The Surge

Even if the framework does not appeal to you, the game scores with a motivating combat and loot system, a great level and welter design and exciting boss battles.

Despite some pacing and story flaws, the thoughtful, tactical combat is always engrossing. [Issue#263, p.58]

The cast of characters breathe a lot of life into The Surge’s otherwise cloying, horror-themed take on robots and cyborgs, and by the time the end credits rolled, I found I’d experienced an exceptionally interesting, exciting and satisfying narrative action game.

The Surge is a surprise, utilizing its near future sci-fi setting to create a unique world that is a wonder to explore and uncover. Though its story fails to take off, the awesome combat and engaging crafting and upgrade system are more than enough to make the game stand out amidst the increasing gaming landscape.

The Surge isn’t interested in creating variation in its gameplay mechanics, or exploring more diverse settings or ideas, or creating compelling characters. It washes over you, but it’s a refined wash, and the foundation for a great game to come. The Surge is a good thing, and I’m glad it exists as another answer to the Souls-esque games coming out – its dull, but refined sci-fi action makes the game feel like a first step, if only a step, in the right direction.

Although The Surge has many similarities with its spiritual predecessor Lords of the Fallen, I strongly prefer this Sci-Fi-Horror-Trip. This is not only due to the strong combat system and its bloody finishers, but also due to the crafting, which is smartly interlocked with the fighting and the simplistic character development.

The Surge is a superb game on its own terms, compelling in every nook and cranny, lopped-off limb, and newfound shortcut. Underpinning it all is a surprisingly engaging, multifaceted narrative, and a set of combat mechanics that offer a little something for every type of player, but that punish all comers with equal aplomb.

The frustrating boss fights and the mediocre plot are blemishes on what is, by and large, a much better game than I ever would have expected. When I reviewed Lords of the Fallen in 2014, I said it was "a surprising show of skill and hopefully a sign of much brighter things to come." By building on its more obvious inspirations with a more unique vision, Deck13 has fulfilled even more of that initial promise with The Surge.

The Surge makes good use of its detailed sci-fi setting and provides an engaging experience throughout the 30 to 40-hour campaign, mostly thanks to its widely customizable inventory and wickedly fun combat system. It may struggle to keep the action moving and tell a strong story amid the chaos of battle, and its weapon progression plateaued early, but it offers some interesting ideas and delivers a solid new take on a familiar genre.

Bringing a Dead Space-style SF horror atmosphere to a Dark Souls-inspired action game makes things interesting, and the speedy battle system, which includes cutting off body parts and crafting elements, is a success. However, the somewhat dull pace of the game results in the player dying a bit too often, leaving plenty of room for improvement when it comes to the game’s overall balance.

The Surge is a remarkably solid action-RPG that uses its premise to wedge a number of interesting design quirks into a familiar formula. Not terribly deep, but a wrench-swinging, robot-pulverizing good time nonetheless.

The Surge doesn't always fight fair and sometimes betrays the very best parts of what it's trying to do, but I can't deny how much fun it was when I really got into the groove and found myself tearing off limbs left and right. In his best moments, Warren hits hard and the enemies make you feel that power in a satisfying way. Regrettably, there's little reason to come back to the game once the final boss falls. You get the standard New Game+ mode, but with no multiplayer and only further upgrades to find, it really comes down to how long you enjoy the combat before it becomes dull. I finished The Surge in about fifteen hours, and that proved to be enough slicing and dicing for me. This is a solid step forward for Deck13, and I hope they continue this upward trend in the future.

The Surge’s biggest weakness comes from some pacing problems and a weak late game story. The beginning of The Surge is interesting and grabs your attention, but as you get closer to the end, those hooks start to lose their hold. It begins to feel convoluted just for the sake of being convoluted and feels like they lost direction a bit by the end, but it is never bad. The Surge feels like a learning experience and one that I hope Deck13 takes to heart and expands on with whatever their next title ends up being. I have enjoyed my time with this game and can honestly say that I am looking forward to whatever they release next.

Despite a great combat system and interesting craft options, The Surge feels like a lost opportunity. Is a good action-rpg adventure, with interesting ideas and a great atmosphere, but it is also a very frustrating game; too difficult and with uninspired enemy design.

A good Souls-like with an entertaining battle system, interesting crafting elements, but no original soul.

Despite what you may think, The Surge is not a Dark Souls little brother, nor does it want to be. Sometimes the AI can be disappointing (or too difficult to beat), but it has its own personality, a good industrial level design, and a pretty deep narrative.

The Surge introduces a fresh breeze into the action RPGs by its placing and fresh approach. It is a pity that developers have run out of ideas when they were designing levels.

Although the visceral feel of its combat comes as close to Souls as any game, The Surge would really benefit from more variety in enemies, story, setting, and player character options -- as well as difficulty -- which eventually start to become repetitive. The decision to make every fight significant and potentially deadly certainly adds tension but there is rarely a sense of power or growing mastery, simply a more easily found relief at not dying. Thanks to its sci-fi setting and excellent combat, The Surge is overall a very solid, unique addition to the growing catalog of Souls-like games.

The Surge is a good action-RPG and a real Dark Souls-like, so the game is clearly not open for everyone. It offers interesting systems, but we still regret a lack of diversity in everything (weapons, enemies, environments...).

Deck 13 took what they learnt from working on Lords of the Fallen and added their own ideas to allow The Surge to be more than a pure Dark Souls clone. The combat is fantastic, engaging, and features a neat limb target system, and the skill progression is refreshingly open to experimentation, but the overall experience is sadly hampered by the lack of enemy variety and a monotonous sci-fi location, which has so much potential wasted with the current industrial environment. Even with those faults, The Surge is a better game than Lords of the Fallen, and one that I can recommend to fans of the popularised action RPG subgenre, because there is a good, fun experience to be had with The Surge, and some of its unique ideas bring solid additions to From Software’s concrete formula.

Surge is far from perfect, but none of its problems are deal breakers. They're minor bumps that come from an otherwise inventive, exciting new entry in a packed sub-genre. It bucks the trend towards creative bankruptcy, adopting some fresh ideas and layering those together with aesthetics, tone, and play to create an inspired adventure.

The Surge is a fine example of how Souls-like gameplay and structure transfers well to other genres and settings. It's a great looking game — The Surge boasts not only smooth animation, but fine details, such as the way a tarp will flap realistically in the wind, go a long way towards making this title one to show off. Combined with satisfying and unique combat, hopefully, The Surge will experience a surge of players on release.

The Surge is an admirable riff on the Souls formula, with its novel setting and new mechanics making its mechanical and narrative blemishes easier to swallow.

Deck 13 have vastly improved upon their formula, and hopefully, this is a sign of great things to come. But for now, The Surge falls short of being anything more than a serviceable title that sticks to what it knows.

It’s not bad, it’s creative and a change of pace, but it pumps up difficulty in a really unsatisfying manner. It doesn’t feel rewarding to play, t’s convoluted, and it’s confusing. Despite that, it’s still probably the most interesting attempt yet at learning from Dark Souls and creating something new.

Unfortunately while it gets the mechanics right the overall design is a far cry from Dark Souls. The world itself is plain, unimaginative and uninteresting. The level design is cramped and maze-like. The enemies are mostly stock sci-fi robots which aren’t that fun to defeat. If you’re desperate for a new Souls-style game and like the idea of the sci-fi setting, set your expectations low and you could totally enjoy The Surge. We on the other hand got bored of it very quickly, and we can imagine a lot of gamers feeling the same way. Shame.

The Surge has solid combat mechanics but the weak storyline and frustrating level design blocks all the fun.

The Surge isn't the same as Dark Souls but comparison's inevitable. Like that cyborg whose torso I severed, it struggles to stand on its own.

The Surge is a game you’ll play for its innovative targeting system and fun combat. If you’re still mourning the end of the Dark Souls series and are yearning for more punishing, action-heavy games, this should help to alleviate some of that pain. The exploration bits aren’t bad if you’ve got the patience for it, but the level and enemy designs could use a bit more work. Overall, The Surge is a huge step up from Deck13’s last outing, but there’s still quite a ways to go before it can become something truly special.

I wanted to say something about the story, but it is nothingburger… just like everything else in The Surge.

Dark Souls success naturally led to appearance of imitators, some of which are worse than others. The Surge inherited everything that was wrong with the original: bugs, sudden spikes in difficulty and general lack of polish, – yet captured none of its magic. There’s no fascinating world, intriguing story or thought-out combat mechanics to find here. [Issue#220, p.50]