The Surge Review
Played on Xbox One (base)
Developed by Deck13
Released 16th May 2017
With abysmal reception from their first Souls-like, Lords of the Fallen, Deck13 were here willing to garner criticism for their game and not only expand upon it but to improve its features and remove the very flaws that decided the fate of Lord of the Fallen, making The Surge stronger due to its utilised player feedback.
Story
The Surge attempts to mirror the immersive and expansive narrative of Dark Souls but does not manage to succeed. The game is set in a grim, dystopian future where the evolution of technology in relation to society and the environment has led to a decadent era for humanity. This alone is what hooked me into the game and resulted in me pouring so much of my time into it. However, the story progresses in the wrong direction, into being a "save the world" trope, underutilising its setting. Not only did I find myself even less interested in the story as it went on, but I also noticed a drop in quality. I doubt I could find anyone online being incredibly immersed in the story and analysing its structure in the same way people did for Dark Souls.
Gameplay
The gameplay is brilliant and is the best part of the whole game. The general feel of dodging, moving and attacking is smooth and responsive. Aside from the basics of stamina management and timing, the game introduces quite a unique concept that I don't know why other games haven't tried emulating. The idea of attacking individual limbs on an enemy isn't anything worthy of praise on its own but the way Deck13 integrated it into their RPG and combat system is fantastic. If you were to attack the unarmoured limb of an enemy, you'll be dealing bonus damage, resulting in a shorter and quicker confrontation. But if you strike at the armoured sections, you'll do less damage, but you'll be led to an execution-style dismemberment that'll reward you with items and materials based on where you slashed and bashed. This is a great mechanic to differentiate the game among other Souls-likes in the industry and to add more skill-based gameplay and critical thinking in terms of playstyles, which is just amazing.
I do have some nit-picks to address though. The underused mechanic of the drone and extra injectables offer branching paths in fights but I would not go out of my way to try to acquire them as they did not feel significant enough compared to my other upgrades. Overall, weapons were very similar to each other and very few were distinctive enough to catch my eye. Finally, the difficulty of some regular enemies felt ridiculous at times, with them being able to stun lock, two-shot or even body block me on my runs back to my Tech Scrap (the currency used for upgrades). At the same time, in other moments of the game, I flew right past so many enemies that I had no reason to go back to Medbay (the saferoom that contains these purchasable upgrades). The difficulty jolts back and forth and can't find anything but uneven footing and pacing throughout the whole game. However, despite these nit-picks piling sky-high, the gameplay manages to be pretty good.
Bossfights
The boss fights are somewhat lacklustre in comparison to the innovative mechanics in gameplay. There are a total of 5 bosses that you'll have to encounter in order to complete the game and it's sad to say, but they were a little too easy. The most attempts I've had on a boss is 6 and that was the second boss, in which I was still getting a hold of my bearings. This easiness shortened my playthrough down to 12 hours, compared to the average of 20 hours. In addition to this, the bosses were shallow in terms of design, lore, and even music. With a forgettable soundtrack, these drably designed robots just didn't do it for me. Fortunately, the nicely telegraphed attacks and their overwhelmingly powerful moves made these adrenaline-filled moments even better. If only the atmospheric quality matched the combat.
Characters
The characters deserve a brief, at best, section to be talked about. The NPCs are quite forgettable, don't offer much world-building and have both the most uninteresting designs and dialogue - the end.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is average in all regards. Starting with the most mundane of them all: the soundtrack. The sci-fi instrumentals and dystopian animosity hidden within the tracks are all great but suffer since they're not bold enough to stand out in the game, instead blending into the background where you can expect to instantly forget the rhythm or pacing of them in less than 10 seconds after finishing listening to it. The visuals are also problematic. I could barely differentiate each aspect of each level from another since shortcuts and main areas blended so much with each other that it all seemed like the exact same location. While I do love the idea of a destroyed utopia, it just didn't work well enough. Although, certain areas do represent the nightmarish conquering of machines or the hopeless survival of humans incredibly well and they're still stuck in my head, even after finishing the game a month later. However, the monotonous colour palettes and meaningless halls, corridors, and stairs, bring the quality of some of the better areas down.
Story- 5/10
Gameplay- 8/10
Bossfights- 6/10
Characters- 4/10
Atmosphere- 6/10
Mediocre
While it suffers from the weight of its own concepts, it is a worthwhile time for any Souls-like fan.
