The Surge

 Xbox One
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 89 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 89
  3. Negative: 18 out of 89
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  1. bwh31
    May 16, 2017
    7
    This is a pretty fun game if you're a fan of hardcore action RPG's. The key is to look past the whole "but its not dark souls" mentality. No, it isn't as good as the souls series, but it is still a very well made game. Addictive combat (the new limb targeting system is pretty neat), pretty good loot system, and an interesting sci-fi setting make it an above average game in my opinion. TheThis is a pretty fun game if you're a fan of hardcore action RPG's. The key is to look past the whole "but its not dark souls" mentality. No, it isn't as good as the souls series, but it is still a very well made game. Addictive combat (the new limb targeting system is pretty neat), pretty good loot system, and an interesting sci-fi setting make it an above average game in my opinion. The game is lacking in a deep narrative story, and level/enemy variety, but the good things about this game far outweigh the bad. If you are a fan of this genre, approach it with an open mind and you will find yourself with an overall very enjoyable play through.… Expand
  2. Jwchead
    May 19, 2019
    9
    I have played this game maybe 10 hrs and I Never write reviews. (I wrote one for 2 free tacos like 3 yrs ago..lol) I have played DS1 DS3 and beatin the 1st one. They were both hard AF. (Not that that is a bad thing to have in a game.)I thoroughly enjoyed playing both DS. But it took 4 ever to beat. I suck. The surge is easily 8.25/10 Must Play 4 Xbox users.
  3. SuperkenGaming
    May 16, 2017
    7
    The Surge
    Robot Souls
    The Surge is a souls like rpg all about the grind Here you play as either a technician who’s agile and quick or a brute who does more damage but is slower, Each have their own advantages and disadvantages of course, I chose to play as a brute. I was surprised how much I initially enjoyed this game… This game is definitely challenging but not quite at the level    The Surge
    Robot Souls
    The Surge is a souls like rpg all about the grind
    Here you play as either a technician who’s agile and quick or a brute who does more damage but is slower,
    Each have their own advantages and disadvantages of course, I chose to play as a brute.
    I was surprised how much I initially enjoyed this game…
    This game is definitely challenging but not quite at the level of the souls game or nioh…
    The maps are fairly self-contained and compact here…
    This makes it very easy to memorize enemy locations when it comes to the grinding and crafting portion of the game
    the combat with regular enemies is pretty decent and feels fair.. at least when its one on one…
    you can lock onto them and target specific body parts to attempt to saw off certain gear…
    Sometimes you’ll get new gear like weapons…
    but mostly you’ll just get parts along with other scraps to craft armor from schematics you find in the world…
    there’s really no true loot system here…
    The scraps are essentially your souls..
    And like in the soul’s game if you die you have to go recollect them...
    But you are able to bank them in your medbay which is where you go to heal, level up, install new implants for added perks like consumable health, craft new weapons and armor, upgrade them, and refill your consumables…
    Leveling up just requires scraps while crafting and upgrading requires scraps as well as random items you have to pick off of enemies based on luck of course…
    and also like the souls games, going to this room respawns every enemy you’ve killed which is a gift and a curse..
    A gift because you can grind...
    worlds are small and bosses are brutal…
    youre definitely going to grind for levels and upgrades...
    a curse because once you do finally make it to a boss theyre all in your way trying do some damage to you before you even get there…
    But before we get to the bosses..
    There is definitely some cheapness going on outside of them…
    Things don’t really start getting cheap until the 2nd section of the game… here you get a drone friend which is nice… though to use them you have to fill up your energy bar a bit, but by time that happens you’ve usually already killed the enemy.. So it’s pretty useless…
    but this is where enemies start using ranged gun type weapons that you can’t do anything about but take the damage and push forward...
    And there are no health pickups here... youre relient on your implants to replenish your health except for the extremely rare refill stations... and by rare I mean like 1 in a map…
    But still it was fun to push forward, grind, find alternate paths, unlock shortcuts like demons souls so when you do die you can skip giant sections of the map to get right back to where you died
    These cheap moments were annoying and unfair... but I still didn’t mind them.. At least not as much as the boss battles…
    The bosses here aren’t hard by themselves...
    Theyre pretty simple and easy to figure out...
    the difficulty comes in the games design both level and combat…
    For starters.. Enemy attacks go right through solid objects... there is no hiding behind beams…
    That aside, This combat system was not designed for the boss battles... at least not with both classes in mind…
    the 2nd boss in the game is where I stopped…
    And I did so not because it was a tough boss…
    I knew its patterns, I knew how to defeat it...
    the problem was, as a brute... maybe this is just a brute problem…
    But as a brute the problem was the timing of this bosses attacks…
    Enemeis will telegraph their attacks..
    Give you some time to get out of the way
    But you’re locked into animations here...
    You’re able to dodge in combat, but only when you’re not attacking…
    And this boss demands quick hits and dodging...
    And this just isn’t possible to do efficiently as a brute…
    don’t get me wrong, I’d definitely get lucky and have a flawless first stage of this battle… but the 2nd stage when you have to attack it from underneath is when things really start to get unfair because your character doesn’t get out of animation fast enough for you to have time to dodge the near insta kill slam this enemies does when you’re underneath..
    Cause theres bad hit detection
    Both from enemies as id randomly lose damage during fights without being touched, and from you as your attacks will do nothing at times especially to bosses…
    Based off of what I saw though, The Surge is still a good game…
    its addictive in the way the souls games are… But at moments it falls into the category of unfair more than it does challenging and that sours the addictive and great moments that are here too I give The Surge a 7/10    … Expand
  4. I69GrzzlyBears
    May 27, 2017
    8
    I can't recommend Surge enough for anyone who is a fan of Souls-Borne games. I have been spreading praise of this game like wildfire to any of my friends who enjoy From Software's titles. Deck13 Interactive's previous title, Lords of the Fallen, was a decent DS clone, but felt as though it was trying too hard to mimic Souls, instead of trying to be one in it's own. This is where The SurgeI can't recommend Surge enough for anyone who is a fan of Souls-Borne games. I have been spreading praise of this game like wildfire to any of my friends who enjoy From Software's titles. Deck13 Interactive's previous title, Lords of the Fallen, was a decent DS clone, but felt as though it was trying too hard to mimic Souls, instead of trying to be one in it's own. This is where The Surge shines. Giving us a tech wasteland filled with augmented humans who have been zombified, as well as monstrous machines that want to turn the player into scrap. Combat is fast and fluid with different weapons and armor styles to compliment the style the player choses to take. These are fairly limited as the game only offers two styles: Slow, high damage tank. Or a nimble, medium-frenzy damage dealing lynx. The combat is where the game shines, and dare I say trumps the likes of Dark Souls. Individual body parts are able to be targeted with the lock on feature that is present. This allows the player to assess the enemy. and manually target unarmored body parts for extra damage. There is incentive to target armored body parts as well, which leads to the most interesting part of The Surge's mechanics, the loot system. You see, instead of enemies randomly dropping armor or weapons, and instead of purchasing them, you have to earn your loot off the enemy by using the "cut" mechanic. If an enemy is holding a new weapon that you want to use, you take it. Target the body part that is holding the prize and hack away, if enough damage is dealt to the body part, and when the finisher prompt appears, the execution will remove the body part entirely, leaving the player to it's spoils. When this was introduced, I couldn't help but be impressed by it, as it added a new layer to the combat that makes it even more exciting, and has the necessary tools to make your life a little easier, which you definitely will need.

    This game is hard. Each area seems to have more and more enemies at the helm waiting to ambush, or gank the player to death. Like Souls, it's important to time your attacks and not just mash away at the attack buttons and hope for success. Boss battles shine as well, and offer us the classic pattern memorization, trial and error gameplay that make these games so popular. Every boss you take down leaves you with the sense of triumph that few games can emulate. There is no difficulty option, so if you keep getting mashed to death by the first boss, it's time to git gud. It's not all bad though, as the community for this game is growing rapidly and there are plenty of tips and tricks to help those who need it. Is it the hardest Souls-Borne game? No. I still think that belongs to Bloodborne, but don't expect a cake walk. Expect a barbwire and broken glass walk akin to the original Dark Souls. If you've played From's games in the past, and get over the minor tweaks to combat, I doubt you'll have much trouble.

    Ultimately The Surge offers us something special, and a very pleasant surprise to say the least. If you're aching for From's next title and looking something to fill the void, this is that filler that's able to stand on it's own merits and will definitely attract a cult following, if not several sequels. Either way it's a fantastic game that will keep you dying and happy for weeks to come.    … Expand
  5. TheTG
    May 17, 2017
    0
    Terrible game, does nothing new, full of bugs and glitches, only 5 boring and easy bosses, the environment is always the same, no creativity, 90% of the game mechanics are copied from Souls, shameless thieves. Don't waste your time on this garbage game.
  6. Seesh
    Mar 5, 2018
    8
    The Surge is a Dark Souls-like Action-RPG game and overall it is very well done and enjoyable. Any fan of the genre owes it to themselves to check it out. In my opinion, it is a very underrated game that a lot of people slept on.
  7. Broyax
    May 19, 2019
    0
    Plutôt dommage, car le jeu est assez joli et propose un mode 60 sur la X : c'est bien fluide ! et le jeu est tout en français avec un doublage correct. Mais on déchante rapidement... puisqu'il ne s'agit que d'un avatar des Dark Soûls et compagnie, les jeux qui te soûlent à mort même quand t'as pas bu. En fait, pas besoin de boire : avec cette grosse merde, t'es soûlé direct !

    Donc on ne    Plutôt dommage, car le jeu est assez joli et propose un mode 60 sur la X : c'est bien fluide ! et le jeu est tout en français avec un doublage correct. Mais on déchante rapidement... puisqu'il ne s'agit que d'un avatar des Dark Soûls et compagnie, les jeux qui te soûlent à mort même quand t'as pas bu. En fait, pas besoin de boire : avec cette grosse merde, t'es soûlé direct !

    Donc on ne peut donner qu'un coup à la fois, esquiver une fois : au-delà, on est déjà fatigué... si on prend un coup, la vie descend comme à la foire, chaque ennemi peut te buter la gueule tranquillement et on rencontre assez vite des ennemis beaucoup plus costauds ! genre, tape-leur dessus 15 ou 20 fois... ça peut durer longtemps à ce train-là !

    Et certains sont invulnérables sauf à des parties du corps désignées... et vu que le ciblage est complèment à la masse, ça ne promet... que de la merde ! oui The Surge est une purge à jouer, une sorte de lavement masochiste.

    Et ce n'est pas tout, on erre comme un pauvre hère dans cet environnement bordélique sans aucune carte. Pour se soigner, faut faire des allers-retours à la station médicale. Si on se rappelle où elle est et si on est pas mort avant.

    De toute façon, on est pas maso, on ne vas pas se faire chier avec un jeu-étron pareil. On a pas que ça à faire.    … Expand
  8. antoniomit
    May 27, 2019
    10
    Si te gusta el estilo de Dark Souls, este juego te va a encantar porque a parte de esto aporta mas cosas, eso si, si no te gustan los retos no intentas instalarlo. En la One X se ve increible, parece un PC en ultra
  9. Modax19
    Apr 14, 2020
    4
    Did not enjoy this game. I gave this a try because I loved Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3. However this game was brutal and unrewarding. Also the story and lore was not attractive or interesting to me. The first boss just felt unfair and I almost gave up. After watching some videos on YouTube I managed to beat the first boss after that I didn't want to play anymore.
  10. jeffbizloc
    Jun 21, 2019
    8
    Beat The Surge in about 20 or so hours. It was definitely a tough game but really glad they made a sci-fi souls like game.

    Game(s) like: Dark Souls, Dead Space feel Pros: - Great presentation and graphics - just felt like a polished game - The combat strategy was very well done - targeting certain areas for easier fight vs harder fight+rewards - Liked that you could bank credits.    Beat The Surge in about 20 or so hours. It was definitely a tough game but really glad they made a sci-fi souls like game.

    Game(s) like: Dark Souls, Dead Space feel

    Pros:
    - Great presentation and graphics - just felt like a polished game
    - The combat strategy was very well done - targeting certain areas for easier fight vs harder fight+rewards
    - Liked that you could bank credits. Also you didn't have to grind too much which wasnice.

    Cons:
    - The most common flaw was the combat hit boxes. I did find some of the hit boxes frustrating but didn't effect me too much.
    - Would of liked to see more diverse areas. The dark souls games are best when you get cool varied areas to explore/defeat.    … Expand
  11. GollyJeeWizz
    Jul 20, 2019
    8
    The best Soulslike game that you have likely never played or even heard of. I took up on the 1-month $1 Game Pass Ultimate deal and came across this hidden gem after watching some gameplay footage of The Surge 2 beta from one of my favorite YouTubers and figured I would look to see if the original is on Game Pass. Low and behold, it is. So I quickly downloaded it, and jumped into the game.The best Soulslike game that you have likely never played or even heard of. I took up on the 1-month $1 Game Pass Ultimate deal and came across this hidden gem after watching some gameplay footage of The Surge 2 beta from one of my favorite YouTubers and figured I would look to see if the original is on Game Pass. Low and behold, it is. So I quickly downloaded it, and jumped into the game. After about 30 minutes I was really impressed. A Soulslike game that I'm actually enjoying. Another 30 minutes pass (now 1 hour into the game), and the game was becoming increasingly addictive. I'm starting to get the hang of the combat system now. After another 30-45 minutes, I started becoming more and more familiar with the mechanics, and now 2 hours into the game I'm hooked, have upgraded my suit to something like level 23, have crafted up nearly a full set of gear, and have upgraded some equipment.

    It takes everything that makes Soulsborne games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro good, expands on those ideas, and presents what is quite honestly one of the best action adventure games I have ever played. In fact, if you are a fan of the type of games that FromSoftware makes, I am pretty confident that this game is a great precursor prior to those games. Unlike Soulsborne games, this game gives you hints to get started, and explains all the mechanics such as cutting limbs, death, and even shortcuts. Once you have spent a few hours in the game and are familiar with the format, once you return back to Soulsborne games you're likely to be a master.

    And dare I say, while not as good as Bloodborne or Dark Souls, think this game is better than Sekiro.    … Expand
  12. Niksen
    Nov 3, 2019
    7
    Innovative crafting system, nice fighting mechanism and a challenging difficulty level. Only a few bosses and recurring level design.
  13. SenorKoquonfaes
    Nov 14, 2019
    0
    More like "The Scourge".

    Unintuitive level design. Too many "Where the hell do I go?" moments that killed the pacing of the game. Clunky, poorly executed combat mechanics make the game a more tedious and arduous version of Dark Souls. The premise of the game is rather interesting, but it's combat and level design kind of nullify that positive element. Thank god I got this game    More like "The Scourge".

    Unintuitive level design. Too many "Where the hell do I go?" moments that killed the pacing of the game.

    Clunky, poorly executed combat mechanics make the game a more tedious and arduous version of Dark Souls.

    The premise of the game is rather interesting, but it's combat and level design kind of nullify that positive element.

    Thank god I got this game at a steep discount, otherwise this game is a waste of money.    … Expand
  14. MOLEX3000
    Jun 23, 2020
    10
    Loved this game! And already got the sequel, I'll play it and then give my rate! Great game. Challenging.
  15. mlnsn
    Jul 15, 2021
    7
    Gameplay : 7/10
    Design (video + audio) : 7/10
    Story : 6/10
    Technical aspects : 7/10
    Repeatability: 8/10
  16. Outdoorz
    Mar 31, 2023
    10
    Um game que trás muito desafio mas muito mesmo, tem momentos que tu pensa em desistir mas ao mesmo tempo pensa em persistir, é um tipo de jogo que não agrada muitas pessoas pois algumas pessoas gostam de jogar para relaxar e esse não é recomendado pois é muito difícil em alguns momentos.
    Tem um jeito único de deixar você preso na sua história e querer descobrir o final dela, um game que    Um game que trás muito desafio mas muito mesmo, tem momentos que tu pensa em desistir mas ao mesmo tempo pensa em persistir, é um tipo de jogo que não agrada muitas pessoas pois algumas pessoas gostam de jogar para relaxar e esse não é recomendado pois é muito difícil em alguns momentos.
    Tem um jeito único de deixar você preso na sua história e querer descobrir o final dela, um game que recomendo que as pessoas joguem e persistam, pois é muito divertido quando temos a oportunidade de ficar fazendo upgrade em nossa arma e armadura.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

92
#92 Best Xbox One Game of 2017
47
#47 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
27
#27 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Jun 18, 2017
    40
    A sloppy sci fi swing for the Dark Souls crowd which sadly misses. [July 2017, p.82]
  2. NZGamer
    May 24, 2017
    80
    Although not long by Dark Souls’ standards, The Surge’s sci-fi setting is a refreshing change from its contemporaries, and the developers have made their mark on the genre. The combat system is unique, and very rewarding. It might fly below most people's radar due to the slew of quality games in 2017, but don't overlook The Surge. It will surprise a lot of people.
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  3. Game Rant
    May 23, 2017
    70
    The Surge delivers an intriguing sci-fi world with dark themes and should satisfy any genre fans looking for something to play now that the Dark Souls series has ended. Just don’t pick up The Surge expecting a game that is as polished as From Software’s flagship franchise.
    Read full review
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