‘The Surge’: 5 Fast Facts You Need To Know

The Surge recently released a launch trailer in anticipation of the game’s release on May 16, 2017 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Here’s everything else you need to know about the action-RPG.

1. The Surge Is Set In a Near-Future Dystopia

According to the Gamescom 2016 trailer, The Surge is set in a near-future, highly industrialized Earth. Global warming, a failing economy, and a host of other problems have gripped the planet. Game protagonist Warren is lucky enough (or perhaps unlucky) to be employed at CREO, a company dedicated to solving the world’s problems. But something goes horribly wrong as Warren dons his exo-suit and now must battle a horde of zombified workers and robots all throughout the devastated facility.

Corporatism, environmental destruction, and the misuse of technology are themes being explored in the world of The Surge according to the behind the scenes trailer. They’re also incorporating dark humor into the game to comment on these themes.

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A poster with graffiti criticizing CREO (Screenshot by Jack Fennimore)

2. The Surge Is Inspired By Dark Souls But With a Twist

One look at the Combat Trailer for The Surge and you’ll immediately start to see parallels to Dark Souls and other games developed by From Software. The stamina-based combat is brutal with even basic enemies being able to take you down if you’re not careful. Success relies on observing enemy animations to know when to dodge and counterattack. Combat looks tactical like Dark Souls but there appears to be more movement options such as ducking and jumping to dodge attacks and sliding towards enemies. You can also fight quickly with rapid combos or play slow and defensively. You can also expend combat energy for finishing moves and deploy a drone for ranged combat.

But the biggest twist to the Dark Souls formula is the limb-based targeting system which allows players to target and attack specific body parts of enemies in order to exploit weaknesses. Enemies may stagger and take damage more if you hit an unarmored body part versus hitting an armored one. However, enemies can do the same to you.

The game also places emphasis on exploration like Dark Souls does as you journey across interconnected landscapes filled with hidden loot, enemy ambushes, and switches for locked doors. You’ll also have a number of NCPs to interact and work with. You also have a base where you can heal, craft items, and upgrade your suit. Using scrap can also level up your character but if you don’t have enough to level up you can bank the scrap for later so you don’t lose it when you die.

3. Crafting and Acquiring New Gear is a Big Part of the Game

Targeting body parts will allow you to loot different items from enemies so you can grab weapons and craft different items at your base. So if you chop off a leg, you can get the blueprint for that enemy’s leg gear and craft your own leg armor.

Back at your base, you can spend scrap to create different weapons and armor from blueprints you collected from enemies. Some pieces of gear can not only have different stats but also different abilities such as gear with lights so you can see in the dark.

You can also acquire implants which grant passive abilities like stat increases or active abilities like boosting stamina and healing. Implants consume core power, however, so you have to equip and use them wisely.

4. Enemies Include Giant Robots and Former Co-Workers

All around the ruins of the CREO facility, you encounter crazed employees who wear exo-suits just like you. Many have the same abilities and weapons as you, which you can take after you defeat them. They also change depending on where you are in the level, such as encountering heavy armor enemies in the loading area of the facility as demonstrated by the Gamescom 2016 trailer. You can trick certain enemies into attacking each other, such as the three flamethrower enemies in the second gameplay trailer.

In addition, there are a number of robotic enemies to fight, taking the form of anything from flying drones to more dog-like bots. They will have their own attacks and ways to fight them. The mini-boss shown off in the Gamescom 2016 trailer can have its attack interrupted if you punch it in the eye before it leaps at you.

You can bet there’ll be huge bosses to fight with their own attacks to dodge and weaknesses to exploit. The big twist with bosses is that attacking them doesn’t decrease their health but increases their threat analysis meter. Once threat analysis is maximized, bosses start using more aggressive attacks but also make themselves more vulnerable to direct attacks on their health. Then you have to build up their threat analysis again and repeat the process until the bosses are defeated. In the Gamescom 2016 trailer, the big robot boss starts shooting rockets but they can be used to hit the robot instead to damage it and open it up for follow up attacks. However, this isn’t the only way to fight bosses, especially if you want the most loot.

5. The Game Is Being Developed By Award-Winning Studio Deck13 Interactive

Deck13 Interactive is a game development studio based in Germany and founded in 2001. They have developed over 20 titles including Lords of the Fallen, another title heavily inspired by Dark Souls. The developer employs over 60 people across their studios in Frankfurt and Hamburg. They also serve as a publisher of games from independent developers such as CrossCode.

They won a German Developer Award for Best German Studio in 2014. They also won Best Action Game, Best Game Design, and Best German Game in the same year for Lords of the Fallen. Their game Ankh won Best German Game of the Year with another game known as Jack Keane winning Best Adventure Game of the Year.

The Surge is being published by Focus Home Interactive. The company is based in Paris, France and was founded in 1996. They also published Blood Bowl 1 and 2, Of Orcs and Men, Divinity II, and Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition.