We need your Surge responses!
Added 2020-05-15 02:50:15 +0000 UTCHello! As our Bonfireside Chat series about The Surge comes to a close, we want your thoughts on the game for our appendix and wrapup episode. If you have thoughts on this game, please leave them in a comment on this post by Monday, May 18.
As always we're looking for comments that are specific and brief. Try not to write more than about two paragraphs, and try not to offer a general review of the game as a whole.
Thanks for your support, and we look forward to hearing what you think of the game.
Comments
The Surge is my favorite soda pop.
Jacob Cochran
2020-05-20 12:12:51 +0000 UTCWhile far from a perfect game, I really enjoyed making my way through The Surge's first area. I'm not much of a scifi guy, but the concept of building a mech suit from various pieces is appealing to me. I was especially attracted to aiming at body parts to cut off pieces of enemy armor. I was pulling pieces of armor off of every bad guy I fought. While that system was working that is. After several hours of banging my head against the second zone I thought I was going insane. Despite always attacking armored sections of enemies, time and time again I would go to upgrade my armor, and not have anymore upgrade materials than I did the last time I had checked. After dealing with this long enough to realize something was wrong, a google search brought me to a steam post from someone experiencing the same issue. After wading through responses explainging to the OP how the dismemberment system works, the only other solution given was that this was a bug in the save file and I would have to start a new game. Nope! Maybe I'll return to this neat take on the soulsborne formula at a later date, or maybe I'll just play the better regarded sequal whenever that becomes the free game for playstation plus.
Eli Leslie
2020-05-15 19:38:26 +0000 UTCOne day I randomly had the urge to play something with Dark Souls like combat, and remembered that The Surge had been a free PS Plus giveaway a few months back that I had added to my library and never downloaded. I got it installed and fired it up, and was happy to find that it did scratch the combat itch enough for me to play through most of the game. The "rip it and flip it" gear farming system was an interesting enough twist that I tried several times to move into other builds, but I also found that the early gear sets and the first boss weapon was more worth sticking to for the majority of the game. I didn't find it to be a masterpiece by any means, but there's a lot of good ideas in there and I'm glad you played it for the show. It's probably Nier-ly criminal to say this sort of thing now, but they really did improve upon a lot of these good ideas for The Surge 2. I like this one enough that I bought the sequel when it came out and was not sad I payed full price for it at the time (still not a masterpiece, but it's interesting to see that this developer seems to legitimately get better with every release).
Justin
2020-05-15 14:33:41 +0000 UTCIm usually a person whos quick to impatience and has trouble seeing past what i consider glaring flaws in a game, but this game I just plain old love. combat encounters suck, bosses are awful, level design is pure trash. Still love it and think the sequel fixes all these issues despite making the story all the worse for it so good monkeys paw wish on that one. Still play it every so often and can't dislike it despite being turned off of a game for way less way quicker. So glad y'all played it and was waiting for months for you to get the Mallorys last audiolog and find Sall.E. Mallory is no Solaire but i certainly enjoyed her story nonetheless, and am thankful as always to you boys for doing such good jobs. Umbasa.
Josh
2020-05-15 07:39:51 +0000 UTCI made it like 65% of the way through The Surge. Very quickly, around when I heard the save room music, I knew that this game just didn't matter like Dark Souls did. It went on to prove me right. I want to avoid hyperbole, because it's an easy trap to fall into, so I won't say it was the worst thing I ever played. I have no problem saying that it averaged out to be thoroughly mediocre, though. I think that if the best a developer can do is to reskin another game and build some bullshit levels, then they need to go back to the drawing board. As a product, this felt like a pretty shameless cash in on the work of a more creative team. As a work of art, the surge is vapid. It feels less like a creator's vision or passion, and more like an attempt to justify the cash in. After the surge 2, this is strike three for deck13 as far as I'm concerned. I won't be buying their work from now on, though, I really do think the team has talent. I wish them well, and I genuinely hope they come up with their own idea and try it, instead of just being a the game dev equivalent of a cover band.
Brian Perkins
2020-05-15 06:30:55 +0000 UTCI want to preface this by saying that I had a fun time overall with The Surge. With that being said, the strongest emotion I take away from the game is an undying hatred of the nucleus, which is an infuriating labyrinth packed with dingy corridors, bizarrely hidden overcharge stations, and generic nano-sludge. When I finally found my way out of this dumpster fire of a level and beat the game, I realized there was only one other level in any game that had frustrated me as much as this. Remember the Chamber of Lies from Lords of the Fallen? Neither do I, but therein lies the rub. All I can recall is the same awful feeling of being trapped in a series of generic hallways for way too long. And just as the Nucleus leads you to the top of the level only to say ‘Screw you, this is a dead end, the real path forward is a random hallway way back at the beginning ’, the Chamber of Lies does the same thing by leading you to that giant demon, only to reveal that it is part of a side quest that has nothing to do with advancing the game. This leads me to believe that the devs at Deck13 fundamentally misunderstand some pretty basic level design tenets - the Souls games prove that labyrinthine level design can be great, but only if you have clear objectives and visual signposts to help guide you. The signposting in The Surge is not only unclear, but it sometimes explicitly leads you astray. Whether done out of malice or incompetence, this obviously sucks. Here’s to hoping Deck13 can figure this out in their future projects, because I don’t think I can stand another Nucleus or Chamber of Lies. Thanks for all you do, guys!
Ryan Bennett
2020-05-15 04:40:15 +0000 UTCWhat's up buckerduckers! The Surge catfished me. Its intro was vibrant and varied. Shortcuts weren't cumbersome, and there were tantalizing optional paths to explore. I was in love. Then Central Production B showed up, and The Surge showed that it was the creepy guy in the basement the whole time. The endlessly dull setting and winding paths made me stop playing. Time spent on that level felt like a waste. A little RGB could have saved this game. Oh well, there's always The Surge 2. Fool me twice
Spencer Heath
2020-05-15 04:18:58 +0000 UTCThe Surge is a weird one for me. The opening grabbed me, and after a bit of experimentation I found a loadout that worked for me pretty well and I was engaged with the combat and limb system. But boy, the labyrinth that is Central Production B wore on me quickly. I greeted Creo World with open arms. The level design in the DLC was infinitely better, the visuals more interesting, and the parade of mascots trailing behind me ranks among my favorite "Oh shit" panic moments in games. When I was shunted back into the main game I got through the labs and research, which I enjoyed visually but liked the bot heavy encounters less, and as soon as I could make my way back into Creo World I gleefully did. and finished up the DLC. Although the final boss was kind of obnoxious, I enjoyed it more than any of the bosses in the main game. As I regretfully left Creo World and the steel drums faded into the distance, I ended my play session at the start of the Executive Forum, and never picked the game back up. It sounds like some cool stuff happens, but without the relief of Creo World, I just could not bear the idea of making my way through any more industrial warehouses. On the one hand I feel like I didn't give the game a fair shake, but on the other hand I've begun to listen to the urge to put a game down instead of push through. The bland and confusing level design of the main game outweighed the experience of finishing the game, and there just wasn't a hook from the story or the gameplay that made me feel like putting down the game would be a greater loss than what I would gain playing another game.
thelorehunter
2020-05-15 03:33:30 +0000 UTCI loved the surge, but I had a weird experience. I got stuck on the first boss but powered through. Turns out that there was a mechanic that I was missing which earned me the special drop. I then spent the entire game wondering if I was misreading the item stats or if this first level weapon really was bis. I also was disappointment in getting kicked straight to ng+ after the final boss, would have liked to finish off all the side quests, just put the game down instead.
Gabe Palkert
2020-05-15 03:27:43 +0000 UTCI refused to play The Surge. Lords of the Fallen was such trash. I could never forgive the developers for it.
Bob Witz
2020-05-15 03:08:27 +0000 UTCNever played this game. You guys have peaked my interest in buying the sequel. I have my fingers crossed that you guys will cover, "Daughters of Ash," or the, "Shovel Knight DLC's.' stay safe during Plague Times
Cthulhu R'lyeh Flatagan
2020-05-15 03:06:54 +0000 UTC
