The Surge 2

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 194 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 121 out of 194
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 194
  3. Negative: 42 out of 194
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  1. MetaRogue
    Jun 4, 2021
    6
    After 30 hours with The Surge, I had had enough of being given the run-around with all of it's 'harder-than-Dark Souls' nonsense. I came to The Surge 2 with hopes that Deck 13 had corrected these issues and balanced other aspects of the original game. In short: They hadn't.

    I got just over 3 hours into The Surge 2 when I thought "You know what? I've had enough of this nonsense". It's    After 30 hours with The Surge, I had had enough of being given the run-around with all of it's 'harder-than-Dark Souls' nonsense. I came to The Surge 2 with hopes that Deck 13 had corrected these issues and balanced other aspects of the original game. In short: They hadn't.

    I got just over 3 hours into The Surge 2 when I thought "You know what? I've had enough of this nonsense". It's not that I can't handle playing difficult games, it's simply a case that I can't be bothered wasting my time playing a game that's difficult for the sake of being difficult. When I play videogames, I play them for fun - not because I feel the need to prove something, to myself or to others. I'm not averse to playing videogames that test my skills and reactions, but I draw the line when they overstep the bounds of what is reasonable and accessible.

    The Surge 2 is undoubtedly a better game than the original. In my limited time with it, I noticed the improvements Deck 13 had made. The combat is smoother, the environmental variety of Jericho City is superior to the drab locales of the CREO factory featured in the original game, and every time you level up your Rig, you get skill points to spend on improving your Health, Stamina and Energy.

    While I've just noted the positives, I can't say that I'd classify The Surge 2 as 'fun'. The damage scaling in the game is just ridiculously bad - most common enemies will hand you your hide in seconds. This seriously hurt my progression through the game because I was simply tired of constantly being on edge every time I went into combat against the numerous denizens of Jericho City. On top of that, most enemies have an ace up their sleeve that will seriously undermine you in some way - this is more an unfair tactic than it is a 'challenge' to overcome.

    Story-wise, The Surge 2 is simply more sci-fi stuff mixed with weird, messed up Dark Souls type nonsense that we've all come to expect from the genre over the years.

    In summation, The Surge 2 is an improvement over it's predecessor in some ways, but in many ways it features more of the same problems that deeply affected my time with the first game. In the 3 hours that I spent with The Surge 2, I couldn't help thinking of all the other better, more fun games in my personal games library that I could be playing instead of yet another gruellingly difficult Souls-like game that is deliberately designed to annoy me, frustrate me, and make me want to rage-quit.

    I think there needs to be a discussion about game design philosophy and about game developers competing in a particular genre - that making a game harder or more difficult doesn't necessarily make it 'better' than other games. I honestly hope that game developers reach this realisation sooner than later, so they can avoid saturating the industry with games that only a small, select group of people will gravitate towards.

    Because at the end of the day, games are created purely for escapism - from stress and the vast multitude of life's problems.    … Expand
  2. elric19
    Apr 14, 2020
    6
    So the game has now crashed for the 10th time within 15 hours of playing and i decided to review this game. There is not much change in comparison to the first game and with half a year after release one could expect to have some major bugs fixed (maybe im just unlucky) anyway its my experience. The camera in combination with the aiming for bodyparts is sometimes a pain, especially nearSo the game has now crashed for the 10th time within 15 hours of playing and i decided to review this game. There is not much change in comparison to the first game and with half a year after release one could expect to have some major bugs fixed (maybe im just unlucky) anyway its my experience. The camera in combination with the aiming for bodyparts is sometimes a pain, especially near walls the camera like to flip around making it impossible to dodge or react properly. I played the first game which had some major flaws and not too much playing time but i wasnt craving a second part that soon (i dont know anybody who was either) so another year of developing with bugfixing and stuff wouldve been appreciated.
    Besides, the new graffitifeature and the revenge enemies are coming really close to plagiate dark souls.
    Actually its hard to hate the game since it looks sharp and the story is ok and some major flaws from surge 1 have been removed but to me this game couldve waited another year. I cannot bring myself to give more than 6 since some really really poor minded people here give 10 points even though the game is far from perfect    … Expand
  3. Teerhand
    Sep 24, 2019
    5
    Loving The Surge 1 for its dark dystopian atmosphere, and gritty writing, i can´t help but wonder if some people in the team were replaced for the surge 2.
    this is not an unbiased review, but represents the things i miss in ts2 that i loved in its predecessor.
    the writing is pretty bad, dialogues are hilarious in a bad way and npc´s are a joke. i remember the irina questline very    Loving The Surge 1 for its dark dystopian atmosphere, and gritty writing, i can´t help but wonder if some people in the team were replaced for the surge 2.
    this is not an unbiased review, but represents the things i miss in ts2 that i loved in its predecessor.
    the writing is pretty bad, dialogues are hilarious in a bad way and npc´s are a joke.
    i remember the irina questline very fondly, up to the point that makes me wanna say it was engaging in a way i rarely experienced before. i really cared for the characters in general. scrap lady, maddy...all of them.
    in ts2 npc´s are questgivers at best, the less you talk to them the better, it makes me wonder if the devs didn´t appreciate this quality of the first game at all, or the person responsible simply left the team and someones nephew with no writing skill chimed in. the sparky followers? b. please.
    design also went into a direction, i simply cant understand. in ts1 everything was dark and depressing, while that colourful neon city in ts2, with its perfect weather, rather invites sunbathing, than doing what needs be done...chopping up maniacs.
    it is a fricking disgrace.
    that all being said, combat looks amazing, but is that enough?    … Expand
  4. RobCutter
    Sep 30, 2019
    7
    The Surge 2 is better than first part in many ways. They took the feedback the players gave them after the first game and tryed to do to everything they could to improve. Did it work? More or less.

    Combat: The combat is way better than in the first game. It is faster, more fluid and now has a unique new element called "directional blocking". It´s overall not as hard as other souls like    The Surge 2 is better than first part in many ways. They took the feedback the players gave them after the first game and tryed to do to everything they could to improve. Did it work? More or less.

    Combat:
    The combat is way better than in the first game. It is faster, more fluid and now has a unique new element called "directional blocking". It´s overall not as hard as other souls like games but that´s something it doesn´t have to be. It gives you a full box of tools that you can use however you want.
    It rewards risks that you might take but it can also be played very defensive.

    Level design:
    The structure of the levels is damn near perfect. You remember the Bonfire in Dark Souls 1 after the prison where multiple paths connected back to that area? It´s better than that. The paths connect back in clever ways and are done really well. Sadly there is something missing. The game is supposed to play several months ofter the whole city has been locked down and anarchy now controlls the streets but somehow I just don´t believe it.

    Let me give you and example of what I mean. In the Resident Evil 2 remake right after you entered the police station every prop you see in the location, tells you something. It tells you what happened, how people might have managed to hold up for a while and you saw things get used in the same way you, the player, would use it in this situation. empty crates become tables, corpes are piled up outside and so on. It dos not feel as handrafted and filled with details and storys as other games.

    The save zones where the survivors gathered feel just, stupid. Like they ran out of ideas on what to do in there. None of the people behave like they even give a **** about what is going to kill them all. At some point the events even hit those zones and they still could not give lesse of a **** In the Fromsoftware titles you at least felt that things had an impact on other characters.

    Story:
    The story is...okay. It has a lot of great ideas like the cult, the drugs the mercs and so on but here it has the some problem that I stated above. They did not do enough with it. At no point in the game you feel like the drugs are really a problem to anybody. They just exist as an idea. The cult is never shown as a threat to others. You of course see some dead bodys here and there but not interaction where they are really trying to take over the streets. Things are just...there. Citizen just stand around doing...nothing. Forever or just dance on the same spot without any music from anywhere, forever.

    The thing that is missing in the environments and how the story is written is...reflection. (Or budget)
    Other titles which are very well known for their story telling trough the envirnoment constatly ask: "Why would this be here? Where does this enemy come from? What happened to this guy? Why is this group standing around here? How would I act in this situation and use the tools in this world?" Here there was either not the skill or the money to do so.

    Sound and Music:
    Here is truly a fresh wind of soundtracks. You got bored of the doomsday church chorus that you heard in other souls-like games before? Get ready for action. Everything sounds great and fits perfectly. Well done.

    Graphics: The visuals are pretty similar to the first game. It´s not ground breaking but that´s to be expected from a game like this with a very limited budget. Sadly at the time of this review there are some loading issues with the textures which results and some blurry slow loading surfaces. The issue is known and the team is working on it.

    All in all I can say that enjoyed my time in this game. It´s not what it could have been but still much more than what the first game was. It´s from a german developer and thos of you who know the budget situation of german games know why it´s so hard to produce here. I am sure the devs did everything they could with what they had.

    For me it barely scratches the 7,5/10points on the scrore so it misses the 8 out of 10. I do recommend it for those who need their next souls-like fix and it´s definetly better than Code Vein so if you have to chose between these two, go for the Surge.    … Expand
  5. Przemun1304
    Sep 24, 2019
    7
    I've been waiting so long to play Surge 2 and finally got it. I loved the first part but this one is definitely better. Deck13 has made a great work !
    Have a nice cutting.
  6. fordagame
    Oct 11, 2019
    7
    This is not bad game in general. But if you compare it to Dark Souls or Bloodborne... it is not that great. As a begining we have around 10 boss fight in the game. If we exclude regular humans, who are just stronger with more health and stronger atacks we have 1 boss which is repeated 4 times (their is even achievement, that we killed him 3 times) and one of humans which we fight 3 times.This is not bad game in general. But if you compare it to Dark Souls or Bloodborne... it is not that great. As a begining we have around 10 boss fight in the game. If we exclude regular humans, who are just stronger with more health and stronger atacks we have 1 boss which is repeated 4 times (their is even achievement, that we killed him 3 times) and one of humans which we fight 3 times. Than 2 of this bosses are just regular robots, which we met during the game, but with more HP and more damage. That is so repetitive and annoying, to see same bosses again and again. Combat is more or less fine, but parring is so annoying. I never was good in parry in games... and for sure I passed whole game without using this. But in surge 2, parry was moved on another level of annoyance for me. If you dont like it, just ignore it. What for me was really terrible is that actually it was never clear, where should we go. While in DS you have more or less some idea where to go and you just go forward and forward, in this game... you don't know do you need to go to park or to port or somewhere else. As well because, there aren't any adequate fast travel, there are a lot of shortcuts. While somehow that was pretty nice in Surge 1, in Surge 2 locations are like labyrinth for me. In port nixon I never can't remember where the hell I should go. And because there isn't fast travel, when you go back to some area it is a bit terrible. Quests... they was never strong side of DS like games... this is not changing here. It is a bit more clear what quest we have, which actually is good, but anyway they are mostly boring and not interesting to do. Reward is pointless in general. Game is significant shorter than From Software games for sure. Upgrade system is pretty messy most of the time. If you don't go to grind your upgrade parts and don't search somewhere what kind of armor you can have and where to get it, you would play half of the game naked on level 1, without finding any component. On other hand around level 7 you may found few great location, where you can grind components as much as you want. For level 8 was similar, but for level 9 wasn't clear where exactly I should farm components and level 10 In my opinion was not accessible at all. Last level before final boss was filled with level 7,8 mobs, very little 9 and few 10, which drop no parts in my opinion. For me this system is pretty messy and complicated somehow. If you dont pay attention in it, you will just be without armor and better weapon. While most people I think don't want to grind their upgrade materials. This is not what is interesting in souls like games. In Surge 1 it was less complicated I think. Somehow npc levels rise with levels and your level in general. I never feel forced to go to previous area to farm upgrades, because I was too low level. For example in DS, you just found better sets and from items which you find around levels, you can at least build 1 weapon and have 1 armor set which suit you. Yes, in DS you as well could farm upgrade materials, but this was so optional. 1 thing which for me was improvement, that when you die and you need to recover your scrap, timer is increasing with 20 second for every enemy on your path. As well it heals you to max once you pick them. This is for sure important if you die on boss fight. As well something which is better than DS: in surge it is much more clear what is the story and what is happening.
    In conclusion: somehow surge 2 feels for me a bit worst than Surge 1. Surge 1 was my first souls like game, and after it I have passed through DS1,2,3 and Bloodborne and maybe I have bigger expectation... but anyway Surge 2 for me is somehow lacking what is making souls like games that good and interesting. But it is not bad game, you could spend few hours. Maybe take it on sales.    … Expand
  7. VirgoCave
    Sep 26, 2019
    6
    I played the first just because xbox game pass, the game was good at first but stoopid at the second half, the definition of artifitial diciculty, even worse thand dark souls 2. But unlike DS2 ,wich i beat , this has absolute garbage lore,no level design and story. I expected the second one to fix this because armor core mecanics were good, but no, waste of time.

    PD: I´ve finnished    I played the first just because xbox game pass, the game was good at first but stoopid at the second half, the definition of artifitial diciculty, even worse thand dark souls 2. But unlike DS2 ,wich i beat , this has absolute garbage lore,no level design and story. I expected the second one to fix this because armor core mecanics were good, but no, waste of time.

    PD: I´ve finnished almost all ds type games , DS, BB, NioH, Hollow Knight, etc. So don´t bring me the "argument" of git gud. This game is just uninspired and unpolished.    … Expand
  8. DukeJon
    Nov 19, 2022
    7
    I really enjoy soulslike games but there has to be a finely judged difficulty balance otherwise it just becomes frustrating. Liked the clean interface and fluidity of the controls in this game. However if you have to look for online help just to defeat the tutorial boss then there's a problem. By the time got to warden garcia I gave up. Story wasn't interesting enough to make me want to continue.
  9. PaleNielsen
    Mar 25, 2022
    7
    good game played it on PSNow, if you like the first one you will like this more.
  10. bobbodu2873e1
    Jul 22, 2020
    7
    Almost unbearably clunky, but not as much as it's predecessor. Thankfully it has simple and fun mechanics of limb targeting and parrying. The point is that the game gets easier as you get clunkier, its way more easy to defend and dodge than parry or do that sekiro type parryattack thing they did, timed with parry or wtv, I never even bothered. The levels are Absolutely LABORYNTHINAN! IfAlmost unbearably clunky, but not as much as it's predecessor. Thankfully it has simple and fun mechanics of limb targeting and parrying. The point is that the game gets easier as you get clunkier, its way more easy to defend and dodge than parry or do that sekiro type parryattack thing they did, timed with parry or wtv, I never even bothered. The levels are Absolutely LABORYNTHINAN! If you like that kind of exploration, look no further, I personally didnt even remember half of the metroidvania passageways there appeared and disappeared during the course of the story progression. That is pure torture for a completionist like me to never being able to remember all the little side tracks and alleyis before they get demolished and lost for good, what year is it..? Well anyway I farmed to be the strongest bulkiest astronaut ever and beat the final boss and I want to just explore a world eventually at my own pace and this game does never allow it so.. its kind of a disappointment… Expand
  11. Awanka
    Feb 23, 2021
    6
    It's a decent sci-fi Dark Souls, but the game balance goes off the rails in the second half as it's easy to make builds that trivialize the difficulty.

Awards & Rankings

53
#53 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 49 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 49
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 49
  3. Negative: 1 out of 49
  1. Worth Playing
    Dec 4, 2019
    80
    All in all, The Surge 2 is a great game to pick up if you're looking for a more arcade-like take on the Dark Souls formula. It's a fun and engaging game with a solid combat system and enjoyable mechanics, and it's only dragged down by a mediocre story and lackluster environments. With the excellent improvements from The Surge to The Surge 2, the franchise is well on its way to standing tall in the Soulsborne genre. It's well worth playing if you're an aficionado of this genre and don't mind dying a few times.
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  2. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Oct 22, 2019
    70
    The core combat loop delivers a unique and very satisfying soulsborne, and the push to an open world is a win. But technical problems and a lack of enemy variety hold The Surge 2 back from greatness . [Issue#168, p.80]
  3. GameGrin
    Oct 21, 2019
    80
    The Surge 2 is a sequel done right. With fluid combat, creative level design, and solid performance you would be hard pressed to not enjoy this title.
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