My curse has always been not having a need to do things in chronological order. I watched The Dark Knight before I ever saw Batman Begins on cable TV. The Surge 2, from Deck 13 and Focus Home Entertainment fit into my problem. As a part of the majority that didn’t play the original game, I had a fear of being muddled by lore that was foreign to me or worse yet barrier building. Yet, I walked away from Surge 2 perfectly content with the experience of this Dark Souls-like action RPG.
THE SURGE 2
Developed by: Deck 13
Published by: Focus Home Ent.
Available for: Xbox One, PS4, PC
On paper, The Surge 2 is loaded with potential. Promise, which in its finer moments delivers. Fast combat, tons of weapon variety, confined yet ingeniously designed levels give this game strong legs to stand on. The most fun of the game is its limb-focused combat system. As you master the art of targetting enemy body parts, your character becomes a Picasso of death decapitating or dismembering as you so desire.
The Surge 2 starts with you as a passenger on an airplane flight that crashes when an apocalypse missile strikes the world. You wake up in Jericho City, ground zero of a new outbreak that has plunged the populace into anarchy. You slap on a mechanical exoskeleton and set out to escape the city overrun with factions at war.
The game’s fun is at its peak when you’re in one-on-one combat. Enemies can hit you as hard as a runaway train and drain your health in microseconds. While that sounds exhausting, it’s also exciting. A parry system creates a balance between risk and reward. Making it some of the best combat in video games this year.
Surge 2’s strength also exposes a glaring weakness. Levels are tightly designed to a point where putting more than two characters on screen at a time makes it feel claustrophobic. The amount of overzealous caution you have to put into traverse areas overrun by enemies slows down your experience to a slug. Depending on how you enjoy flow and pace in video games may hinder your experience.
At its core, The Surge 2 is a commentary on consumer consumption and the senseless tragedy greed can bring. The narrative explores ideology through the bits and pieces you encounter in its semi-open world. A move that allows the gameplay to take center stage and retain the focus.
The Surge 2 isn’t a perfect game, but it is one that quickly grows on you to make up for its flaws. You won’t even realize just how much you’ve become addicted to the game until you pass hours playing it that go by like minutes.
