The Surge

Cool premise, setting and game mechanics. Unplayable because of awful camera, hitboxes and attack windups.

Чтож, изначально я был настроен вполне дружелюбно к этой игре. Один блогер в Тир листе соулслайков поставил её довольно высоко, похвалив за атмосфэру. Ну и как бы во вторую часть я хотел погамать, а перед этим всё же решил пройти первую. И это была большая ошибка. Изначально всё выглядит довольно неплохо, первая локация в целом норм, босс... ну на троечку, но для первого босса потянет. А дальше я перешёл на вторую локацию и пробегал на ней несколько часов. И в полной мере вкусил все прелести данной игры. Не знаю, какой хороший человек отвечал здесь за дизайн уровней, а какой решил, что карта в этой игре лишняя. В моей коллекции пройденных игр довольно много соулслайков. Вся линейка соулсов, бладборн, ниохи, элден ринг и ещё небольшая кучка близких к данному жанру игр. И эта однозначно забирает пальму первенства за самый убогий и ужасный дизайн уровней. Многие шутят про топографический кретинизм, но дело не в нём. Я много раз оказывался в ситуации, когда после боя с очередным мобом просто не мог понять, с какой же стороны я пришёл и куда идти дальше. С левел дизайном тут всё настолько плохо, что это даже не хорошо. Я искренне надеюсь, что после этой части с отвечающим за это человеком случилось что-то не очень хорошее и больше он никогда не садился проектировать уровни. Т.к. я всерьёз убеждён, что любой школьник посмотревший по данной тематике пару роликов на Ютубе, сделал бы лучше. Череда однотипных коридорчиков в которых ты не можешь понять, был ли ты тут уже или нет. Куча проходов ведущих непонятно куда и зачем. Странное переплетение коридоров, этажей и площадок. Я правда не могу вспомнить ни одной игры в которой всё было хотя бы на половину настолько ужасным. Не уверен, что наличие карты могло бы решить проблему, но хотя бы стоило попытаться. И нет, я не считаю, что для игр подобного жанра нужна карта. В Соулсах её нет, но игра работает, здесь же... И по поводу топографического кретинизма, я могу карту уровней DS 3 по памяти наверное воспроизвести. Почему? Да просто там уровни вполне логичны и постоянно подталкивают тебя к продвижению в нужном направлении. Здесь же, я даже с гайдами вообще не понимал, куда мне сейчас двигаться и зачем, где может сидеть босс или где точки интереса. Остальное в игре тоже не на высоте. Боёвка посредственная. Не то что бы плохая, но не цепляющая. Количество врагов крайне ограниченное, а их дизайн мало чем отличается. Прокачка в целом нормальная. Есть интересное решение с выбиванием брони путём отсечения конечностей врагов. Но блин, всё это наглухо ломает убожество местных локаций. В какой-то момент я просто задолбался, врубил читы и побежал к финалу сметая всё на своём пути. Мне просто стало неприятно находиться в этой игре и тратить на неё время. В общем это был довольно разочаровывающий и неприятный опыт, без которого я вполне мог бы жить. Не рекомендую эту игру никому. Здесь вас ждут лишь унылые однотипные коридоры в которых главной вашей проблемой будет понять, были ли вы уже здесь или же нет. Не тратьте на это своё время. Даже первый Nioh на её фоне даст сто очков форы. Это не просто плохой соулслайк, это плохая и крайне нудная игра. Надеюсь вторая часть окажется лучше.

I'm not a big souls-like player, I played Dark Souls and a bit of Dark Souls 2 but otherwise I'm not really that into the genre. The Surge on the other hand really managed to pull my attention. I like the high tech aesthetic and the combat in which you face both human and robot enemies. You play as Warren, a new employeefor CREO, a company focusing on engineering with their latest objective to restore the environment on earth through Project Resolve. Warrens interest mainly comes from getting access to an EXO rig, an exoskeleton that gives the user superhuman strength and endurance which would allow the crippled Warren to walk again. However when his rig was surgically attached to him, the surgery robot malfunctions and forgets to sedate him which causes Warren to black out from the pain. When he reawakens he finds himself in a destroyed part of the facility, the worker drones and robots are malfunctioning and the workers all have their brain implant fried which put them into a zombified state, mindlessy wandering around and attacking Warren if he comes to close. You make your way back to the main facility and try to find out what happened and how you can fix this. As you progress through the company you wil have to fight through many enemies that see you as a safety hazard. Luckily your exo rig allows you to carry heavy industry equipment that deals a ton of damage to enemies. The combat in this game feels slow and heavy. There are faster weapons in the game but most of them are designed to have a slow windup time but high impact on enemies. This puts player into a difficult spot in which they have to time their attacks right to counter enemy attacks. Hits can stagger enemies which is easier on heavier weapons but takes more hits on lighter ones. Staggered enemies can be dealed with easier, which allows you to chain attack combos together. The Surge does not differentiate between heavy and light attacks and instead uses horizontal and vertical hits which players can use to create their own combos to stagger enemies and hit body parts they desire. Which is brings me to a focus point of the game, body parts. All enemies, both humanoid and robotic, have different parts players can target. Armored parts take less damage and take more impact to stagger. However, if you deal enough damage to armored body parts, you can cut it off through a finisher (for human enemies) or destroy it to reduce the danger of a robotic enemy. This also applies to bosses which have many different parts that can be detached or broken to gain a combat advantage. More importantely, this is also how you gain new gear. Because all human enemies wear the same rig as you, you can cut off their limbs to get that specific part from them. This allows you to craft the same armor for that body part in the base. The first time you do this for any body part you get the required schematic, further body parts will give you crafting materials to craft and upgrade those armor parts. This gives players direct control on what armor they want to farm from enemies. Not finishing enemies with an execution prevents you from gaining any materials because they destruct on death. You stil get scrap however which is used as the currency of this game. There are no shops in the game but you can use scrap to upgrade your rig which increases the amount of power it has. Power is required to equip the various armor pieces, higher tiers require more power. It also is used to equip various implants that you can find throughout the game by exploring the world. These implants have either an active or passive effect. Active effects can be something like healing or a buff, they are essentially your flask in the game. Your power is also used to open various doors in the game by shortcircuit exposed cables. This is in some cases required to progres sthrough the main game in most cases it is however used to open optional sections for extra loot. The game lacks any traditional leveling, your gear is what defines your stats and the only way to get better stats is to farm enemies for crafting materials so you can upgrade it. This is however limited because enemies, just like your armor, come in tiers and you can only upgrade your armor to tier 2 if you can find and kill enemies of tier 2. This means that players will hit a wall and cannot powerlevel their way through the game is they are stuck. This can be somewhat offputting for experienced soul players but I personally like this system because it keeps things balanced and challenging. But what about weapons? Enemies drop their weapons if you cut off the arm that holds the weapon. There are several weapon types in the game, one handed, two handed, staves, single- and two-rigged. Warrens gains profiency while using weapons of a specfic type which increases the base damage of that weapon. You still can upgrade the weapon just like armor, but this gives players at least some sort of standard leveleling progression even if the impact isn't as high as in other games. Each weapon has their own scaling efficiency, some weapons have higehr base damage but gain less from proficiency, others have low base damage but scale really well into thje late game. There are a lot of weapons and besides their csclaing power they also have different impact to stagger enemies as well as attack speed. Weapons also define energy gain which is used to execute enemies or activate several implants. This includes your personal drone (yes, you get one too) which helps you in combat. There are also different damage types for weapons like elemental and slashing damage and enemies can have different resistances to various types but personally I never paid much attention. You don't really need to min-.max in this game to squeeze out more damage for bosses. Speaking of bosses, this is one of the worse aspects of the game. The bosses are interesting because they are big robots (and in one case an entire assembly line), but there are only five different bosses in the base game to face. There are some minibosses you can find but that's it. Also during bosses the drawbacks of the combat system begin to shine. Combat feels cunkly, mainly because of the long windup time for attacks. Bosses are mostly immune to impact, so you cannot stagger them. The combat was clearly designed around the personal onne on one encounters against humanid enemies because it can become hard to hit enemies, you just clip through or get hit by something that didn't physically connect with your character. This can make bossfights frustrating. Then there is the issue with so called hardcore kills. Bosses drop their specific boss weapon on death but what the game does not tell you is that enemies can also drop an improved 2.0 version of the weapon that is stronger and has extra effects. You only get these by beating the boss in avery specific way and th egame gives you no clues how to do that or that it's even possible. I suggest to check out guides how to get those improved weapons because they are worth it. Combat feels the best when battling single enemies and gets out of hand when you have to face entire groups, which will happen more and more as you progress through the game. I like the personal stype in combat, focusing on a single enemy and I think that's one of the games biggest strengths. Luckily you can bait enemies out of groups by using your drone, which was probably the intended purpose. I also want to praise the level design. Each section of the game is centered around a base that you can use to heal and craft and you will open shortcuts to always get back to that central point. This looping structure of th egame world makes navigating easier although the game could use a map in my opinion.

Well, what should I say… sometimes it helps to know that some games have more and some games have less budget, to sometimes be a bit more tolerant of certain flaws, but I cannot recommend the game in good conscience because in the end, it simply does too much wrong. It has its moments, it has a lot of wasted potential, the story has a good approach, I really like the intro, but especially the actual gameplay is not fluffy and fluid enough over long stretches. It is frustrating when you miss a jump somewhere or bump into something etc. and you are not the real mistake or the problem, but the controls and the gameplay, and you die because of it. Nothing against hard games, but far too many enemies still knock you down with one hit even later on, which would not be a problem if the clunky controls were not constantly in your way or if enemies do not jump at you from some stupid corners, and blocking also functions totally inconsistently. Additionally, later on, the game is simply cluttered with more and more annoying enemies, so you cannot just quickly walk through already familiar areas. One half of the enemies (robots) are also just annoying. Not because they are hard, but because they take long, behave boringly, and just stand in the way and drag out the gameplay. The menu and interface are also a catastrophe as soon as you have more than 20 items or parts for your equipment. These are things that really must be noticed during development, or you can think of good solutions beforehand. So, it did make fun, but at equal parts it was also a frustrating experience that stuttered again and again, built up no real flow, and was interrupted by errors in the gameplay.

Lo unico malo que no hay tetas

The Surge is one of those rare soulslike games that truly feels like it has its own identity. Instead of relying on dark fantasy castles, cursed kingdoms, or gothic ruins, it throws the player into a brutal cyberpunk-industrial nightmare: steel corridors, malfunctioning machines, corporate decay, exoskeletons, body horror, and oppressive factory environments. It is a unique game, and that uniqueness is probably its greatest strength. The atmosphere is excellent. CREO’s industrial complex feels hostile, claustrophobic, and deeply unsettling. There is always this feeling that something went terribly wrong and that you are walking through the remains of a place that was never designed to be humane. The game also has a strong horror and thriller edge, not necessarily because it is constantly trying to scare you, but because the world itself feels dangerous, cold, and abandoned. It is oppressive in a very memorable way. Graphically, is also surprisingly beautiful. The art direction carries the experience: sparks, metal, machinery, armor pieces, lighting, and industrial scenery all work together to create a very convincing world. Even better, the game runs extremely well. It is well optimized, smooth, and technically solid, which makes the heavy and methodical combat much more satisfying. The level design deserves special praise. The maps are extremely well connected, full of shortcuts, loops, vertical paths, and hidden routes. There is a real sense of relief when you finally open a shortcut back to the safe zone. That feeling is one of the best things a soulslike can deliver, and the game understands it very well. The safe zone is not just a menu room; it feels like a breath of air after surviving a mechanical nightmare. Combat is slow, deliberate, and punishing. This is not a game about rushing forward or mashing buttons. It rewards patience, observation, and calm decision-making. For players who have never played a soulslike, it can be very difficult and unforgiving. But veterans of the genre will probably have a lot of fun with its systems and rhythm. The weapons and exoskeletons are one of the highlights. They look brutal, heavy, and distinct, and the fantasy of becoming stronger through industrial armor and mechanical upgrades is very satisfying. The dismemberment system is especially interesting and unique... something that i wanted in FromSoftware games. Targeting specific body parts is not just a gimmick: it directly affects farming, grinding, equipment acquisition, and progression. Cutting off an enemy’s armored limb to obtain that piece of gear makes the grind much more enjoyable and purposeful. Imagine this mechanic in a souslike with PVP system? Would be so fun. The upgrade system is also excellent. It’s nothing like simply putting points into certain attributes; instead, you equip different kinds of bionic augments. There is a very satisfying loop of fighting enemies, collecting materials, improving gear, and slowly becoming more capable. The progression feels earned, and because equipment is tied to enemies and body parts, farming becomes more engaging than in many other action RPGs. That said, the game is not perfect. I wish the weapons had better movesets and more interesting special attacks. Some weapon classes feel good, but the combat could have benefited from more variety, more expressive combos, and more distinctive special moves. The set bonuses are also uneven. Some armor set bonuses feel useful and exciting, while others are underwhelming or not creative enough. The side quests are surprisingly good, mostly because they progress organically as you explore (Like in Lies of P but without the markpoints), making them feel like a natural part of the journey rather than a checklist of optional objectives. Another negative point is the lack of deeper armor customization. The exosuits and armor sets look great, but the game would be even better if it allowed more visual customization, mixing, coloring, or personalization. In a game so focused on armor, implants, upgrades, and mechanical identity, this feels like a missed opportunity. The bosses are also not the most memorable part of the experience. They are not terrible, and there is clearly heart behind them, but they do not reach the iconic status of the best bosses in the genre. Still, they fit the world very well. The bosses are not especially memorable, but that does not mean they are bad. Some of them work quite well and have genuinely interesting ideas. Most are okay, and a few feel like they had great potential if they had been pushed a little further. Even so, they can still be quite challenging, especially because the game itself demands patience, positioning, and careful resource management. For a first entry in the franchise, though, what the game delivers is perfectly acceptable. They may not be the strongest part of the experience, but they still fit the world, serve their purpose, and can be very fun. The lore is another strong point. The game tells its story through environments, audio logs, item descriptions, corporate propaganda, and the unsettling remains of the CREO facility. It has a strong identity, with themes of technological ambition, exploitation, body modification, environmental collapse, and corporate control. It is not just “Dark Souls with robots”... it has its own world, its own tone, and its own ideas. Overall, this is an excellent game and an easy recommendation for anyone interested in soulslikes, cyberpunk, industrial horror, or methodical action RPGs. It is oppressive, beautiful, well designed, well optimized, and mechanically unique. It has flaws, especially in moveset variety, armor customization, some set bonuses, and boss memorability, but its strengths are much more important. It is a slow, patient, punishing, atmospheric game with a lot of personality. For soulslike veterans, this game is absolutely worth playing.

Exciting game, frustrating story though. Wish there were an objective/quest title and breakdown cause idk half the time what im suppose to do. So I'm just progreessing through the game killing jaeggars because why not. Fun map and how it loops around. Edge of Tomorrow x Dark Souls 1!

General Review and Gameplay: It's actually good. It may not be enjoyable for some who doesn't prefer souls-like games but as someone who played similar games, I can't complain. There are actual mechanics to the bosses, some enemies are easier to deal with certain weapons or hitting certain body parts, and I actually liked the idea of not having an actual interactive map. You get to work through the different paths, shortcuts, and retrace when you die. It can be tedious, but I wasn't expecting anything easy when I played the game. I am not sure if you can get by with a single weapon single build the entire game, but this is one amongst the games that I played where I actually explored different weapons and armors, tried different strategies, and observe the enemies to deal with them "easily". Performance: Never got any stuttering or weird performance issues. Game ran smoothly on my entire playthrough.