Review for The Surge 2. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 24/09/2019
The month of September is now drawing to a close. Before saying goodbye and leaving room for the month of October, which promises to be a quieter moment as regards the videogame front, we must prepare for the arrival of two particularly fascinating titles for all lovers of souls-like: Code Vein and The Surge 2. The latter in particular shows up at the starting line with an important, complicated but very specific mission: to improve the first chapter, bringing an innovative product to the shelves, capable of truly breaking into the hearts of many fans.
The first chapter of the saga, in fact, sinned from a stylistic and narrative point of view, remaining relegated to a fairly anonymous and ultimately sterile ecosystem. The Surge 2 therefore presents itself as a fundamental exam for the Polish development team, which began this difficult journey with Lords of the Fallen back in 2014, then demonstrating with The Surge that it can progressively improve. It will not be easy, certainly, to be able to satisfy everyone, but we can tell you, after playing it for many hours, that you can rest assured from this point of view: The Surge 2 is an important step forward compared to its predecessor from all points of view. . To be honest Deck13's work fails, in any case, to dispel all the doubts of the eve, but it represents a huge step towards a much sought-after maturation. If we had to express an opinion on the experience gained during this week in the company of The Surge 2, it would certainly be positive, since we found ourselves in our hands a souls-like in character, although still shy in some points, both in terms of content and in terms of longevity, also understood as difficulty, which represents the real beating heart of the sub-genre to which it belongs.
A city to save
The story that moves the events of The Surge 2 is more central and better focused than what happened in its predecessor. Inside the latter, in fact, similarly to what happens in Demon's Souls and in the various Dark Souls, the plot was told briefly and it was up to the player to put together the various pieces, deriving them from the various descriptions and dialogues present in the title. Without abandoning this style, however, we can feel the willingness of the developers to distance themselves slightly, in this respect, from the other titles of the sub-genre, giving the players a plot in some ways clearer, more multifaceted both in the story and in the variety of objectives to be brought to term.
The Surge 2 thus goes against the tide compared to its "companions" and this is also evident from the introduction of real secondary missions, fairly numerous, and in some cases well integrated into the general narrative context. Our protagonist - of which we can create the appearance through a modest editor - and therefore no longer Warren, has survived a disaster that probably took place shortly after the events of the first chapter, wakes up in an unspecified future, without any I remember what happened. Here the population has fallen victim to a sort of "infection" that has ended up changing it on a human and emotional level: human beings are on the verge of madness, driven by a strong murderous instinct, aggregated in various factions fighting each other, whose actions lead the way to the events that happen in the game. And here is the first difference: the game map is not unique but opens to different locations, in particular starting from Jericho City, which acts as the main theater for the events. Jericho City shows itself from the very first bars by now abandoned to itself, in which anarchy reigns, controlled by different "playing" factions. The narrative background also develops thanks to the various subplots, many, just as there are many NPC. These are not always complementary and marginal, but at times they are harbingers of relevant information for the purpose of understanding the intricate story brought to the stage., which, however, gradually ends up falling into the obvious and abandoning that initial glimmer of originality.
The various missions to be completed to get a clearer picture are immediately visible in the game menu, once again praising simplicity and change, in a menu that does not stand out too much (aesthetically) from that of the first The Surge. Until the final stages, the story is therefore clear, showing that it wants to embrace mature and darker themes than its predecessor, but overall it fails to be original and memorable, albeit clearly superior to the first chapter of the saga.
Give me a hammer…
Playfully speaking, The Surge 2 is a very valid experience, while presenting itself as a natural evolution of the first chapter. Therefore, Deck13's main objective was to file down the flaws of its predecessor, in particular the underlying woodiness of the combat system - regardless of the type of weapon held - and a stage sterility in which the level design was of a good level but too limited.
In this second chapter you immediately notice how Deck13 has managed to do a massive job, with maps interconnected from the start in a convincing, coherent and interesting way. We happened to find ourselves, through a newly unlocked shortcut, in places visited a long time ago, even advancing a lot in history. All this is strongly linked to the introductions made from the point of view of mere gameplay, with two particular objects capable of paving the way for new areas and shortcuts: the cableway hook and the "Starfish", a particular mod of the drone supplied. The beating heart of the production is certainly linked to the gameplay, in this case to the combat system, the real backbone, which in this second chapter is refined in the most evident critical issues attributed to the first The Surge. This time, Deck13 has managed to make the game much more fluid and you notice it from the early stages, which act a bit as a tutorial to what will then be the mechanics that will accompany us for the duration of our adventure. However, there remains that feeling of poor feedback in some situations, which was almost a trademark for Lords of the Fallen first and The Surge then, but it has certainly been a really important step forward.
For example, the variety of weapons is very nice: these are really many, discreetly characterized and equipped with different moveset, even if they belong to the same category of weapon. To give an example: the "double blades" offer different attacks based on the weapon found, and therefore are not identical only because they belong to the same family. Directly linked to the possibility of using many different weapons is the crafting, which here expands a lot compared to the first chapter, which here becomes much more important also thanks to the need to change, to always experiment with new weapons and armor according to the situation. Some weapons, however, seemed to us much more effective than others, even at the level of moveset which in some cases (such as for sticks) is too chaotic to assimilate and not very effective. Before we were talking about armor, and in The Surge 2 the mechanics of recovering parts of the opponents in the form of new equipment projects, possibly amputating that precise weak point: as in the first chapter the various armor, helmets, gloves etc. they are recovered in the form of projects, which can then be realized in the inevitable Medbay. All this translates into a lot of backtracking and a lot of farming, albeit without making a miracle cry.
However, the armor that can be created are few, and only offer the (few) bonuses that need to vary, if you really can't overcome a certain obstacle. We, for example, have kept the same armor practically all the time, upgrading it as much as possible. This, however, is an altogether marginal limitation, if we consider that the mechanics of dismemberment are designed more for playful pleasure than for obtaining new objects. The fights are then enhanced by the introduction of timed parries, which allow you to perform a counterattack (the typical "parry" of the Souls), really very harmful. In some cases, with some enemies, this mechanic becomes an obligation, which represents a limitation that seemed too incisive for a moment: this happens, to give you an example, with "shielded" enemies, they can only be (or almost) eliminated with counterattacks, even if you have a much higher level character in your hands. Another of the most interesting mechanics introduced is that linked to the battery system: in addition to being a new upgradeable status (together with energy and resistance), they represent a fundamental point to be able to attack enemies with drones and above all to be able to cure.
In The Surge 2, in fact, the treatment system is linked to batteries: attacking the enemies we will get new energy and every time a battery is charged it will be possible to heal. This is certainly not a revolutionary solution but which still offers a decent breath of fresh air in terms of gameplay. And the gameplay of The Surge 2 is very multifaceted, satisfying and addictive, able to push the player to continue playing, to want to improve and try to learn new moves in order to get the better of the most difficult enemies. The choice to introduce many different weapons with different types of damage still presents an interesting offer, which pushes players to try each weapon to find the one that best suits their style of play, and it is a pity that some of them suffer from a rather sobbing overall balance. However, what is important in this second chapter is the level of challenge, clearly demanding and set upwards. Its predecessor, not very artistically inspired, turned out to be an excellent souls-like in this respect, and this second chapter is no exception, indeed. In fact, it manages to do even better, showing itself extremely difficult from the beginning, supported by a difficult gameplay, which manifests itself in particular under two aspects: aVery aggressive enemy AI and a much higher number of enemies than in the past. The enemies are many, very aggressive and attack the player with cunning and healthy malice, forcing him to parry in multiple directions or to suffer several hits at the same time. This difficulty can be partly mitigated by the player's skill in choosing equipment in order to protect themselves from various types of attacks but the feeling is that, despite progressing in the creation of new protections, the damage received is always greater than it should be. .
Net of everything, The Surge 2 is a difficult and satisfying title, ideal for those looking for an arduous, demanding and, why not, long-lived challenge. The discourse concerning the playful sphere of a souls-like, however, could not end except with the bosses, the real balance, in many cases. Like any self-respecting soulslike, the tip of the balance cannot fail to be represented by the bosses. Deck13 has certainly dared more than in the past, even in purely numerical terms, bringing to the screen a vastness and a much more convincing quality of the bosses. All this however shows the side of a much less precise work in terms of balance, with some of them clearly more (or less) strong and, more simply, artistically and aesthetically more (or less) inspired.
A sound war on savings
Graphically speaking, The Surge 2 proves to be quite in line with its predecessor. Net of a greater variety and characterization of enemies and locations, the same qualitative skills are still felt in terms of polygonal modeling, certainly not miraculous and tending to "savings". However, the general direction is improving, in which several well-diversified areas are revealed, fairly large and full of objects to be recovered. We tried the title on PlayStation 4 Pro and we must admit that it is fairly clean and refined, despite leaving the field to some blunders, such as the late loading of the textures, some recycled scenery elements and a decidedly less accurate modeling of some areas compared to others. On PlayStation 4 Pro, as well as on Xbox One X, the title offers two graphics modes (Quality and Performance), as well as some other titles also. We have been able to see how the game works much better in Performance mode, with a graphic detail not too dissimilar to that offered by the "Quality" option but with a much more stable frame-rate in general. Certainly rejected the design of weapons and clothing, with elements in general all quite anonymous and very similar to each other. The sound component was definitely not received. If the dubbing of the various NPCs is definitely not to be thrown away, the same cannot be said of an incredibly anonymous and uninspired soundtrack, totally unable to accompany the player through the difficult crossing in the threatening game world, much less in the boss fights.
The Surge 2 joins the souls-like ranks with good merits, proving to be a product supported by solid gameplay, refinement in the combat system and a decidedly upward challenge rate. The guys from Deck13 have been able to improve their previous work practically from every point of view, but are once again shy in some respects, thus compromising in part the overall success of the project. In any case, if you are passionate about the genre, our advice is to try it, because you would find yourself in your hands a respectable title: the natural evolution of the first, controversial, The Surge.
► The Surge 2 is an Action-RPG type game developed by Deck13 and published by Focus Home Interactive for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 24/09/2019
