorned with two skeletons with partial sets of waxy-looking fly wings still haunt my thoughts days after passing the segment. Sadly, this is much like walking through Universal Studios’ Haunted Horror Nights – arguably one of the best haunted house attractions in the world without any actors or animatronics in place.

Based on the trailer, I was expecting a walking simulator, since that is the token option when it comes to horror games these days. However, I was also expecting something, anything to pepper in that sense of dread that permeates even the worst of horror titles. There really isn’t any of that here; no jump scares, no stalking creatures, essentially nothing. Saying this game feels empty is an understatement. There is very little you can actually interact with, and only a handful of collectibles spread across the short runtime – there’s very little gameplay at all.

The title is broken down into a handful of chapters that took me around three hours to finish. Most of that time was spent trying to figure out the few puzzles housed within, as some are very obtuse and the hints that are intended to give you an idea to the solution are vague and at times, seem incorrect. This was an issue with one of the early brainteasers that gave me a compass with a few slots for icons, along with a poem that alludes to where each icon should sit. Unfortunately, one of the hints is completely wrong, and had me pulling out my non-existent hair. The other puzzles are hit or miss; I genuinely did enjoy figuring out how to manage the weird cross-shaped slider puzzle around the midpoint, but this was the standout in the puzzle realm.

It wouldn’t be a cyberpunk game with some sort of hacking, and this is yet another miss. Hacking requires you to move a little icon along a grid, picking up data packets that are spread out among traps within the grid. If you run into one of these traps, it’ll force you into deciphering a password that more often than not, isn’t even a real word (at least one I could recognize). The problem with this is you are given three options, with scrolling letters and one static hint. The scrolling letters move at such a pace that it’s really hard to get the timing down, and there is no way to backtrack if you make a mistake. Naturally, failure boots you all the way back to the beginning. Bear in mind that these, like most of the actual encounters, are able to be skipped.

The one element that really grabbed me was late into the game when I was able to play a video game within the game. By no means is it amazing, as it’s a pretty faithful adaption of a retro-PS1 era survival horror game, but it does capture the awkwardness and tank-like controls in a way that few modern imitations have. Much to my dismay, this was a short segment and left me with a lingering thought that maybe Stormling Studios should make a full-fledged game based on this as their next project.

Transient: Extended Edition is a hard game to recommend. It doesn’t really succeed at anything other than looking great, like the shell of an amazing horror experience that is completely hollow on the inside.

5 out of 10

Pros

• Stunning Visuals
• Some Haunting Displays
• The Survival Horror Mini-Game
• It’s Short, So the Pain Ends Quickly

Cons

• Feels Empty
• Lack of Gameplay
• Some Weird Puzzles That Don’t Make Sense
• Painfully Short

Transient: Extended Edition was developed by Stormling Studios and published by Iceberg Interactive. The game is available for NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on PS4 and played on a PS5. If you’d like to see more of Transient: Extended Edition, check out the developer’s site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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