The Surge

This game is a bit of a mixed bag. If you are a souls player who is more interested in boss fights and less interested in the exploration and level design, this one may not be for you. Generally, I'm just there for the boss fights, but in this game, there's a strategy to fighting almost every single enemy or group of enemies, which makes things more interesting. I also think the leveling system and methods of getting stronger are interesting. Also just how farming for items and materials works are pretty interesting. Also the combat feels great.

So, honestly, it's hard to complain. This game actually has so much going for it, beyond being just a soulslike. But I would also say be warry of it if you do not like soulslikes and don't like difficulty. Though thusfar I do think it's easier than almost every other soulslike I've played, but I'm probably just over half-way through. And mind you, I'm not saying it's not difficult.

The surge e muito bom, o problema e matar os npc de side quest sem querer, mas e meio dark souls você tem que ir explorando e descobrindo a história e um suspense com scifi muito bom, jagabilidade e boa, mas pecou na variação de inimigos que e bem pequena, mas e interessante ver que poucos detalhes de escolha faz vc fazer um final diferente.

Game is dumb as fuck compare to second one, bots too hard to kill, gotta hold e for half a year to perform a finish move, you be fucking dead by the time you push that E for certain time, huge ass difference between lvl2 and lvl3, one hit and most of your hp gone no where, and you only deal 20 damage per hit, the second one way better, recommend the Second, first is trash

On paper, this is a really great game. The visuals, movement, combat, gameplay, and progression all feel fun and fair. The storyline is mysterious at first and builds slowly. Almost everything about the game is perfect for me.

Except for one thing: it wastes your time, just like the Dark Souls series. If you enjoy long runs back to your dropped experience, this is the game for you. It's a personal thing, but I can't be bothered to do this in every Soulslike that appears on the market, just so it can stay pure to the genre in the name of sacrificing quality of life.

I know it's a little older than Elden Ring, but the reason why I keep going back to ER is that it doesn't waste my time. Dying doesn't force you to grind your way back, doing the same thing over and over again.

I like the sci-fi setting and the corpo bad guy outlook. looping shortcuts everywhere

I've never really played many souls-like games before as I'm not a fan of that genre, but I am a huge fan of post-apocalyptic mega-corporation industrial-hell sci-fi types of games, so when I saw this on sale, I had to give it a try. Wasn't really expecting a whole lot, maybe a few hours of fun.

Well, turns out the game is surprisingly very good.

The gameplay loop is strangely addictive, the combat is very satisfying, and the level design... oh my lord, the level design is unlike anything I've seen in any other game. The game features a system of shortcuts that basically serve as a progression system within a single level. I have never experienced such rollercoaster of getting completely lost, only to suddenly emerge at a familiar location from a door or elevator that was previously inaccessible. At one point I even took an elevator up and failed to immediately recognize that I was suddenly at a place that I walked though a hundred of times. It's not that every place looks the same, absolutely not, that's just how much the game messed up with my brain, making me feel like I was actually hundreds of meters away while I was in fact just around the corner from the medbay. It is a very strange and unique feeling.

10/10 from me. One of the best single player games I've tried in the last decade, definitely worth trying.

so the game is really hard when you are in the first area and i kid you not fighting more than one enemy is a hellish and butt clenching adrenaline rush of your game experience, this IS souls-like and im stuck forever from getting any further into the game due to the lack of my skill and patience of timing my attacks, good game tho.

8/10

Rating:
★★✮☆☆ (3/5) stars

Review:
I wish steam had an option to select a "mixed" review option,
because the surge needs it. This game takes a very unique angle
to a very unoriginal genre which immediately adds a level of refreshing
new style and interest. Combat is very good for the most part, regions
and interlocking are interesting but heavily overdone to a confusing point. The
biggest issue with this game are enemies/bosses. Enemy diversity is almost non-
existent, even with the dlc to boot. Certain design choices in this game are
dreadful, but its styling, decent performance and very good combat,
it helps to mask the large issues this game has.

Overall: suprisingly decent souls-like

One of the few scifi soulslikes and excellent to boot.

this game is underrated af, a great souls if your looking for something more after elden or dark souls. 2 is even better, recomend both

this is the worst souls like ive ever played

It's not that bad

Shiny shit!
Too far between respawn points. Too few hits to get killed. Looses collected scrap like experience at death and must race back after respawn to get it which drives the player into a frenzied loop that tires him out and play becomes worse not better. This game ends up being like the movie Ground Hog Day except you wake into a hell of frustrated fire instead of joy happiness and love. FUCK THIS GAME STYLE TO HELL.
OH YA! At the beginning of the game the graphics performance was so choppy that I was adjusting settings to fix it, but then it smoothed out after restarting it a few times. I almost didn't play it at all.

After playing it for probably 20 hours
i bought the game
9.8/10

The first few hours I was in literal AWE at how everything worked. Cutting limbs for drops was so much fun! I loved the idea of farming a mob for drops like I would in so many other similar games and it was so much faster here. I liked being able to bank my scrap (this game's souls/runes/etc) so that dying was less harsh. I liked how there were different weapon combos depending on what part you were targeting.

I did not like getting lost, only to circle back to the same med-bay over and over as I found "new areas" only to be back where I started but through a different door. I did not like feeling like I had to grind HEAVILY to unlock abilities or upgrade parts/weapons.

If you can get the game for cheap (I think I got it for $1) then give it a try, but I'm not having fun with it after the newness wears off.

The combat is just great. better than the 2nd one.

Cool setting. The combat can be difficult but is consistent and controls feel good, it feels even better once you get more gear options. The voice acting feels like they didn't know the tone they should have most of the time but is fine otherwise and the story is engaging enough to make you want to find out what is going on. Only complaint is several spots that almost seem to encourage you to drop off to something but is actually a death wall yet on numerous occasions you are meant to jump down to other areas. Also got very lost on two occasions, but I appreciate the environments regardless. Overall I had a lot of fun, very worth it.

Much like every soulslike ever made, this game makes it very hard to progress through its opening level. While the combat is innovative and pretty fun, the difficulty is just... difficult. I'm not recommending this game because I do not wish torment upon others. However, if torment is your thing, definitely try this one. The combat is different from other soulslikes, focusing on timing and chain-hits instead of parrying/countering. The implant system (which is what gives you power and healing) is easy to understand and approachable for new players; especially for those trying out soulslike for the first time.
I really want to like soulslike games but they've proven time and time again that they're just not the game for me. Once again, I am not recommending this game because it's bad, it REALLY is not. I am not recommending it because it's a soulslike...

Fun game. Good fighting. But... only if you LOVE to grind, and grind and Grind.

Was not for me.

The Surge is a good, maybe not great, game. It took me about 2 hours to adapt to the pacing of the combat.
At first the combat felt very clunky and I couldn't quite place how to attack without getting slapped or overall just felt the combat was rough.

Then I equipped a single-rig weapon. The dash attack and the slide attack are great! I adjusted my combat style to include a lot more hit and run, feeling out the enemy patterns, and that made all the difference. Sadly, due to a weapon proficiency system... I stuck with single-rig weapons and never branched out.

Storyline is told through both NPCs and audio logs. Mysterious, spooky, dark sci-fi. *dark.* Great stuff. Juuuust the right amount of scary music and dark hallways. If this game was 10-20% scarier, I doubt I would have braved the danger.

I used goliath (tank) armor. I liked the convert energy to health implant and the concussion drone. My implant build boosted those two gameplay devices. I did have to switch away from drone/energy implants for tough bossfights, where sometimes simply the raw number of health potions made the difference.

ps. I started The Surge 2 and I've gotten about 4 hours in.... Super lame change in story tone. You don't play the surge main character. Combat feels worse due to enemies being able to interrupt you when you lock in the finisher. And getting the finisher to trigger is less consistent. I don't understand how people say surge 2 combat is better. The only big improvement is the removal of weapon proficiency, so I can try all weapons without being nerfed. I hope my opinion changes after a few more hours... if I even try again.

As of right now, if you enjoy the souls-like genre, I can recommend The Surge 1.... Stop there.

God bless.

I love the intro to this game so much. I feel like game designers should be required to play it just to study how you can use mechanics to really force emotional and experiential states onto players that they may be unfamiliar with.

Good game play loop, and I think a more enjoyable combat experience than I had with many "souls" style games. Quick dodgy is not the only way to play, as reading the opponents and understanding ranges of the weapons served me very well.

Narrative is exactly what you expect until it isn't. Get the Walk in the Park DLC, adds to the narrative and gives some neat options for gear.

Enemy has multiple legs, I wanna target the one closest to me so I can actually hit it. Games thinks it knows best, targets the one I'm physically incapable of reaching. Refuses to unlock. Refuses to target another. I die. Rinse and repeat. The combat is easy, the bosses aren't gimmicky, but this fucking lock on is the worst. And if I dare play without it, the camera will do it's utmost not to let me see anything. Come on, man...

Enemies that lunge attack simply clip through anything to hit you, even walls and bottomless pits, they give zero fucks, the world is their oister. So I'm supposed to dodge/block an attack I can't even see through a fucking wall?

The executive forum boss fight... what a shitshow. The boss just runs away all the time, even getting stuck on me cause I was on the way and I can't hit him during that? Can't punish him even though the whole gimmick of soulslikes is using opportunitty to punish mistakes? What about the ridiculous Paxes he summons? Their hit boxes are so wonky that I take damage in front of them, behind them, under them, on their sides, I could be on the fucking moon and they would still somehow hit. Just assume that if they are moving, you're taking damage. Honestly, this is not worth it. The boss can't even stand his own, is easier fighting him than his adds, the devs can't possibly have intended for it to be like this.

What to say apart from that, I had a great time with the Surge !

It's an ingenious new way of implanting gameplay into a souls like, and I love it, the feel and ambiance are amazing too, and you can't find that elsewhere on any other license honestly. Half high-tech mecha vibe with gory and sometime horrory vibe, I've got to say it's a well though of cocktail.

Nothing much to say about the bosses, although I like the fact that you have multiple ways of obtaining boss weapons by killing them in different manners.

To me, this is what a souls like should look like, and I really enjoyed my time with it.

Can't wait to start The Surge 2 !

Let's see what Creo left us to deal with !

The Metacritic and Steam recommendation ratio is pretty on-point.

It is a charming, different looking, innovating but a bit underccoked, repetitive, confusing and with a touch of jank game. Not a masterpiece of a Souls-like, but certainly an interesting one.

First of all, it's no Dark Souls. But it's also no original Lords of the Fallen. Creators learned a lot on that one and rather than making another souls clone, they made their own thing. If you open enough, try it, you my find it to your taste. If you're looking for Dark Souls 4 or Elden Ring 2, this is not the place.

Game is amazing buy it play it .

Its truly a good game, not just another imprefect soulslike, its way underrated
Not a perfect game, but I generally enjoyed the jank and slow combat of Dark Souls 2, so if you did as well, and if you like cyberpunk dystopian stuff, you might really enjoy this
The only other issue is its sometimes very labyrinthian and it gets very hard to know where to go, its the interconnectibility of the world taken to an extreme
Not v long, and not overly hard for a soulslike, fun game, and the atmosphere is perfectly dark and heavy, could give this an A- or a solid 8/10, but know what you're getting into - its a soulslike with slow and tactical combat
People seem to have no problem when some fights fromsoft soulslikes from the same gen are as jank as it gets, but when another souslike is a bit janky theyre mad
I also enjoy the lower number of bosses, leaves more "space" for exploring and enjoying the atmosphere, parts of soulslikes I enjoy way more
EDIT: forgot to mention, the thing I dislike the most, is that all "bonfires"/upgrade/safe spots have the same song playing, and I think its about a minute or two long, its not bad at all, fits it perfectly, but after playing for some time I got SOOO SICK of it playing over and over, again the artist did a good job but it gets overplayed, again this is a v minor drawback really

Really tried liking this game but I instantly go flashbacks to Dark Souls 2. I pushed through that game because the story and gameplay was interesting, but this game just does not have any of that going. Gameplay is clunky and when you dodge you feel like a fridge moving quickly side to side. Combat is not very engaging and the design for weapons is uninspiring . Imagine charging at enemies with a pipe or the glorified jack hammer that the first set enemies have. I really wish that at least they got the gameplay right. I didn't like the story to Nioh but combat was fun and there were plenty of builds that you can experiment. I watched a video where I discovered that there is a michelin man armor set. Like bruh, really? Please do yourself a favor and avoid this game. It depressed the hell out of me!

Combat was fun. Bosses and level design were not,

There are some real innovations to the genre in this game, and many parts of the game are well executed, but the shortcomings undermine the successes. The weak-point targeting system is great; it causes you to make a split second decision between acquiring new gear or beating the enemy faster to conserve health. The ability to bank your credits is also a welcome addition. The bosses fights are enjoyable enough. This game is ruined by a repetitive game play loop, too much backtracking, and aimless wandering as you try to find where to go next, which is exacerbated by the sameness of every room and hallway in each area.

There are better souls-likes out there, go try Code Vein.

The Surge is a souls-like with very bad, unresponsive feeling combat. It's not particularly difficult but the maze-like level design, frequent backtracking and obnoxiously long boss battles make it tedious to get through.

The early game feels very punishing but once you get the hang of things its much better. Great story telling.
it could be a little less maze like at times.

Still some quest bugs that will ruin your completion

ONLY RECOMMENDED WHEN ITS ON SALE FOR $2, and the reason behind that is the game environment during some boss fights like one of the robots you drop in with the multiple hands and one laser, you cant see you're character because of the rails behind him plus I keep getting tons of bugs like the first one where you gotta choose between two a exo suit and after the cut seen of you're character getting the exo suit drilled on after it becomes black and only see red figure tposing (I fix that by verifying my files) but bugs still happen like the black cerberus boss. The dang robot had missing texture so it was basically just two feet and half body and currently having trouble loading save. also taking damage for no reasons after stunning enemies happens but I could be just dumb and not pay attention since these game makes me zone out lmao.

When you fully exit game it ends up being a blank screen and it will stay that way till you manually get it back to your steam

Not your average day at work

Gameplay

Other

Amazing game with lots of potential.
Game lacks amount of bosses but makes it up for with enemy variety.
Loved it and story.
Dlc are huge and fun to complete.

i am ambatron 🤖

This is a fun game I do not know why its mixed it is fun to play.

Amazing Souls Like game in a refreshing setting.

I want to like it but other more in depth reviews highlight the issues. This game isn't quite where it needs to be, plays more like an alpha/beta than a full game. Some frequent stuttering while playing as well.

Half-baked attempt with the Most dull level designs ive ever experienced.

Fun, sci-fi take on the souls-like model with limb-aim combat, cool bosses, plenty of weapons and armour to loot and craft.

Navigation can be tough as everything tends to look alike after a while, no signs, no map etc.

Overall, lots of fun and one of my favourite souls-like games. Can't wait to start the second.

The best part is the concussive drone, love my little brain damaged buddy that headbutts things

The Surge is a really interesting sci fi soulslike that tries to differentiate itself further than the original Lords of the Fallen. Probably the primary way that The Surge does this successfully is through the combat. While the main mechanics are all there like you would expect: swinging, dodging, blocking; the dismemberment mechanic was the thing everyone wanted to talk about. Visual effects aside, the affect it has on gameplay is twofold – you can choose to aim for an unarmored part of an enemy to deal more damage by skipping armor, or you can hit an armored part for a chance at possibly getting a schematic or parts as a drop. I find this aspect of the game so strong that it helped glue me to the game, even while some other aspects aren’t as good.

Tech scrap is your “souls” (exp + money) which you can bank multiple ways, either rest at a Medbay (bonfire) or access a Gear Assembly station (blacksmith). Note that if you access either a Medbay or a Gear Assembly station, enemies will respawn, but there are two important things to consider. When you access a Medbay, you replenish your equipped healing implants BUT you lose the tech scrap multiplier from defeating larger numbers of enemies using finishing moves. When you access a Gear Assembly station, enemies respawn and the tech scrap multiplier stays, allowing easier farming.

Leveling up utilizes a fairly unique system where you are able to raise your core power by 1, if you have enough tech scrap. With more core power you can equip more complex armor and implants. Also, all of your stat upgrades come from implants themselves rather than choosing points in attributes, a big step away from the D&D style of leveling up characters that many other soulslikes have. Finally, proficiencies with each style of weapon are gained just by defeating enemies with that type of weapon. Altogether, this creates a system where you don’t have to worry about needing to respec because you can always do that, BUT it also guarantees that you will want to tinker to figure out how to make your build.

Once you get part schematics, enough components and enough tech scrap, you can craft pieces of gear. Weapons are all found in the world or from bosses and not crafted, but the majority of armor MUST be crafted and not found. You can actually craft or upgrade armor multiple levels ahead, but it costs much more tech scrap to take that route. I really like how this system works in tandem with the dismemberment system, where if you want to upgrade a certain kind of equipment and you don’t have the parts, you will need to change up your fighting style.

Now for some bad aspects… The Surge tries to tell a story using the same style as Dark Souls, but I feel like there is too much information left out of the plot for the “vague” approach to be compelling here. The combat is truly excellent on paper, but it is hurt somewhat by some really jank enemy behavior and quirks. Some of the wacky lack of balance from 2014’s Lords of the Fallen is here as well. Enemy damage is fairly high and gets extremely high with each NG+ iteration. Finally, enemy variety is not really that great, most are either humanoid zombies with a small selection of weapons and armor, or a few types of robots.

Still, I think if you are looking for another soulslike to play, this is worthy of consideration. There aren’t many games (outside Monster Hunter’s genre) that have this special synergy between combat and upgrading your gear. There’s some cool stuff here, just keep in mind the plot is really muddled and occasionally some strange things can happen in combat if you do things the designers didn’t anticipate.

If you have NOT played a soulslike before, I would strongly advise that you do NOT play this game as your first, it will likely be too confusing and frustrating. I would point you to Dark Souls remastered instead. Keep in mind that soulslikes are action RPGs for patient people, so if that description doesn’t fit for you then you want to avoid both and play Metal Gear Revengeance instead.

I remembered when the exact moment I bought this game (I don't know why either). It was later November of 2017 and this game was kinda new at the time. It was an early morning for me, about 7am. I was sitting on my Futon and my mom and brother were gonna pick me up to go up north (in Michigan). I saw this game on the PS Shop and it looked pretty cool for my young brain. So I called my mom to ask if I could purchase it. She was reluctant, but she eventually let me.
I really didn't like the game. It was just too weird for me and I really wanted to get into it really hard. However, I just didn't like pushing myself on this game and it just wasn't for me. So 6 years later, I came back to try to see if I'd like it. I still don't like it. To this day I still don't like it.

1/5, Bad Game

its fun. dont let the haters get to you. theres a reason it got a sequel.
the common complaint is that its too slow. i think its just fast enough for a bunch of dudes in hydraulic-powered exoskeletons throwing each other around. theres less i-frames but that doesnt mean its a lesser game, just a different one. it has more build variety than str/dex/quality/mage, and theyre all melee builds. the limb cutting mechanic makes new areas and new mobs exciting. its all competently done, except maybe the world design gets a little convoluted. but its definitely worth at least a try

At first it was kinda MEH but as i kept going and learning new things it made my time more enjoyable. I was struggling doing damage to these stupid robo dogs with 360 rat tail hair-dos. They would literally whip there hair back and forth then back flip outta there. I found that elemental damage decimated their braids to ash. The game is good, Im curious about whats going on and having fun now that iv gotten better at the combat. Now im finding myself farming for salvagable gear so i can get the full sets just so i can see the armor bonuses. Best weapon of my choosing is single hand, by far I think it brings the speed and punch you need.

It's an exercise in patience of which i don't have much. Patience best allocated on games with a story line and sense of exploration, both of which this game has none of, not even an objective reminder or indeed a f****ng map. Enemies keep respawning after your death, irregular save points, accidentally running into a boss fight so early in the game. It's probably still playable for those who don't mind the things i mentioned but for me it's just too much.

TLDR: While many games tend to copy the Souls genre, often with success and by changing nothing at all, this game, at least IMO, changes just enough to keep things interesting while taking nothing away from the usual experience. It is rather short for the kind of game it is, however in this case it is a good thing as it gets repetitive quick and the environment starts all looking the same.

Story: Warren, a man bound to a wheelchair, decides to sign up with a company named Creo whose main goal seems to be the betterment of both mankind and the planet as a whole. But not everything is as peachy as everyone thinks.

Gameplay: It very much follows the souls guidelines; kill mobs to earn xp, spend xp to level up, in this game it's tech scrap though, and when you die, drop it all on the ground. Died a 2nd time before picking it back up? Tough luck, it's gone now.
The main differences here are:
-You can bank your xp at your main hub, which is a major improvement to me, especially since you have a timer to get your xp back. Killing mobs will expand your timer, but still. It reminds me of Lords of the Fallen as it also resets your multiplier (You get a multiplier for killing enemies consecutively and without going back to your medbay)
-You have your usual health gauge and stamina gauge, but you'll also unlock an energy bar which allows you to do some extra stuff, like using drones, heals, etc.
-You can aim for body parts. While this may sound silly, it is an interesting mechanic as aiming for a unarmored body part will likely double your dmg output vs aiming for an armored part. But doing enough dmg to an armored body part and decapitating it will allow you to drop the schematic for it and allow you to craft the said armor. To me this allows the player to chose between farming armor or xp. Smart!
-Since it is a single player game, you can pause and swap whatever equipment and implants you want whenever (there are exception, of course, mainly your implants that are hardwired to your rig, such as your consumables).
-As you level, your core power increases allowing you to equip more power hungry gear (each gear as a certain amount required core power to be equipped, this resembles your weight limit for you souls maniacs). The implants range from giving you health on executions, extra consumables for health and energy, extra xp on kill, negating environmental dmg, etc.
-There are horizontal and vertical attacks that can be chained together, both kinds are chargeable.
-There's also some weird blocking mechanics that I just never got into; while blocking you can hop or duck. I never bothered with hit and still managed okay through everything.

Graphics: For a 2017 game it looks pretty good. When I say good, you still have to like big clunky 90 degrees angles armor. Or else you could say it looks like crap... But really it has to do with the style of the game more than the graphics, don't it.

Audio: There isn't much to say here, there isn't much dialogue and the story is practically non existant. I did find the ambience to be rather good in some areas, though.

While this won't beat Elden Ring in any categories, it is still a sturdy title that tried to add something to the genre and is worth beating. There's a new game + mode that adds enemies but... I was happy enough beating it once.

Has a very different feeling than the second one, but i personaly liked the atmossphere a lot more. But it is a bit rough around the edges.

Still er very good game! Solid gameplay, interesting story and defenetly something, if you look for a more futuristic souls-like expercience.