Review of the Surge — Dark Souls in a futuristic crutches

⚑ 24 May 2017г. Category: Articles | ❤ 1094 | Reviews: 0

Contents

1 Everyone makes their exoskeleton in the closet
2 Soul to soul
3 Not this is the future we were waiting for
4 Death is just the beginning

In the phenomenal success of the Souls series is not surprising. Experienced gamers are so tired of kazualschiny that game FromSoftware have become for them a sort of ray of light in the darkness. Elements of Dark Souls were scattered everywhere from the recent “the Witcher” to NieR: Automata and even Prey. But the king dared to act one. To take over tried the Germans from Deck13. Their first project, Lords of the Fallen, was simply a good clone. The second attempt looks much bolder — The Surge is designed to bring Souls mechanics beyond the usual fantasy.

Everyone makes their exoskeleton in the closet

Studio Deck13 has scrupulously followed all the commandments of the works by FromSoftware. The game does not stand on ceremony with the audience: the combat system is based on hard timings, and regular deaths on the same place — it’s quite ordinary. Perhaps, if not the main, certainly the most noticeable difference novelties from Souls is the setting.

In a dystopian future The Surge the world is ruled by megacorporations. One of them, CREO, promises to solve the problem with the climate, to cure all diseases, save endangered species long-eared jerboa and generally create a real Paradise on earth. But for the right reason, they urgently need new employees, one of which becomes the main character. After the first interview, recruit without further parting words sat in the operating chair and implanted exoskeleton, not razmenivayas on things like disinfection and anesthesia. Soon a potential employee of the month wakes up in some abandoned junkyard and realizes with horror that his working life has become a harsh survival.

The game slowly but surely introduces into the swing of things, teaching the basics, which was already recorded on the subcortex all fans of Souls. The main thing — to calculate the endurance and to plan all actions in advance. Wave his baton once again — exhale and get on the cap. Not going to closely follow the enemy and study its habits — just get on the cap. Animation of blows is rapid and unpredictable, and when it seems that the enemy has already finished his series of attacks, he can suddenly make another one. You have to act very carefully, because the enemies hit hard, and the health of our protege is not heroic.

Soul to soul

If you do not take into account the futuristic landscapes, The Surge really feels like Dark Souls. In this respect, the game crept to its ideological inspirer much closer than Lords of the Fallen. When once again die and running already memorized by heart the route to the place of death to pick up the parts (similar to a shower), there is an acute sense of deja vu. But it is worth noting that the creation of the Germans is somewhat simpler, and pain in the coccyx with the passage of the torture, not so much.

Hero here more mobile, especially with evasion, and is able to effectively kill the opponent, once populated with a certain scale. In this regard, feel not so vulnerable as in the masterpieces of FromSoftware. But a false sense of security sometimes plays a cruel joke: The Surge likes to punish overconfidence. We need only relax for a second, and you’re back to get on the cap and start the segment again.

The battle system is pretty easy to learn: horizontal punch, vertical punch, block and evasion. Among the interesting features we can highlight the ability to aim at specific body parts: body, head, arms. Thus it is possible to determine the weak and the vulnerable places of the enemy and quickly defeat him. Or specifically to beat on the armored plates to then a delicate punch to cut them together with a limb. If you cut off the enemy, who was wearing a helmet, your head, then this helmet could be used for crafting. The system is a bit illogical (why not pick up a weapon from the corpse without dismemberment?), but overall, an interesting and adds to the battle excitement.

Pumping Deck13 simplified as much as possible, removing even the ability to increase attributes like strength and dexterity. Accordingly, no restrictions on carrying weapons and armor in The Surge there. The only important figure that can and need to improve is the amount of charge of the power unit of the exoskeleton. In fact, it is the local equivalent of the character level: the more charge, the more slots for implants available to you. The latter in turn give a pleasant and healthy bonuses such as therapeutic injections, increase strength, and other pleasures. It’s funny to display the amount of health enemies there is a separate upgrade — no one bothers to leave it or replace with something more handy.

Not this is the future we were waiting for

Despite the gameplay similarities with Souls, The Surge impossible to recommend to fans of FromSoftware games. Dark Souls is not only a fierce and hardcore action, this is still and gloomy atmosphere, which is manifested in everything. DS and Bloodborne is a dark fantasy, the plot of which is supplied by the particles indirectly. Against this background, the novelty looks quite ordinary, without raisins: the writers came up with an interesting plot, but what is happening on the screen is not able to captivate. It’s… just there.

The futuristic setting is also a moot point. On the one hand, a Souls-clone in the scenery of the dystopian future looks fresh and unusual. On the other — all these little plants, dirty landfills, and boring lab is unlikely to please your sense of beauty. But the design of the levels at the height of: investigating a location, constantly walk into doors or lifts to familiar places. In this manner and open new short paths (shortcuts) — after some time, all multi-storey maze with lots of stairs, passages and tunnels firmly etched in my memory.

Enemies, as it should be — robots, combat drones, and the same laborers in the exoskeleton, but with a phase shift. Alas, the number of movements and animations are quite limited — but because the opponents play predictable your colleagues from the Souls series. Trouble starts, when the attack several adversaries: that it is better to avoid and lure the enemy one by one.

Well, what Souls clone without the big bosses? Robotic Bumpkin is able to send your SIM to the hospital with one or two strokes and only after many, many deaths, memorized all their moves and possible tactics, it turns out to beat them. Satisfaction at the same time receive enormous.

Death is just the beginning

The basic formula works in the Souls of The Surge — the main motivator is still death. Dying, you learn. After the first untimely demise the desire to go back and fight the offenders has grown significantly, and after the tenth retribution will not let you turn off the game and in the third hour of the night. But The Surge is almost not fraught with surprises. It is in German consistently and methodically will introduce you to all the mechanics and never will produce that same “wow-effect”. No plot, no design, not even bosses. The only naked challenge — and that is not up to “Dark souls”.

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Did Deck13 to reach the level of a series of Souls at the second attempt? No. But this does not mean that the product is bad and not worthy of attention. In the end, the developers really are improving, but still not afraid to go for risky experiments. The Surge — it’s just a quality action film that should please lovers of challenging games. Those that challenge, not wipe snot.

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