The Surge 2 is still a few months away from release, but already it is catching a lot of attention for its revamped combat mechanics and general overhauled gameplay compared to its predecessor. Deck13 Interactive, the developer behind the series, has not only improved the sequel in comparison to the first, but have added new features to separate it from its contemporaries, making it an exciting action role-playing game.
The latest from The Surge 2 is a developer gameplay walkthrough, in which Deck13 head of game design Adam Hetenyi shows off a segment of the title with commentary on how the new mechanics work. Check it out below, along with my recap and impressions.
The footage starts off in Jericho City, which is the setting for The Surge 2. It is currently under quarantine due to a techno-virus that has ravaged the city, which has been infecting people with robotic attachments. The player character sets off into one of the security checkpoints maintained by the A.I.D, which is one of the main factions in the game. After trying to brute force his way through the checkpoint and promptly dying, we find out that there are a lot of branching paths possible in The Surge 2, and we get to see one of them as the character runs through an alley.
The character then meets with a doctor in a side alley, and here we see another new feature in The Surge 2, where you can basically decide how conversations play out with different choices. Deck13 has certainly gone all-out with the role-playing mechanic, particularly after the first in which you only get to play as a single character named Warren. The doctor is also one of the many NPCs you’ll be able to meet in Jericho City, each with their own set of interactions and possible missions to complete.
The character is then given a mission to find a crashed drone and return its loot to the doctor. We get to see some action against scavengers, which showcases some more of the revamped combat for The Surge 2. The scrap mechanic aspect makes a return, as one of the scavengers has handily utilized a car door on his EXO-RIG – the in-game universe’s exoskeleton – to use as a shield. Of course, like its predecessor, The Surge 2 places a great focus on limb dismemberment as a huge mechanic, and once you weaken certain parts you can perform a special attack to cut off limbs and get equipment schematics for you to use. It’s a very creative mechanic that basically allows you to mix and match your EXO-RIG with various different augmentations, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
Later in the video we see the character switch from his long-bladed staff weapon into some fast-attacking gauntlets. There is a veritable horde of weapons available in The Surge 2, each one boasting its own move sets and special attacks; in particular, these gauntlets allow the character to do a fast backflip in order to avoid attacks, which heavily reminds me of the Dark Grain Wood Ring in Dark Souls. Either way, it looks amazing in action, and really showcases how different each weapon can be and how you can use those differences to your advantage against different enemies.
Another change I saw was with regards to the drone module, which was a staple in The Surge. In The Surge 2, the drone can be outfitted with different modules at the same time, switching between them on the fly. It makes for a very intuitive experience where you can change your drone’s behavior on the go, with time briefly slowing down as you do so. The drone also has take-off animations now, as opposed to in the first one where it just kind of materializes in mid-air. In The Surge 2, the drone will fly off from your back, and you can see it parked on you when not in use.
Since The Surge 2 was announced to have added a multiplayer mechanic, we had little idea on how it would be implemented. The gameplay demo did provide some answers for that, and we get to see interactions between players reminiscent of the Souls games, where players can leave messages in the world for you to find, sometimes offering words of wisdom and clues, and sometimes just greetings and congratulatory words after you beat difficult enemies – to which this next segment showcases a little more on.
The footage also debuted a boss fight, one of the many we can expect from an action RPG title such as The Surge 2. The boss, Delver Echo, is quite formidable; many times in the video the character is pushed to very low health because of its wide area of attack. However, the boss does have the same weaknesses every enemy does, and the trick is of course to focus on every limb in order to expose a weak point. After a long and arduous battle, the character emerges victorious, and the footage ends.
With each new video I see from this game, the more I’m excited for it. The Surge was already a fantastic title, despite its mixed reception, which is mostly due to its severe lack of polish. If Deck13 can build upon this premise of polish with these new and impressive mechanics, then The Surge 2 will already be a shoe-in for one of the best action titles this year.
The Surge 2 will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on September 24.
