I will admit that I did not go into The Surge with the highest of expectations. However, by the end of the 30 plus hour campaign, I found myself thinking this is one of the best surprises of the year. If you are a fan of a good sci-fi setting, challenging gameplay and fun and action-packed combat. You really do need to take a closer look at this.
How to Download The Surge
The game can be download from GOG or Steam. There are even accompanying DLCs, and some of them are free. Not to mention the free demo. GOG offers Augmented Edition of this action RPG, which includes all the bonus content. To start downloading hit the button below this review. You should know also that the sequel to the game will be released in 2019, September 24. And if you like the genre, check out also Mass Effect: Andromeda.
The Game Review
Let’s start with the story. The setting of the game is that you work for a corporation trying to make the world a better place. You end up knocked out on your first day when you come to there are zombified people, messed up cyborgs and AI gone haywire. Granted the story is not the best and I do feel the setting and premise are better than the actual story the game tells, but there is enough here to keep you motivated.
The best aspect of The Surge for me is the combat. This is a 3rd person style of game and the combat plays very fast and kind of like a hack and slash game. You will need to dodge, study your enemies’ attacks and in general actually think about what you are doing. The combat is very, very satisfying and the way the games looting and upgrade system works is a huge part of this.
You see, you can actually take a specific body part from an enemy and then use that to improve your own badass exosuit. What is very interesting is that as you collect loot, you have to get to a “checkpoint” before you can make use of it. Die before you get here and you lose what you have
This may sound like a punishing game mechanic, but it actually works very well as you are rewarded for taking chances thanks to the multiplier that the game has. You can really rake in more by taking a chance, but of course, the risk of getting killed is higher. It is a very “Dark Souls” kind of game mechanic and therefore it will be the kind of thing you either love or hate.
There is a nice number of weapons for you to play with. For me though, I found finding one or two that I really like and sticking with them to be the way to go. I just upgraded the heck out of the hammer type weapon and the forklift arms and those served me through the entire game. Of course, you can play around with the weapons if you like and I am sure many will have fun doing that.
The Surge is the kind of game that when you see gameplay footage of it, you think it will be rather generic. That is not the case at all and while the story is a bit hard to keep track of. I am sure this will be an adventure that you will want to see through all the way to the end. The main reason being that super fun combat and looting system the game has.
