(Deck13)
The Surge released today and I’ve spent about two and a half hours with it so far. I’m really digging what I played despite some concerns I have.
The game opens strong, giving you everything you need to know and getting you in the mood to play it. I love how you’re lead to believe that your character Warren is sitting on a regular train seat only to turn the camera around to find that he’s actually in a wheelchair. Then you come to realize that part of the reason he signed up for company CREO is so he can get an exo-suit and walk again. It’s a great bit of storytelling that could only be accomplished in the medium of video games.
It then grabs you with its gruesome second GC cutscene. Seeing Warren writhe around as his exo-suit is drilled into his skin and welded around him demonstrated the power of cutscenes when used in tandem with story-driven gameplay.
So that’s how it’s introduced, but how does it play? Pretty well, actually.
The Surge wears it’s Dark Souls influence on its exo-suit sleeve. You explore semi-linear worlds filled with hidden collectibles and enemies. You also collect scrap metal (this game’s version of Souls) which you drop when you die and have to retrieve before you die again and lose it forever. It is pretty annoying that you have a timer before your scrap disappears, however. You also have a makeshift hub area where you can heal, level up, and upgrade weapons and armor. You can also bank unused scrap for later, which is great for when you have a little bit left that you don’t what to lose after death.
Combat is also heavily inspired by Dark Souls as you have to read enemy attacks and then block or counterattack accordingly. It’s fun so far but sometimes the enemies are really bad at telegraphing their attacks. Once I thought an enemy was kneeling over as if stunned only to hit me with an uppercut. Also the lunges from enemies running towards you occur unexpectedly far away and fast.
Combat does have a few twists to keep things fresh. First of all, you can attack either horizontally or vertically by pressing the right shoulder button or trigger respectively. This more or less translates into different combos you can perform on enemies. You can even chain the two ways of attacking to, for example, attack with a vertical slash and then back flip out of the way with a horizontal one with the YOSUKE Butterfly weapon.
By far the biggest twist is the ability to attack different body parts. That way you can attack unarmored sections for extra damage and more staggers. If you attack a body part enough times, you may lop it off with your finishing move and acquire new materials, a blueprint for new gear, or even a new weapon. While it definitely livens up gameplay and allows you to farm for specific materials from specific body parts, there doesn’t appear to be any reason to switch between body parts which would have livened it up even more. However, switching between body parts can be a bit fiddly. Plus, now you have to hold down a button to switch the lock-on between enemies instead of just hitting the right control stick.
Also, for the love of all that is holy unbind the left control stick button for sprinting. There were so many times where I accidentally pressed it while moving around which threw my positioning off and wasted stamina. This way you can just hold down the X or A button to sprint and then press it quickly to jump.
Exploration also takes liberally from Dark Souls’s book and it’s all the better for it. While pretty linear, the environments can twist and turn into each other creating deceivingly complex environments. You can weave your way through and around the assembly area, head towards the entrance to the power plant only to discover an alternate path and then go through the assembly area again from the rafters above and then back to your base. And of course, there are plenty of well-placed shortcuts and hidden items to make exploring worth it.
I have yet to fight any of the bosses or encounter any NPC questlines, but I enjoyed my time with The Surge so far. Look forward to a full review for my final verdict in the near future.
