The Surge

Just finished my first playthrough and I have to say it's one of the best Souls-like games out there. The gameplay is fluid, responsive and fun. The atmosphere kind of gives sci-fi horror elements which is one of my favorites.

If you are fan of Souls-likes and like movies such as "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Elysium" this is a must play.

Now I have to decide if I should start NG+ and try other weapons and/or builds or The Surge 2, which I heard is also great and with way better gameplay.

10/10. One of the best games I've ever played. The story was great. The visuals were amazing. The game is kind of an open world. So many paths that become shortcuts. Just the right difficulty to die a lot at the start until you figure things out. Lots of weapon and armor choices. My first run through took me about 44 hours. After you beat it you can start over called NG+. You keep all your gear and levels and play through the game. I just started that and it's very difficult in the first section. This will be fun.

This game blew me away. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. There is some jank, but if there was no jank, would you really be playing a Soulslike game? 8/10

This is more a rant than a thoroughgoing review, so take it as it is:
Did the concept of "shortcuts" or "checkpoints" murder and cannibalize the parents of someone who made this game?
Like I don't think there are many of us who play Demon's Souls or the original Dark Souls and say "these games are absurdly generous with bonfires and elevators to get back to bonfires that you can activate two thirds of the way through the level, I want less of that." Maybe I'm wrong! If you want to have to backtrack for 20 minutes through a level every time you die, or just want to level up or upgrade a weapon, then hell yeah, do it. You'll love this game. This game just seems very much designed to enable dumbass redditors to say "well ackshully, if you had found this one pixel 63% of the way through the level you'd be able to backtrack to 42% of the way through the level..."
It's doubly frustrating because there are cool things about this game. I kinda want to like it, all in all. But god, they make it so hard to with shit like this.
Also when you press circle on the controller to exit out of a menu, sometimes it decides to interpret that as *also* pressing circle on your controller again to use one of your (limited) healing items if you linger a quarter second too long? Just how the hell does this pass through beta testing. Shame-tier.
I'm just gonna replay Elden Ring now, or maybe a Nioh game.

its like a darksouls and space marine love child only buy this game if you like challenging combat because this is not beginner friendly and you will die a lot

Slow start with heavy learning curve for me, even after other souls likes like Eldenring and Dark Souls 1 and 3, but once I got the hang of it I was in love. Low amount of instructions to learn how to play and black Cerberus achievement was really annoying but overall after 100% I just want to do it again. Amazing DLC as well. Surge 2 does not scratch the same itch but I can understand how some people would prefer it as it focuses heavy on a parry system.

Soulslike of a different generation, taking mostly inspiration from harsh mechanics found in Dark Souls 1. Back in 2017 I did my first run on XBOX, now my second on Steam Deck. After playing many soulslikes, it's more clear to me now what The Surge does well and what not:

+ Sci-fi horror set in the near future.
– Flat NPCs and sidequests that take away immersion.
+ Character build variety through collecting and printing exoskeleton parts.
+ Easy to change build.
+ Challenging combat with targeting limbs.
– Messy hit boxes.
+ Humanoid enemies feel well balanced for 1v1
– Fighting multiple enemies messes things up, but the placement forces this at times.
– One robotic enemy type make me ragequit like no other game.
– Low enemy variety.
+ Circular level design with tons of shortcuts.
– Shortcuts often create more confusion and create boring walk backs.
+ Cool bosses with unique designs.
– Very annoying timer before reclaiming scrap (souls).

A solid 6/10. Great attempt but lacks refinement. Play the sequel for a much smoother experience, but this one is still cool (if you have the patience and dedication).

The gameplay is quite smooth and feels nice. The story isn't anything mindblowing, but it is pretty enjoyable. Plenty to play.

Works smoothly, looks cool, the impression is spoiled only by the monotony of mazes and enemies.

Cyber Souls; Prepare to commit several OSHA violations

Great game well done for a syfy souls like game.

not as bad as people making it seem. i look for mindless fun when playing games, this is IT.

This game is so ass and so amazing at the same time. Also more like the splurge heh, like cum

the dodge felt weird and didnt like the limb targeting

its a good game when it comes to souls likes, its a little harder than dark souls honestly but that could be due to less i frames or something? or im just bad

Not my thing, the limb targeting is more a gimmick than anything unique or interesting, basically lock on, rotate to the least armored part, now play it like any other game. You might want to target parts specifically to get the armor or weapon or something from that limb, but when you have to do that multiple times to get the things necessary to build and upgrade those weapons it doesn't really feel like something that needed to be added to the game.

the world doesn't really seem that interesting or that it has a story that really grabs me, it's just trying to be vague and going "wow what happened here" but I don't really want to spend 60 hours in a souls like if I don't really care about that hook and the gameplay outside of that just doesn't feel good.

It's been a while since I tried it but essentially it's extremely easy to get lost in the maps due to their odd layouts, the first boss I got to seemed interesting but just shoots missiles out before running around swinging it's feet like a demented beyblade and it felt more like I just got lucky than I really beat them. I think the timer for picking up your old nano cache or whatever it's souls equivalent was is a neat idea, but when I legitimately can't tell where the fuck I need to go in order to get where I was it feels just unfair and not that it was up to me. While standard enemy fights are pretty okay, I just wasn't captivated and felt that there wasn't a base level of fairness to the experience that I felt getting better could have let me get through, and when they give you a drone with a laser gun that becomes a new gimmick shoved in there I was just done. I don't really need to play as a strange man I don't really connect to and can't customize, I don't care about the world, the main gimmick doesn't really matter and the drone being there to make up for the last boss shooting tracking missiles is just... I keep thinking about why I should play this game over any other souls like and the answer is pretty much you shouldn't, it's just a bit of a mess in most of every aspect.

Amazing and underrated game.

This is a souls-like game with sci-fi elements which works very well for this game. Especially the part gathering system which is very unique and engaging even in NG+ and beyond.

Overall, this game is worth buying.

At first when I played this game I got frustrated and put it down for a few years. I eventually decided to finish it out, and I am extremely happy that I did. over the course of my playthrough, I had ups and many downs. I felt a few enemies and fights towards the end felt unfair. However, after persevering, I managed to beat the game. I had to clap afterwards for the amazing game and ending that I experienced.

some people may deride this game, but I found great fun in both the combat and slicing off limbs to loot gear, and the surprisingly engaging lore and depth. I look forward to attempting the second game in the future.

i finished all the campaign, i think this game is like training game for any player who want to try dark soul vibe, the enemy and boss got really slow and ez movement to learn compare to any dark soul out there like lies of p or wu long that i alrdy beat too, but still its fun and good game overall.

Level design can be painful most of the time, but overall very nice game with awesome graphics and combat mechanics.

it's cool but it is the game that made me see that i REALLY dislike Souls-Like games, i just dont have a desire to keep playing the same fight 200 times.. and dying over 1 tiny flaw or incorrect gear or lack of heal, ect.

personally, there are too many games to play, so i never finished it even though i want to, i just keep getting a bigger stack of 100s of other games i find more fun to play all the way through.

the story is some dope stuff about how corporations and technology are messed up... but there are a lot of instances where i personally feel the game could be more fun, and again, this is during fight scenes, lol.

also, i dislike this... collection of weapons stuff than you cant get a unique weapon ... unless you meet certain requirements, at least give a guy a hint on how to get a unique weapon in-game.

love this for the story, not a big fan of the gameplay though... i'm stuck on trying to Max those Western Trials. i didnt give up because i lost or lack motivation, i gave up because i could be doing anything else, so i decided to just love life more, this game taught me that.... lol. Iron Maus!

i like how the map connects but too much backtracking too....especially considering you die while running back and forth, lmao

Still one of the best souls-likes along with The Surge 2

Decent soulslike if you are feeling the itch and don't have one to play.

It's alright.
Balancing is a bit weird, as the difficulty does not seem to curve, but rather stairstep -- where it repeatedly smashes the player against a wall, until a certain point is reached (either through grinding, upgrading, or determination) after which the difficulty stays flat for a while again.

I would prefer if the story was told a bit more straightforward. As it stands, NPCs are purposefully vague about stuff everyone in-lore should know about until very late into the game. But then again, this is the type of game where story is often ignored anyway.

Honestly and underrated game. One of the best non-Souls Souls games I've played so far.

Performance and graphics:
IMHO the graphics are excellent: the game looks great in 4K. I played at 60 FPS and felt the performance was also excellent. I noted maybe one or two periods of very brief lag. I didn't notice any major technical issues or game breaking bugs. The only issue I really noted is that a few times when booting the game, it would have a grainy appearance and things looked lower resolution, but it would correct when I alt tabbed twice. Overall a beautiful and technically proficient title.

Score: 8

Gameplay:
I really enjoyed my time with The Surge. Mind you it took me 4 attempts to finally reach that level of appreciation. While the combat is excellent, the difficult curve much greater than I was accustomed to initially. It felt like I got one shotted so easily, bosses were incredibly hard, and I didn't have a very good understanding of how to build my character or how to outfit my character for success. I ended up sticking predominantly with faster weapons including dual rig and staffs, and that made the game much more reasonable to play through as I was able to stunlock standard enemies and move in and out of attack range much easier once I obtained better implants: elemental damage really ups your damage output as well.

The weapon and armor variety was very different than other games I've played and was a welcome change. The techno-futuristic design of the different rigs and weapons created a cool vibe and with the flashy combat animations I started to really enjoy the combat once I got a better handle on it. The enemy design was also really good. I liked the mixture of nano-humanoid enemies and robots. I'll admit that I wish the variety among humanoid enemies was greater, but thematically it would not make sense, and while it got a bit tiresome seeing them wear the same armors I had access to, the dismemberment mechanic was really well implemented and provided a sense of exploration and fun to each encounter as I dismantled different body parts to complete my armor sets or obtain new weapons. This was much more dynamic and interesting than the traditional souls format of most weapons being found in the game world and made each encounter worth doing.

Gameplay: 8.5

Game Design:
Gear: some weapons or armors are locked behind specific requirements which made it impossible to obtain the items when some were a one shot chance. Furthermore, some bosses have two weapon variants and the only way to obtain them is to do NG+. This increases replayability, in theory, but by the time you do a NG+ game to obtain items you missed on past playthroughs, the value of these items is diminshed to the point that there would be no real benefit in obtaining most of them as they are underpowered for the late game items you already obtained. I still did my best to collect them all, since I liked seeing the models and variety of design, but toward the end of the game and on NG+ I kept to the best weapons I could find leaving many of the unexplored weapons and armor sitting in my inventory rather than being used. I liked that some weapons, usually the 2.0 versions with special criteria to obtain from bosses, had their own flare with a variant of the standard moveset. That was a cool touch. The last issue with the dismemberment mechanic is that you are often in dark hallways with difficulty seeing the weapons or armor as you are dodging for your life, leading to me killing enemies I still intended to obtain weapons or armor from, due to not being able to take the time to see whether they had something I needed or wanted to complete my collection.

Quests: the impulse to kill things on a whim was also an issue in quest design as I killed a character terminating the quest chain because I thought they were an enemy initially. With respect to quests, mistakes are very easy to make, and there is no real warning or indication as to how to approach these situations to be successfully. I completely missed one quest the first time around, for example, then messed it up the second time despite trying to be careful. This game does not hold your hand in any aspect, so there is a lot of trial and error which can be frustrating if you don't want to follow a guide step by step.

Wold design: overall it was very well done. Varied and interesting environments that aligned with the game aesthetic and motif of a techno future. The problem I had with this was the many hallways between areas that had lifts that looked almost identical, leading me to constantly backtrack and try different lifts to see where they took me and often led to me feeling disoriented and having to go back through areas over and over again to find the next spot to progress the game. Many lifts or doors are locked initially and can be activated by overcharging power stations, but the problem is that there is no indication what the power station unlocks, and you often forget which lifts or doors you have already been through versus which ones are new. Overall, this was a minor issue of backtracking and frustration, but it gave me more time to dismember enemies for gear I was missing which helped balance the annoyance.

Score: 7.5

Story and characters:
Overall, the story was interesting and kept me moving forward. Though there are few people to interact with, most people are dead or become crazed by the nanite infection so this is to be expected, I felt some logical connections were missing. It may be there were aspects that I missed to fill in these gaps, but I felt the main antagonist reveal did not really make sense to me. I can't really go into more detail than that without giving major spoilers, but the antagonists actions seemed in direct opposition with respect to their interactions with the main character and when they are revealed. It left me a little disappointed as the narrative did not pay off as well as I had hoped. Despite that, however, the voice acting was excellent, the characters you did interact with came off as very human, and were interesting to talk with, and the holotapes you find provided a lot of additional story and helped drive the narrative as it revealed key characters including many of the characters you see broadcasted on TV throughout the areas. Overall, I still really liked it, it was only the final few areas with the reveal that I felt the misstep.

Score: 7.0

Summary: overall this is a well balanced and fast paced Souls like with fun combat, flashy combat moves, novel game mechanics, varied and interesting loot and environments, with more emphasis on story than most Souls like games. It has a few niggling issues and missteps on the narrative delivery, but overall I feel this game was excellently done and an example of how to implement a beloved formula without copying it directly. This feels like it fits within the genre of games rather than an attempt to strictly clone the success of FromSoft games. I quite enjoyed my time with the game once I gained a better understanding of the game mechanics and design, and while it can be very challenging, to the point of frustration at times, I think it is well worth the investment.

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 .