Over the past several years, you couldn't go a day without hearing how a new title is inspired by From Software's influential Souls series. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Hyper Light Drifter are but a few titles released after Demon's Souls that are hard to bring up without viewing them through the prism of Hidetaka Miyazaki's creation. There is a line between inspiration and rip-off in the genre, with games like Team Ninja's Nioh managing to differentiate itself, which is not something that all titles managed to do. For example, Deck13 Interactive's Lords of the Fallen failed to escape the rip-off label with a valiant yet underwhelming effort to replicate From Software's success with their own medieval action-RPG. Now, the team behind that game seeks to distinguish itself in a similar manner to Team Ninja with The Surge, which has a confirmed release date of May 16 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
You play as Warren, who has joined forces with the megacorporation CREO to augment himself with exoskeleton technology. Despite the organization's efforts to aid this dim version of our world suffering from environmental disasters and technology's devastating impact on employment, something goes wrong as its headquarters is struck with its own problems. Warren awakes to find that the facility has been ruined and former co-workers have gone insane in their exoskeleton rigs. With autonomous robots out to get him as well, Warren has to upgrade and fight his way through metal and flesh to discover the mystery of his circumstances.
It looks and plays much like Dark Souls with its exploration and combat, but with a futuristic setting, potential for great enemy variety, and more spins on the game design, The Surge might just look to right Lords of the Fallen's faults and lack of memorability. Instead of heavy and light attacks, you can adjust your stance and target specific body parts, which is surprisingly similar in spirit to Nioh. And if you want to salvage particular pieces from doomed foes, you can perform finishing moves to see if you'll acquire them. You can also craft and upgrade your outfit by interchanging parts to alter your stats, allocate "Techscrap" to enhance your health or equip implants for passive abilities, and so on. If you find yourself intrigued enough to pre-order the game, you will receive a special rig and implants to give you an initial leg up. More details on their effects and where you can pre-order can be accessed here. Lastly, if you'd like a flashier portrayal of The Surge's gameplay loop, you can check out the new CGI trailer "Stronger, Faster, Tougher" below. If you'd like more details on the gameplay and premise or watch the previous CGI trailer, click here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QscdpQfUQNw
Do you think The Surge has what it takes to step out of the Souls series' shadow like Nioh? What did you think of the studio's last efforts with Lords of the Fallen? Give us an upgrade in the comments below!