The Surge

Great game. Only complaint is that when you beat the game it automatically takes you to NG+. I was wanting to do the DLC after completing the main game but now I'd have to play up to the point where you can access the DLC again and then do a much harder version of it. Either way, not enough to make it a negative review, more of a warning for those who play next.

The Surge (2017) | March 29, 2020 |
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.

Do not compare with Dark Souls.
Comparing will make you disappointed.
It's a good game of its own.
하도 다크소울이랑 비교되며 까여서 그렇지
나쁘지 않다고 생각합니다.

The Surge is a mixed bag - I heard Surge 2 was much better, started with that game, and absolutely loved it, so came back to The Surge.
This game definitely has some issues - there are a couple of huge difficulty spikes that are extremely frustrating and unfair, and almost drove me away from the game. The first half of the game takes place in nondescript factory settings and it's difficult to keep a mental map of the environments, and is very easy to get lost.
However, the second half of the game is fantastic. The level design does that Dark Souls thing of constantly looping back on a single checkpoint as you open up more and more shortcuts and returns, and as the environments become more varied it becomes a lot easier to keep track of where you are. After the huge midgame difficulty spike, things feel much more fair and remain challenging without being frustrating. The game is well-written and the combat feels weighty and satisfying.
The Surge 2 fixes almost every issue with The Surge, so if you're on the fence, start there. If you loved The Surge 2, give The Surge a try, but be prepared for a bit of a slog through some uneven patches before the game hits its stride.

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Overview
The Surge is third-person action-RPG developed by Deck13 and released in 2017. Get in the shoes of Warren, a crippled man looking for a way to restore his body by signing with a corporation called CREO. As disaster surged from the depths of the CREO factory complex, Warren must try to survive amidst endless onslaught from maddened people and robots. Overall, the game managed to establish itself among its competitors by creating an interesting sci-fi world and innovative dismemberment mechanic.
The Good
Dismemberment is a unique and brilliant mechanic.
Good level design with shortcuts, well-hidden secrets and worthwhile rewards.
The bosses are fun, challenging but fair even if they require some trials and errors.
Fresh setting and world crafted with great art direction.
The Bad
Lack of enemy variety. Most enemies are humanoid with the same weapons that are available to the players.
Balance issue. Either it have sudden difficulty spikes in some areas, or the game becomes very easy with the right upgrades. Some weapons are useless.
Gameplay
Structurally, The surge follows a typical souls-like formula. The core loop of the game is exploring the level while fighting enemies, reach a safe area. The Surge differentiates itself by introducing a locational damage and dismemberment system that is well-implemented and satisfying when executed.
Combat
Instead of light or heavy attacks like the game’s source inspiration Dark Souls, this game separates its basic attacks into vertical and horizontal attacks. Players can chain both types of attacks and execute combos alongside sliding and jumping attacks. This mechanic is important due to the location-specific damage system.
In combat, Warren can target specific locations of most enemies’ bodies. One usage of the mechanic is targeting unarmored parts of their bodies to do more damage. The second usage is by damaging an armored part, Warren can perform an execution attack that severs their limbs. By severing limbs, enemies will drop the part of their armor that can be used to obtain schematics or parts to upgrade your own armor.
The Surge has really good and satisfying combat. The controls are responsive, and with 5 types of weapons, and various armors players can build Warren however they are comfortable with. The only problem with combat is there just aren’t enough enemy varieties. Most of the enemies are humanoid with the same weapon types that players can use, and their movesets are quite limited. There are some unique humanoid type enemies that carry unique equipments that usually have unique moves and fun to fight.
Progression
Warren can get stronger by upgrading his suit’s power core. It can be upgraded by collecting scrap parts from enemies. Upgrading it will increase its capacity and allows you to equip better armor and unlock more implant slots. Implants are basically “skills” that can be equipped and build your character as you like. They have various effects from scaling up HP, healing, increasing your stamina and many others. They are the core of building the character in the game.
The second progression system is equipment. There are several types of armor sets and various weapons Warren can get. A complete armor set will give him special effects that will further determine your build. They can also be upgraded with parts enemies drop. There are 5 weapon types in the game. By using a weapon from a certain category, Warren will gain proficiency that will increase your damage with said weapon types.
The progression system in the game is quite streamlined as players don’t have to worry about specific attributes or skill level. It is still quite flexible and Warren can be moulded to your liking. In my experience, this system allows experimentation with several different types of builds as there are no permanent stats tied to it. I pretty much tried all weapon types at the first half of the game before deciding to pick a favorite. There are some balance problem like some weapons can be utterly useless or one type of build is more effective than the other.
Exploration and Loot
The levels of The Surge are good, although they never really reach the same heights as the original Dark Souls level. Each level is a separate area with a transition loading screen between them that makes the CREO factory complex doesn’t feel as grand and interconnected as Lordran.
Enemies and loot are hand placed in the world. They are generally well-placed and well-thought, that makes every encounter unique and loot are worth digging nooks and crannies for. Generally I have no problem with the level design. It could be better, but I am satisfied with it.
Technical Issue and Performance
Specs: GTX 1080, AMD Ryzen 3700x, 16 GB RAM, 1440 60 Hz
The game runs full 60 FPS almost all the time. It dipped below 60 is in the end of the game where a specific enemy type appears. This enemy's effects caused the performance to drop. Overall the game is polished at the time I played. It is bug free, aside from minor problems like characters clipping into objects. One bug that annoyed me is when a loot dropped outside of reach.
Story
In the far future where Earth is on the brink of destruction, one man built a company with the promise of repairing a broken planet. When everything went wrong, the player as Warren is caught in the midst of it and must survive against the horde of rogue machineries and find out what happened.
I like The Surge’s story. It uses a hands-off method of story telling where the plot isn’t directly told through dialogue and cutscene but through environment design and audiologs. The setting is unique for this genre. While the theme and concept has been done before, the central mystery drove me forward and made me want to know what happened.
Graphics and Visual
The Surge managed to build a unique world, and CREO feels like it has a personality of its own. The environment design, weapons, armor and enemies model mostly look good. Some of the locations might look the same as players spend the majority of their playtime indoors in industrial type areas but it feels appropriate to the setting where the game takes place.
The animations are well done. Each weapon animation feels unique, they have different kill animations and combos. There isn't that much variety, but what is available is pretty good, don’t feel too janky. Overall the graphics won’t blow any minds, but it is not ugly and still carries the atmosphere and tone quite well.
Audio and Music
The soundtrack isn’t really anything to write home about. There isn’t any bombastic boss battle music or epic orchestration, the music mostly are just ambient sounds. I might be in the minority here, but I like the song Prisoner by Stumfol that plays in the medical area. Otherwise the music in the game is mostly ignorable.
While the music is lacking, the soundscape of the game is very well done. A lot of effects can be heard from the hydraulics inside Warren and the enemies’ exosuits to electricity buzzing in the distance. Everything feels heavy, metallic and it fit for the game’s industrial environment.
Conclusions
The Surge is a solid entry to the souls-like genre. It managed to differentiate itself through its innovative mechanics and unique setting. While there is always room for improvement mainly in variety, and balance The Surge is still worth your time and money if you are a fan of souls-like genre.

Many games think they are Souls-like, but this is SOULS-CORE!

Rating: 8/10
Genre: Third Person RPG
The Good:
+ Haunting Sci-fi atmosphere with lots of graphical options
+ Upgrading your suit allows you to carry more ‘cores’ which means you can equip better gear and implants.
+ A variety of different implants (perks) that you can equip that can result in many different character builds. You can equip implants that focus on health, stamina, energy, healing, damage, speed, etc. You can be a ‘glass cannon’ or a ‘walking death tank’ by the end of the game and everything in between.
+ Getting different armor and weapons is dependant on which body part you cut off in combat. I like the system because it provides a change from the typical finding equipment in chests.
+ Combat has a faster pace than your typical Dark Souls game. Dodging and dashing around enemies is encouraged and leaves many enemies exposed for counter attacks. Combat has a slower feel in the beginning of the game but once you get a feel for the mechanics and weapons things become much easier.
+ Lots of different armor and weapons that fit any particular play style.
+ level design can be a bit confusing at first, but discovering new shortcuts always feels rewarding and encourages further exploration.
+ The DLC ‘A walk in the park’ is an extra story expansion that takes place in an abandoned amusement park. The change of environment was nice. It adds about 4 hours of additional story content and exploration.
+ New Game plus allows you to continue playing from the beginning with all your gear and implants carried over.
The Average:
+/- The story is told mostly through audio logs scattered about the world. The story never feels like the focus of the game and takes a back seat to the gameplay. It doesn’t help that the main character is as charismatic as a cardboard box.
+ The DLC’s The Good The Bad and The Augmented, is a arcade style gauntlet run where you can set different difficulty modifiers for better rewards. There are nine episodes but each episode is just a rehash of different areas mixed together. The new perks are insanely good and practically break the main game but overall, the DLC is very repetitive.
+/- This is similar to Dark souls so expect a lot of cheap and frustrating deaths especially in the first few areas of the game. The game is very difficult in the first half of the game when you are still trying to figure things out, you will die a lot. Frustration does happen frequently in the beginning. However, once you are able to get over the initial difficulty curve the game becomes easier and far less frustrating.
+/- A few side quests that don’t offer any meaningful rewards and are too obtuse to complete without the help of a walkthrough.
Conclusion:
I was one of the few that liked Deck13’s other game Lords of the Fallen. Its easy to compare this to Dark Souls, it has similar mechanics but if you look past that and appreciate the game for what it is rather than what its not, you will see a fun, challenging if not flawed game.