While at E3 I had the chance to check out a presentation from Deck13 on The Surge 2. It was all about what was new, and based on what I learned, The Surge 2 looks like a sequel done right. It's aiming to release next year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
The first big change in The Surge 2 is that it's leaving the factory for the big city. It takes place in the quarantined Jericho City, which is now ravaged by gangs and bandits. The urban sprawl will be home to many different locations, which is likely a reaction to some criticism of the original where many found the factory locales to be too similar.
With that bigger world, The Surge 2 will encourage you to explore as well. There will be hidden items to find, hidden areas, and a whole lot of secrets littered about. Where the original had items hidden just around the corner, going off the beaten path in the sequel will have greater rewards. It will be more involved than making sure to smash all the boxes in an area.
Where the world is getting bigger, everything else is as well. One complaint that could be made with the original is that there weren't that many bosses and just a few weapon types. Well, The Surge 2 is literally doubling on that. The original had five bosses, and The Surge 2 will likely end up with ten. The same goes for weapons, which had five types on the original and will have ten in The Surge 2.
The game’s not only gotten bigger in terms of content, but also in terms of gameplay. The enemies now have an improved AI to make them smarter and more dynamic, and there are new abilities for them to play with. In the demo, Deck13 explained that enemies will actively work against you now, by, for example, having one keep you busy while the other takes shots at you with their gun. A new ability was shown off as well, which had an enemy go invisible by using a cloaking device. With more tech available in Jericho City, we can expect to see a lot more abilities as well.
Drones have been reworked for The Surge 2, relying on the ranged weapons you pick up off of enemies. Where before they were passive with some usable abilities, you can now pick up ranged weapons of any defeated enemy to equip to your drone. You then get to choose when to shoot, which will allow you to set up even more devastating combos.
The final addition to combat they mentioned is directional blocking. We had the ability to do a short hop to avoid attacks or duck before in the original, but now we get the opportunity for something a little riskier. Directional blocking will not only have to be facing the right way, you’ll have to time it well to actually pull it off. Doing so will give you an opening to do some great damage to your enemy, however.
You will also have the ability to create your own character as well, as The Surge 2 doesn't have a set protagonist. So that means there will be a character creator with a bunch of options you can choose from. Based on the different types of characters they showed, it will have a decent set of tools.
The Surge 2 is shaping up to be a solid sequel to a solid game. I can’t wait to hear more and see what the game will end up being sometime next year. Stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, if you’re unfamiliar with the series, check out our review of the first game.
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