The Surge 2 is still about two months away, but hype is starting to ramp up with previews, footage and a whole host of information being dropped by developer Deck13 and publisher Focus Home Interactive. In my official preview for the game, I’ve come to believe that it is an incredible step-up from The Surge, despite retaining some of that ‘jank’ from the first game. With this newest trailer, The Surge 2 is looking like it’s going to be much crazier in terms of scale compared to what I’ve experienced with that small build, and you can check it out for yourself below.
This new trailer is titled ‘Overcome. Upgrade. Survive,' which refers to the core tenets in The Surge, and by extension, The Surge 2. The game’s core mechanics of using tech scrap dropped by enemies to better yourself at every turn, all the while losing said tech scrap should you be killed in battle, is a part of what lead to people calling it a Souls-like, though I’d argue that the similarities stop there. While other action RPGs will just give you a weapon to whack away at enemies, The Surge 2 takes a more – pun intended – surgical approach to combat, as you need to target specific enemy limbs in order to be much more effective, culminating in the dismemberment of said limb. Using this system, you can obtain blueprints and the needed materials to craft the same gear for your own limbs, allowing you to physically adapt to any situation as needed.
The setting is quite the departure from the original game as well. While The Surge locks Warren away in a CREO facility, The Surge 2 takes place in a full-fledged area called Jericho City, filled with a variety of sub-locations, enemies, friends, bosses, and, of course, secrets. There’s nothing to be worried about, though, as all you really need is your Exo-RIG, an exoskeleton that allows you to equip various gear upgrades plus hold any one of the game’s many weapons.
Armed with all this knowledge, the next move is to step out and overcome everything in your way, upgrade and enhance yourself, and finally, survive the oncoming nightmare. The Surge 2 releases for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 24.
Check out my early impressions here, my coverage of the character creator here, the revamped combat here and a little retrospective for the original The Surge here.
