Today, in the first episode of the Black Sheeps series, I am going to talk about two underrated games: The Surge 1 (2017) and The Surge 2 (2019), both developed by Deck13. These games are two of my favorite underdog titles (at this point you must have guessed that I like hidden gems more than pompous, pretentious and hollow AAAs, that inevitably disappoint me). They have a very peculiar nature, because, while being chapters of the same saga, they play and look almost like if they were games from two different franchises.
I tend to prefer the first one, because it is a tighter experience. The whole vibe of Surge 1 is industrial, bleak and almost depressing. It’s very claustrophobic, and the level design is smart, with interconnected shortcuts and a sense of place with a better story. I also happen to like Warren (the protagonist) more, instead in the second game you create your own character that doesn't have a truly distinctive personality (also, the character editor is quite weak and limited), so I feel less invested in the story of the second game.
All in all, the atmosphere and the sadness of the first game make it more valuable artistically, and the OST of the first game features the best song in any soulslike: "The Prisoner" by Stumfol. That song is so touching and you hear it every time you reach a new Medbay hub, giving you a sense of relief and human warmth, in a world where technology has taken over and psycho transhumans lurk behind every corner, waiting for the occasion to waste you. To me that's pure genious.
But I need to give The Surge 2 its due: overall the gameplay is better in the second game.
If I had to oversimplify things here, I would use the proportion: The Surge 1 : Dark Souls 1 = The Surge 2 : Bloodborne. Obviously Fromsoftware games are another world quality wise and they are not in the same tier, but still, you get the idea of how they differ.
The combat in The Surge 2 is very interesting: you targeting limbs and dismembering enemies is how you get their gear. Want a helmet? Cut off a head. Want leg armor? Chop the legs. It’s the game's unique loot system and it's wild. You build your loadout by ripping it off your enemies.
I advocate for this kind of savagery.
You can also dodge sweeps by jumping, adding variety to the tools you have to defend from enemy attacks.
The gears are very distinct in the way of properties: armor sets have their own strengths and bonuses and you can actually tailor your playstyle pretty well. I ran with a healing armor set and a slow one-handed weapon (taken from a boss) that hit like a truck. Felt great once I got into the flow. Implants also let you tweak things a bit more. You can see enemy health bars, get passive heals, trade energy for HP, that kind of stuff. Pretty flexible overall.
Bosses were a mixed bag but some stood out. The first one is basically a Temu version of the Metal Gear Rex, but is't cool nonetheless. I would argue that bosses really aren't the strongest feature of the game.
Now, switching to the Surge 2, as I said, the game is a bit different. Technically better in many ways, but also kind of less memorable. It’s more open, combat is faster, and traversal is improved. No more weapon proficiency mechanics, which is a big win. In Surge 1 you were basically punished for switching weapons mid-game because you'd lose your damage scaling. Surge 2 fixes that, so you can experiment more freely.
It also adds some nice UI tweaks. Enemy limbs have icons showing how damaged they are, and gear now has a clear level indicator, so you know what kind of loot you’re about to get. You can even break down higher level gear into lower level parts for crafting. Just small things, but they help a lot.
But then there are the boss fights. A lot of them are just bigger humanoids, or worse, regular enemies with more HP. The directional blocking mechanic sounded cool, but it kind of turns every boss into a rhythm game where you just block left-right-left and wait for the stagger window. Once you get the timing down, it becomes a bit too easy maybe (and if you have played Sekiro, like I did, you won’t be left satisfied much). The first big boss, a giant spider mech, was awesome. After that, it never really reaches that level again.
The story also doesn’t hit the same. You get visions and audio logs, but it never grabbed me like Warren’s personal journey did in the first game. There’s less emotional weight, less atmosphere. It feels more like a playground for the mechanics, which are admittedly more polished, but less grounded.
All in all, the Surge games aren’t masterpieces, but they are honest, they’ve got heart, a very unique identity and some genuinely cool ideas that set them apart from the usual soulslike clones. If you can look past the jank and the occasional lack of polish, there’s a lot to enjoy here.
Curious if many of you played them. Did you prefer the first or the second one? What kind of build did you go for?
How would you rate them?
41 Comments
Didnt like 1, loved 2
You must be some kinda Surge meister.
Loved both, totally under-rated. Part one has awesome save room music. I really like the setting and the dismemberment aspect to get upgrades. The gameplay is tight too. I even got the DLCs for both. This is a good call for any Souls fan.
Once you get your bearings on the main HUB area and get/upgrade the Police suit, Surge 1 is one of the best Souls-like games out there. While The Surge 2 is great all around.
Both are well worth at least one playthrough for sure.
Never played either but I have watched this [review](https://youtu.be/Db_A8w84Tcw) and have always been entertained by it.
As a Nintendo main I don’t see the hype one bit. Just looks like another games meant to pander to people who believe like “less saturated colors are more manly, I’m a man ” energy
I want to like these games but in every single one of them (from soft included) I bounce off from the die-respawn-kill every enemy that is located at static spawn points-die again repeat.
Only game I’ve actually gotten into properly is elden ring because there you can bypass that stuff if/when you want to.
Would still like to get through them because I love the exploration and world designs that most of them have.
The Surge 2 was a pretty okay game.
I liked the aspect that if you wanted something of anyone you could just cut it off and use it for yourself. And the second had a similar parrying gameplay like For Honor has, i liked it.
I enjoyed both of them and I think I basically agree with you on all points. 1 had a strong story with pretty good gameplay while 2 had great gameplay with an ok story.
IIRC 1 was also notable for giving control to a wheelchair bound character. Yes it’s basically a walking simulator but it’s representation you basically never see.
The plural of sheep is sheep.
I only played 2 because my son bought it. Cutting limbs was pretty cool, also liked their version of the rally, didn’t really like how the movement felt. It’s a solid game overall.
Liked Surge 1, but Surge 2 was a MASSIVE improvement.
Loved both games:)
I just didn’t like these games for some reason. And it’s weird because I love soulslikes
I played the absolute shit of the first one both on the ps4 and pc. I have both with all achievements done.
I for some reason couldn’t get the hang of the 2nd one. I only got up to Jericho City to a white building in the middle and that’s it.
Didn’t play 1, but 2 was one of the best Soulslikes ive played. Not enough sci-fi themed ones.
I’ve finished most Soulslikes, but I just didn’t vibe with either of them for some reason.
I love the surge 1. They absolutely nailed the cynical and bleak techbro atmosphere and the limb gimmick is pretty fun. I also appreciate that it’s a pretty short game. Some people may think it’s a drawback, but for an experience like this I actually think it’s better.
I remember watching a review of a surge game, which I don’t remember, that said something about an option in the settings that made the game click for them, or something like that, I think the guy had an owl mascot on YouTube
The Surge 2 was great, had enjoyed 1 and doubled my play time with 2. Really enjoyed the mech concepts, robo-organic esthetic.
The Surge 1 was to me the “perfect” souls-like. It understood everything that made DS1 great, the methodical enemy placement, the slow and methodic fight, the relief of finding a shortcut and the comfort of the resting place.
The Surge 2 was kind of a disappointment in comparison. My biggest gripe is that the boss fight really want you to parry. But it was totally unbalanced so the fight was either trivial if you parried or grueling if you didn’t.
Haven’t played two but surge one was a huge dud. Just killing the same re skinned enemies over and over again the entire game
I’ve dropped Surge 1 as I literally lost on level. In year got a copy Surge 2 and it was so great, so having finished S2 I’ve returned to S1 and finished it too.
Good games!
I only played the first one, but I really enjoyed it until my save got mysteriously deleted.
I don’t know about “black sheep.” “Red-headed-stepchild” might be more appropriate given the overall consumer response to two fairly good AA-Soulslikes (particularly the second one).
I disagree. Surge 2 was a masterpiece.
Really enjoyed both games as someone who played virtually every Soulslike game there is. Surge 2 has great level design and a fun directional parry combat system that is a bit easy once you get the hang of it but still really fun. Surge 1 has a cool atmosphere and solid encounter design but the areas can feel very samey but are fun enough.
> at this point you must have guessed that I like hidden gems more than pompous, pretentious and hollow AAAs, that inevitably disappoint me
Rarely have I read a more pompous, pretentious and hollow statement.
That being said, I really liked the Surge 2 as well. I had a blast with the “hack of limbs to level up your equipment” gimmick. Every time I got to a new area with higher quality gear I would grind the enemies until I was maxed out, then progress onward as a powerful badass. Tons of fun. I agree that the boss fights are weak.
We’re I didn’t even know they made a second one. I enjoyed the 1st one but I’m not great at soulslike so I only got halfway through the game maybe.
Thanks now I have that saferoom song stuck in my head 🙈🤣
I was born, in a prison, with no hope, for escape.
i played the first one and those words are stuck in my mind(dropped it eventually because it wasnt my cup of tea).
Only played 1 but I enjoyed my time with it. Do have to go back and clean up the platinum. “Prisoner” is an amazing song as well.
Surge 2 is what got me into souls games, really fun game
I played both. I didn’t think they were underrated at all. About as mediocre as I’d been expecting, imo.
I couldn´t finish the surge 1. Yes, the story was good: a paraplegic with a new chance on life suffers a grotesque surgery, that provides the movility he hoped for, but was given in the verge of an apocaliptic event. He now fights for survival, freedom and answers. It is a closed, personal and interesting story in a distopic, derranged, fragmented world that transforms into a fight to prevent an event greater catastrophe
The story is somewhat cliché, but good.
The gameplay tho… i felt robbed of what could be a great game… i fumbled my weapon choices, i couldn´t change my set-up without a lot of grinding, had to re-start, got burned out, dropped. I may re-visit the game. Still, i wanted to give the Surge 2 a chance.
—–
Story-wise, the Surge 2 aims at a different approach for the protagonist and the story: you are an unremarkable person that “survived” a fatal crash, related to a gray-goo-sque castastrophe that fused everyone with nanites. You were (and continue being) resurected by the granddaugther of the nanite´s creator, in hopes for you to save her.
It is a different type of story, not one of *personal* suffering and perseverance, but a heroic tale. Burrowing some thematic tropes from Dark Souls: you aim to save something/someone, while also unraveling some of the land´s mysteries in the way. One is not inherently superior, but some may prefer one flavor, or the other.
The gameplay is a huge step-up, with some interesting decision that highlight how much they learned and how much they wanted to experiment. It felt a lot better to control, and i finished the game from start to finish in my first playthrough. It was fine lenght-wise, with several good areas for exploring, weapon variety wasn´t that great, with only a handful of weapon types, but there were a lot of variants.
—–
The Surge 2´s DLC, the Kraken, was a surreal experience, and the highlight of the game for me. It presented robo-pirates taking control of a 00s inspired suburban street on top of a massive carrier watched over by an ominous orwelian machine. The atmosphere was a razzmatazz with lots of ideas that shouldn´t work together but gave a nice flavor and a decent finale. The plot twist was fine, not overly impactful but has an option for kharmic retribution. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the game, specially if they enjoy weird mixes and combinations.
Great games
I kinda hate the first one.
I mean, the bit where the camera pans out to reveal that the main character is in a wheelchair was clever and I like how the intro bit makes you feel small up to the conscious surgery scene. Then the game becomes snuff goreporn for no reason. I just want to ask the devs “What the hell are you doing? What was the goal here?” The cheap shock of that scene completely dashed away any good will that the intro had built up. Then the game proper started and the combat felt oppressively slow. Even the faster weapons had silly windups that made me feel like the player had been gimped.
I finished about half of it. Never played the sequel.
I like both games but i felt the Surge 2 was lackluster and felt like more game with out a story or point.
The Surge was a little rough but was a solid game and i loved it was nice been able to target body parts to chop off for drops.
The Surge 2 just felt lost and why it did smooth out the roughness a fair bit it kind of lost its charm.
I would love to see a Surge 3 but only if it was to be more like the 1st with the smoothness of the 2nd. It has to have a story not just oh look some thing on a wall you need to kill as something or something blah blah nothing or something.
2’s boss fights are some of the most infuriating.
Sheep is already plural, so you do not need the last S.
I’m really hoping we’ll get a The Surge 3 at some point. Recently replayed the second game and it was a really fun experience.