The Surge

WHO AM I? WHERE AM I? WHERE SHOULD I GO? 10 ONE-SHOTS OUT OF 10

Guide recommended, time consuming, not easy. This game has been my introduction to the Souls like genre and looking forward to playing it again.

This review is based on 100% completion and 46.8 hours of gameplay. [h1][b]Recommendation:[/b][/h1] Would I recommend the game? I would. This isn't a bad little game, especially for a souls-like. It is on the easier side, and while it's not an amazing game with deep, well-crafted mechanics, it was fun for the time I spent with it. That said, it is not without its faults, and I do think there are a decent number of issues that, if addressed, could have made this game something really special. Firstly, the visuals are really great. I love the way this game looks. The handcrafted environments and enemy designs give it a great aesthetic, although I would have liked a bit more enemy variety. It gives me strong Dead Space vibes in terms of the setting, but with a much lighter tone. While the areas are fairly small, the connecting corridors, unlockable shortcuts and train system all help give the game a nice flow. The sound design and audio throughout the game were good for what they were. The voice acting was also done well with the material the actors had to work with. I just think the writing itself needed to be more compelling. On that note, the narrative is a big issue for me. It is basically non-existent, and while I understand they were going for a more typical souls-like experience where the story isn't handed to you and you discover things as you go, I just don't think it was done well. The start is strong. It's interesting, and you genuinely want to learn more. But from that very first cutscene where you choose your starting gear, it feels like the game suddenly jumps ahead without giving you enough backstory, setting or context. This continues throughout the experience, with NPCs not really telling you much, and the audio logs and environmental storytelling also not giving you enough to really piece things together. I understand what they were trying to achieve, but I don't think they found the right balance between what to tell you, when to tell you, and how to tell it. Which sucks, because this is a really interesting IP that I would genuinely like to learn more about. For me, a masterclass example of this would be the first Dead Space. You go onto the Ishimura on a mission without really knowing what to expect, then discover what has happened as you progress. You slowly piece everything together, and it's done in a compelling way. That's something I just didn't get here. Instead, this game leaves you feeling more lost than intrigued. The gameplay is also very hit and miss. I played the entire game on controller, and for the most part, that was fine. The biggest issue, which I hope they ironed out in the subsequent game, is the lock-on camera. This makes combat extremely annoying and much more frustrating than it needs to be. You can't block properly unless you're locked on to the enemy that is hitting you, selecting which limb to target sometimes doesn't work well, and swapping between enemies is also very annoying. All of this makes fighting multiple enemies a massive pain, to the point where you'll often want to fight them one at a time for most of the game. This makes the game go very slowly, especially since whenever you "rest" or use the crafting/med station, every normal enemy respawns. Bosses and mini-bosses are the exceptions. So, the biggest issue I had with the game was definitely the camera during combat. The combat mechanics themselves were OK. I liked the different phases of the bosses, but they were all very similar and didn't have much variety in their movesets between phases, which made them very easy. Personally, I thought the normal enemies throughout the game were harder than most of the bosses. If the bosses had more diverse movesets that they switched between, making the fights a little less predictable, I think they would have been much more enjoyable. But for what they are, I thought they were fine. Switching between limbs and targeting armoured or unarmoured parts was cool in concept, just a little finicky in practice. I did like the idea of cutting off limbs to get blueprints for new gear, although I think it would have been cooler if you salvaged the equipment directly from the enemy rather than needing to craft it afterwards. Something more like actually taking the gear from them. When it comes to the DLC, I thought [i]The Good, the Bad and the Augmented[/i] was pretty mediocre. It is essentially just completing missions with modifiers applied, and I personally found it uninteresting. However, [i]A Walk in the Park[/i] was a completely different story and one I very much enjoyed. It gives you more backstory about how you ended up there and what was going on, while the DLC's setting and gameplay were just really fun. The only issue I had with it was that I tackled it towards the end of the game. By that point, it was very easy, and story-wise it didn't really make much sense for where I was in the main game. Again, the pacing felt a bit off. But besides its placement in the overall experience, I really enjoyed it. Overall, it's not a bad game, just not a great or particularly memorable one. If you're looking for a souls-like on the easier side to try out, this isn't a bad pick-up. I think the base price is fine for what you get, although you'll probably want the two DLCs mentioned above. Because of that, I would consider getting everything as a bundle. As this is an older game and it goes on a decent discount, I'd recommend waiting until then to pick it up. [h1][b]Achievements:[/b][/h1] [i][b]Something to note is that achievements in this game can take a moment to actually pop. For me, it was anywhere between a few seconds and around a minute after they should have unlocked, but other than that, they all unlocked when they were meant to. DLC is required for 100%, and there are a number of missable achievements alongside collectable, miscellaneous and story-related achievements. A minimum of two playthroughs will be required.[/b][/i] As this is a souls-like game, the difficulty of the achievements will depend somewhat on your skill level. Personally, though, I found them all fairly easy to complete. The only guides I would definitely recommend using are for the collectables, just so you don't miss any. There are some great video guides on YouTube by 360GameTV for both the [i][b][url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWoSIC9hyCY&t=1509s] base game [/url][/b][/i]and [i][b][url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq5m0BWNwqA&t=8s] A Walk in the Park [/url][/b][/i]DLC. None of the base game collectables are missable, as you are able to travel back to previous sections before the final fight. There are also some other handy Steam guides by [i][b][url= https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=931477973] Lozwans [/url][/b][/i]for the base game and [i][b][url= https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1529307398] John Vaun [/url][/b][/i]for [i]The Good, the Bad and the Augmented[/i] DLC if you would like a little more help. I think the only achievements you really need to worry about missing are in the [i]A Walk in the Park[/i] DLC, so make sure to check those before starting it. Overall, the achievements aren't that difficult once you get used to the game. You can get the majority of them in a single run, and while you could technically do everything in one playthrough by using some handy save file manipulation at certain points, you can also just do another run in NG+, which doesn't take that long. Personally, I completed everything except for three achievements, including the glasses, the other ending and the achievement for unlocking all achievements, during my first run. I then just tidied up the rest in NG+. [hr][/hr]For more in-depth yet straight-to-the-point reviews, feel free to check out my curator page [u][b][url= https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45595645/] here. [/url][/b][/u]

Многократно переваренный гринд. Бесконечный фиксированный спавн у мобов + убогий левел дизайн. По кругу бегаешь и собираешь циферки прокачки, чтобы бегать дальше и гриндить ещё больше, потому что сюжет здесь просто мусор позорный, который можно спокойно вырезать и вы этого даже не заметите. Драки выглядят красочно, сочно, тут спору нет. Но боевка при этом не интересная. Медленная, неповоротливая. Если коротко, то это уклон + блок (вторым вы пользоваться не будете). Спасают только добивания, да и они надоедают через пару часов. Сами мобы это отдельный прикол. Всё оружие в игре только ближнего боя с вариантами или ударяешь раз в час или пощекотать. Дальнобойных атак нет, при этом в игре часть мобов - дроны с рейндж атакой. Как их убивать? Да как хотите, собственно, это уже ваши проблемы. Бегайте за ними пока они стреляют в вас или ждите, пока они прилетят к вам сами, потому что не везде их можно достать в упор. Вся игра коридорная, карты в ней нет. Сами коридоры - маленькие, драться там абсолютно неудобно, особенно с боссами или мини-боссами, которые к тому же не сбалансированы. Их атаки порой вызывают недоумение. Отдельное спасибо первому боссу с его конченой фиксированной камерой на ноги, благодаря которой не видно половины его атак. После каждой смерти пытаешься вспомнить весь свой путь через однотипные локации, сквозь воскресших противников, чтобы успеть собрать весь свой накопленный лут, потому что кому-то показалось отличной идеей поставить таймер на его сгорание. Не успел? Ну гринди по новой, мобы же бесконечные. В общем, игра чисто на попробовать. Как надоест - скип.

[REVIEW AFTER 100% COMPLETION] Bought this game on sale for really cheap, didn't expect it to hook me like that. I enjoyed the storyline, it gets darker and more atmospheric every chapter. Level design is top tier for me, maps are large (you will get lost many times) but there are many shortcuts that you gonna find on every map. You need to pay attention where you going and memorize every corner because there is no map in this game. I liked combat system, its very unique, in order to obtain weapons or armor pieces you have to focus and cut it from your enemies that you come across, very satisfying. Game can be demanding, but you can play it slowly and make your character more powerful by just farming and upgrade the core. I also recommend buying augmented edition where you get all dlcs, 2 of them are smaller stories that will add around 10 hours of gameplay. I enjoyed them too. If you going for 100% completion, it will take more than 1 playthrough, but ng+ can be speedrunned fast. Overall i had a lot of fun in this game and its a hidden gem for me, game is not popular and not that new, but give it a try, its almost free when on sale so...

One of the worst games for combat ever made. It does not matter what DPS you have, there is always a delay when you click, the enemy will always hit first as they have no delay and they can cancel your attacks just so they can hit you, you can literally connect with them on your animation and they will cancel your attack and hit you while they are doing a slow animation. This game is a pile of s**t. There is also no map, you will have to go and look at maps on walls that are barely legible and because not a single place in this game is memorable even with the forced backtrack. Enemies and bosses have infinite health at random times, you will have no idea when you can attack them and then they will one-shot you. Regardless, it is still somewhat enjoyable.

The Surge - обзор после 100% достижений. The Surge - добротный soulslike в sci‑fi сеттинге, который держится на своих идеях, но страдает от неровности. Игра цепляет атмосферой корпорации CREO и фирменной механикой расчленения, но временами откровенно буксует. Плюсы: 1. Сеттинг CREO - мрачный индустриальный sci‑fi, который ощущается цельным и необычным. 2. Механика отрезания конечностей - лучшая часть игры: и зрелищно, и полезно для фарма брони. 3. Сборка билда через детали - понятная и мотивирующая. 4. DLC CREO World - разнообразнее основной игры, приятные зоны и атмосфера. Минусы: 1. Боссы - почти все простые и мало запоминаются. 2. DLC “Дикий Запад” - однообразное закликивание одинаковых мобов. 3. Финальный участок игры - внезапный скачок сложности за счёт толп ваншотящих мобов в узких коридорах. Итог: The Surge - неплохой sci‑fi soulslike, который подойдёт тем, кто уже знаком с жанром. Новичков может оттолкнуть неровностью и странными пиками сложности, но в целом игра оставляет приятное впечатление. Сеттинг и механика расчленения вытягивают проект, а выбивание всех достижений показывает, что игра всё‑таки умеет затянуть. Дальше по плану - The Surge 2. Интересно посмотреть, что они улучшили.

The most unique souls-like out there. I love the look of the game and its futuristic industrial setting, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. It captures perfectly the sense of isolation that Souls-likes are usually known for. I've heard many people say that the areas in this game are all too visually similar, making exploration hard and frustrating. While that might be true for some, I found it very well done and memorable. The level design is also great thanks to the clever use of shortcuts that wrap maps around, offering a sense of progression as you unlock them. Apart from its setting, what makes this game truly unique is its combat system. You can chop off enemies' limbs and take their armor and weapons without having to find them through sheer luck. I wish there where more games with such a system. Although there are only five bosses in the base game, they are all memorable and distinct from one another. I want to emphasize that the difficulty of this game is quite brutal. Unlike its peers, every enemy you encounter is a deadly challenge. If you're interested in the DLCs, I would only recommend getting "A Walk in the Park", as it's the only one that adds a proper explorable area with a decent story. The other DLC is a series of challenge rooms with different modifiers, which, to be honest, I hated playing through. If you like these kind of games I definitely recommend it!