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@@zettor47It's strange, because the last boss in my case was the easiest boss in the entire game and i have weapon and armor maxed out. I didn't even know that the last boss scales with you. I had more trouble with the previous boss, Black Cerberus.
Surge 2 is one of my favorite souls-likes I've ever played. I thought the interconnected level design was pretty incredible. I've done a few playthrough's and I always find some weapons/armor/shortcuts/quests that I've never found before. I was really impressed with the level design especially
Lords of the fallen bosses have two types of weapon drops, one from a regular kill or one from killing them while meeting specific requirements. Same mechanic was carried on into the surge 1&2, downside being that the challenge wasn't just a no hit kill and not always obvious. Liked the mechanic in the surge that gave players buffs or bonuses if they choose to keep the "souls" rather than banking them.
Heyo maybe someone told you already, but the enemy from LotF that blocks everything (21:04) is best handled with the dash mechanic, that also opens secret passages: sprint towards him and raise the shield, that way he loses his poise. good video btw
Currently working my way through the first Surge for the first time & its probably my favorite so-called souls-like not by FROM SOFTWARE (havent played Lies of P yet). Hard af sometimes. Way harder than the Souls games imho. Thats a good thing tho. Gives it a nice hard sci-fi edge. Not sure about Surge 2's less immersive design but looking forward to the updated combat & itemization. I knew when I saw the Atlas trailer it would not be good. I just said to myself "Oof, what ? They shouldve made Surge 3 instead" cause it looked like a jumbled mess for the sake of being different, & clearly also wanted to be Elden Ring, Elex, etc. Thanks for confirming that its not worth checking out. They already found their niche. Its The Surge. At least make it a trilogy. Its got a unique feel all its own. They should go back & do Surge 3 for sure. Back to a more immersive, gritty, & mysterious world like #1 tho. Adding story filler to your game doesnt make it better. Also side note: Man I just love the German design aesthetic. The way they do the containers spread around the world, for example, in Surge & Elex, nobody else does better containers than these German devs. Their mechanical/technical aesthetics are second to none, unsurprisingly, & The Surge really highlights this.
If you love Soulslikes, you might love Lies Of P then. There's not too much wrong with it. The difficulty can vary wildly at times. For example, the 3 bosses before the one called Laxasia could be considered jokes by comparison. Some of the weapons and combos are just not viable. And, some parts of the level design can be tedious. Other than those things, I had fun with it.
The character and monster design in Blood Knights looked better than I would have expected. Some of those designs are pretty rad. Also, it's a shame that Atlas Fallen didn't turn out well. You would think an RPG with movement options like in that game would have turned out to be amazing. Surge 3 when?
To be fair, that some big shoes to fill to come up with new designs each time. Also, Deck 13 is from germany... Not sure this is a western problem more like a common one instead.@@youdontsay193
The Surge scrap multiplier also makes the farming so easy than any Souls game. Makes your level go high as much as you want in the very first area of the game.
Honestly The Deck 13 "soulslikes" really nail the meatiness, heaviness and feel of the combat. No other soulslike has the same feel of weight in the combat like the first Lords of the Fallen. And The Surge 1 and 2 just continued that, the weapons and combat just feels great, heavy and meaty. Also the Surge is BRUTALLY hard!
The first LotF wasn't "meaty". It was like moving around in syrup. They have some good games but they'll continue to be hit or miss if their fans praise the bad parts of them.
@@johndiddilyjoe6258 LotF was like that. If anything at least for the Surge, Deck13 learned from what they did with LotF in what works and what didn't when it came to making another Soulslike game.
I really like the way you put this video together! I own both venetica and Lords. Gave up on them both a few hours in. The Surge games are on my list now!
Both Surge games are much better than Venetica and the 1st Lords. I just started playing Venetica a few days ago and am enjoying it for the most part, it is miles behind The Surge though.
Hi there fellow gamers. I have played pretty much every Deck 133 game, except for Blood Knights, wich wasn´t my jam, and Atlas Fallen, altough I got the game for Series X for free in a game shop deal. All I have to say is The Surge games, especially The Surge 2, wich is my favourite, are very fun and addicting games. There are many souls-like type games that tend to be in ancient times, but The Surge franchise has that future industrial style that visualy sets it apart. And just like C4G mentioned(sorry, don´t know your name, but I´m a big fan of your content) the combat mechanics are very fun and engaging, especially the dismenbering mechanic for getting new weapons and armour. Also the level desing is very good, lots of shortcuts to find and some unique Bosses to fight. Would love Deck 13 make The Surge 3 for current gen and improve some of the visuals as well as the story bits. Maybe one day. Cheers and happy gaming everyone
The Surge has to be one of the more unique games I've played. I love the setting and atmosphere, everything just seems to reinforce the fact that you are essentially jousting with huge industrial equipment and I love it XD
Venetica and Sudeki were RPGs on my old list "to check out" but forgot about them. Surge looks nice - different setting for soulslike certainly helps. And combat is great! Atlas Fallen would be great if they tried to copy Darksiders series - amazing games.
Atlas Fallen had one problem. Multitude of mods but there was no reason to ever use anything else than those that give you special attacks/momentum generation. I do not think I changed my build drastically depending on the encounter.
The Surge 1 and 2 are amazing games, the second part being my favorite non-Fromsoftware-soulslike shortly after Nioh 2! And I actually really liked the original Lords of the Fallen quite a lot! The German voice acting hits the spot I guess, because, while the dialogues were lacking, the voice acting itself felt good. But it's been a long time since I played it. And it really felt amazing mastering the combat. Until... there was a part of the game where it just became a frustrating mess. Whelp.
Unpopular opinion, i think that Lord of the Fallen is actually pretty good, yes you can cheese almost every boss fight and some builds are really OP, but the art style and the heavyness of the weapons 👌
I was hyperfixated on Atlas Fallen from around late June-the release date. I even pre-ordered it. The combat sold me on it and I almost completed it, but I ended up getting annoyed with it near the end. The final nail in the coffin was the puzzle to lift the stones in the under city, the distance between each was unreasonable.
The Surge is an excellent game, with only one issue... Boss battles. Is one of the most unique souls-like that you can play, probably with one of the best level design in the genre. I don't know why it was so hated. I have also The surge 2, but i have not finished yet. However i din't like Lords of the fallen, but maybe i will give it a chance in the future.
I've just given The Surge another chance and it's finally clicked with me (I always appreciated the aesthetic). Going to sink some serious time in it and thankfully there's a sequel!
I WAS BORNNNN, INA PRISOOON, WITH NOOO HOPE FOR ESSSCAAAPE. Really under rated game... and that song fucking HITS everytime you go to save. Spent so much time just listening to it in game.
Lords of The Fallen was actually my first soulslike game, I would play Dark Souls long after I finished it, so that game has a very special place in my heart. I think Deck 13 was the only soulslike developer who indeed tried new formulas above the From Soft tropes, like the armor design in Lords and the body parts farming from The Surge. Unfortunately after that every soulslike game just tries to be Dark Souls 394 or Bloodborne 271.
So actually on pax on the surge, you're supposed to wait till he picks one leg up to stomp on you and hit his other leg and he'll fall over and you can do damage to him
Picked up Venetica for very cheap while on sale at steam and I am enjoying it, quite advanced for its age. It is not without flaw, or annoyance, but for those who truly enjoy the genre and are willing to give it a fair go, I believe it is worthwhile and deserves some credit.
as someone who not only played and finished, but even 100% lords of the fallen(old one), my advise is, invest in str as much as you need to equip the special mace(forgot the name), that thing will carry you with minimal investment, and the best part is, its extremely effective even against shielded enemies. later you can swap to its big brother(also dont remember the name since its been a long time since i beat it). originally i wanted to play as all classes, but by the end, i basically started as them, but changed into a heavy armor using that mace. it genuinely trivialize so much of the game.
I loved the first Surge, there was something so good about the combat, the environment, even the enemies! Sure it had it's questionable moments but it felt pretty solid! I loved how combat could be easier or harder depending on how you attack limbs! You can dispatch enemies easier by going for unarmored sections. or focus tougher areas for loot! Love that. I wish I could say the same for the second one... There was something really... wrong with The Surge 2. I can't really put it to words but it just felt like a step back in every aspect? Sure it had some cool bosses and equipment but I generally didn't like it as much as the first. That said, I loved the robot pirate DLC, That was pretty fun for the most part, would loved more of that. I generally think sci-fi settings for Soulikes are criminally underused and I wish we had more of them. Kudos for Deck 13 for taking a plunge at that.
Agreed, I have no idea why most people seem to prefer The Surge 2. I really cannot stand the environment though, it is just too bleak and bland. Deck 13 really excel in the expansions though, they are very creative when they want to be.
Funny - I just installed Venetica a few day's ago, partially for nostalgia reasons. Yeah - The game will not win any prices and feels very dated now, but I still have a lot of fun with it. I installed it alongside ArcaniA, that's also in the same league. I also have more fun with that one than it's technically possible. It only shows I am a kind of weird guy I guess... Oh - And by the way. If you really like magic, then Lichdom: Battlemage is a funny one (but not perfect by any means). It's almost 10 years old, so it will shows it's age a little, but nevertheless It's a nice one to play.
Blood Knights Vampires treated them better even after they hunted them prior than the humans did treat them after they turned vampire ... IDK man, but kinda seems like the vampires had a fair point.
Damn shame about atlas fallen. I wanted them to do a take on monster hunter but they probably have to build up to it with 4 games before they get it right lol. I do actually love all the boss fights in the surge games, especially the hardcore kills. And as far as “recycled” bosses in soulslikes, I love those too but I could understand if you aren’t trying to perfect the bossfight and just want to get through the game, how they could become annoying. With delver though, getting my ass kicked the first time and basically perfect parrying him by the third encounter felt awesome. Love that about souls games too, like the crucible knight or bell bearing hunter in elden ring, by the end of the game, as long as you didn’t over level your self into a magic wielding Demi god, you could see just how far your skills had advanced when you were excited to take them out without much of a care.
Venetica is a great game, many people struggle with the tasks and puzzles then they quit, games are not created to be easy if it was then it is not a game you are playing, it's for you to use your brain to figure out what to do when you play games with tasks and puzzles
I’m wondering if there’s something wrong with Surge 2 on PS5, because on the Series X it looks amazing and the colors are so bright and vibrant. You should the woods area in your video, and I just played through it other day on Series X and it’s so bright and green and not washed out at all. Very weird!
LoTF 2014 could be fully cheesed with running jump attack with a heavy enough weapon (Heirloom is a hammer you get pretty early on). Sadly daggers/dualwield/staves suck, especially on bosses. Did full dagger playtrough including DLC as my first and then heavy str build and it was no contest. Big shield dudes just get 1shotted. As for heavy armor, you could socket it with Luck gems to make it pretty light. Rune generation was cheesable with alt+f4 (game did not save), so with a little patience you could have gotten max amount of flawless ones. Surge 1 can be cheesed with running sliding attack with a heavy weapon, but at least fast weapons are useful. Did Ng+3 and was using Pax 2 for majority of the game and then Fractal Reaver. There is an awesome feeling in S1 Ng+, when get jumped by the hybrid elite enemy on the start and you just equip all your shit and make spam out of it. Surge 2 had much better balanced weapons, I loved staves, but for bosses in NG+3 and higher the Justice of Iron Maus (insane aspeed/stagger gloves) were superior. only other soulslike I did multiple NG+ was Hellpoint.
OG Lords of the Fallen actually was a great game. Actually the first game that made soulslike genre what it is today coz original DS1 and 2 was not even close to it in terms of triple-a representation. So when people says Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3 is genre defining game, i beg to differ. It was OG LOTF.
Maybe it's because, back then, I played lords of the fallen after several playthroughs of DS2, but I don't recognise your critique at all. In fact I remember this as the last soulslike where stamina(management) actually meant something and always thought it was a bad thing the genre walked away from. It's aggressive now, not then. The combat is sluggish now, not then. Back then there was weight behind it and required dedication. That is, the first half of the game was that and generally it was the part of the game soulsfans really liked. The game fell apart in the second half, which you didn't play, because there you level so incredibly fast it buggers the difficulty curve. You quickly start oneshotting everything with that greatsword running attack you liked so much and all the decisionmaking that made the combatsystem is out the window. You have to deliberately hamstring yourself, and thát's why the game was ill received. Ones again a promising soulslike messed up the second part of the game. Soon after Bloodborne came out, which was excellent, and nobody spoke of this game again. But this game wasn't bad for any of the reasons you mentioned, not to any soulsfans at least. Unless you like an Elden Ring or it's younger namesake, fans of the older souls games should pick this up, knowing the second half of the game has issues.
I honestly really like LotF, it feels pretty much the same as Surge 1 to me but with a fun fantasy setting. I actually bought it on both PS4 and Steam (a whopping $8 total). It’s so cheap I’d recommend anyone that liked Surge 1 at least try it
I can't remember if that tough shield enemy in Lords of the Fallen was meant to indicate to you that you should be taking the alternate path until you have leveled up, but it's been a while. Surge series is amazing
They are super easy with sprinting shield bash. It breaks their stance imidiately and Heirloom 1shots them. ruclips.net/video/sqq08hQxDh4/видео.html other option is to bait them to attack you and sprint jump attack them during animation (which also staggers them and they drop the shield).
My save on the surge broke near the end as i entered a room and if i moved through a door,the game would crash,if i got on the elevator in that room,the game would crash and if i tried backtracking,the game would crash.Even worse is i was playing a digital copy so cant even blame it on a damaged disc
I couldnt get into The Surge 1, but I'm willing to admit it was a skill issue. I just couldnt click with the combat. But Surge 2 on the other hand I absolutely clicked with and couldnt stop playing until I finished it. I'm intrigued by Deck 13, they have the potential to fill the same hole that Spiders or Piranha Bytes do for me, but they just have a few more misses than hits... I just know they are worth keeping an eye on because when they strike gold, they REALLY do, like Surge 2. And when they don't the games are still interesting in some way.
Fairly off-topic but; I just picked up Gothic 1 on the Switch 3 or 4 days ago and I've got to say I am absolutely loving it, about 12 hours in and the game design is still such a breath of fresh air, it took me about 9 hours to realize the combat revolved around the joystick rather than just pressing A xD Hopefully I can beat it before the sequel comes out next week but I will absolutely be grabbing it, I am now a believer, AWAKEN!
If you just go for their RPGs I'd probably agree that The Surge is their best series. But if you go a bit broader they have a couple of more traditional adventure games that have been somewhat better reviewed. The Ankh and Jack Keane series stand out. And if you are into business strategy then the Transocean games are basically a modern version of the old Amiga game Ports of Call.
Lords of the Fallen was so interesting to me. It's people just misunderstanding what made Dark Souls so good. People described Dark Souls as slow but they usually meant intentional. Your attacks have weight and meaning because you can't cancel once you've committed. Lords of the Fallen misunderstood this to mean sluggish instead of weighty and intentional to mean really slow. To their credit they executed on what they thought people wanted perfectly they were just wrong about what they thought people want.
I was able to push through the lords of the fallen on my first playthrough, I tried to replay it twice and just couldn't. The levelled loot was also a poor design choice.
I actually like that Lords 1 is quite slow and deliberate. Not every game needs to be like ... a Team Ninja game. Also, that shield enemy has multiple ways to get staggered or bypassed. Once you learn the gimmick, he's fairly easy. And, besides the graveyard boss, there aren't many "gotcha!" mechanics in game, so you can experiment to your heart's delight. Overall, I quite like Lords 1.
Oh man , i platinumed both surge 1 and 2. Good games. I preferred 1 , however the difficulty gets absurd in the second half with almost all the enemies capable of one-two shotting you. Especially painful in ng+. Didnt enjoyed 2 as much. Both are good games tho . Recommend to fans of soulslike .
I must be one of the few that enjoyed Lords of the Fallen (2014). For me, the worst thing the game had, was the loading screens between some areas. Other than that... I did 2 runs one after another and enjoyed them both. And once I finish Lies of P (which I'm about to) I will try the new one.
I can safely say, I have most definitely mastered Lords of the Fallen 2014 combat and gameplay mechanics. I enjoyed the game myself, but the main issues for me were 1. Slow as fuck movement that feels terrible to play. 2. Dodging is horrendous and enemy staggering is stupidly done, you have most enemies being staggard by the exact same combo, but out of no-where they will just not get staggard and combo you to death (mind you, I had 30 into vitality stat and most enemies even in early game can combo you to death out of nowhere by just shoving you into the ground without you being able to get back up and dodge out of them doing it again) and 3. The enemies with big shields is a most definite a must delete from the stupid game, they take no damage what-so-ever, and have almost no openings between their combos and the game allows them to INSTANTLY put up their shield again, you can't back stab them either which is a pain and if it wasn't for the flawless poison runes I got early on in the game, I would not have gotten through my first play through against them and have quit quite soon after starting lol. I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't for those 3 aspects. A more minor thing that i found also bad was the weapons. You cannot upgrade your weapons without runes, and the Runes are honestly dog shit useless other then the flawless poison runes or flawless Luck runes (poison on weapons/luck on weapons for weapon scaling or on armor for extra equipment weight) The damage increases though is non-existent between finding a higher damaged weapon and Is overall pointless to worry about getting them as the damage increase is negligible and it will never help you do any actual damage against bosses.
noticed you said you have to make PAX shoot himself in the first fight to win. this is incorrect. you can simply beat feet until he falls, and then run to his head and bonk him to death when he's knocked over temporarily. (spoiler) the second time around you have to guide the missiles into the big tanks on the wall to do extra damage to take him out. made it less of a gimmick and more of a standard soulsgiant type boss. i liked both versions of the fight. also hated the three part boss bc of the second stage. kind of liked the fly on the wall angle for the third phase, but thats likely not a popular opinion. its probably the worst boss in Surge 1 but not a terrible time either imo. i loved both surge titles to platinum them both as well. good times.
My issue with Atlas Fallen is that this could have easily been made into a Prince of Persia game. On that note, it probably would have been one of the better games to come out of the series.
None are great. This is coming from someone who has completed Lords of the Fallen in which I've encountered the most down syndromic shit I've ever seen a human make, and Surge 2 which was a vast improvement to the utter travesty of Surge 1, but still diarrhea inducing. Apart from quite a fantastic map design in Surge 2, this company does NOTHING right. It is actually baffling how bad they are.
I don't think it is bad, but I really wish they hadn't strayed so far from what makes The Surge great, the sequel by comparison is a disappointment, but still well worth playing imo.
I’ll never understand how they went from an awful Souls-like with Lords of the Fallen to 2 of the freshest and funnest Souls-like with both The Surge games and then followed those great efforts up with the trash that was Atlas Fallen. I’m surprised they made Venetica though. Janky as hell, buggy and ugly but a fun time throughout
I'm currently playing Atlas fallen and I don't think it's a terrible game. It's far from perfect but I'm having some fun. I'm halfway through it. There are some very frustrating moment, but overall for me, it's like a 6 when it's being frustrating or a 7/10 when it's not being frustrating. It's definitely not for everyone.
The Surge 1/2 are two of the greatest Soul-likes games, the series could've benefit of PS5/XBX power, why the studio abondned the series and went with that Desert game.
Love all of your videos, and I am a huge fan of this developer, but you definitely got it wrong with Atlas Fallen. Yeah the story is mediocre, but the combat is addicting, and fun when you know how to parry and know how to fuse the right abilities to your build. Again, I love your videos, and I played the whole Gothic series when I was a kid. (How I found your channel) It was the Skyrim before Skyrim. Atlas Fallen has something going for it with it's traversal and combat, and I hope they build upon it. Maybe you rushed your review of it since it was the last game? P.S. The Surge 1 and 2 are amazing.
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hell yeah brother surge and surge 2 didn't beat them at all, but I love playing them
I have played all but Surge 2 and Lords of the Fallen (part 2?)
Surge 1 and 2 are so damn good. very underrated soulslikes.
I loved trying to collect all of the armor parts. Farming specific enemies to hack of arms, etc, was just so cool lol
Agreed, one of the best souls likes, imo
I wasn't able to Finnish it because I levelled up too much, and the last boss scales with you. I played on ps4. Perhaps modders fixed it on pc.
@@zettor47It's strange, because the last boss in my case was the easiest boss in the entire game and i have weapon and armor maxed out. I didn't even know that the last boss scales with you.
I had more trouble with the previous boss, Black Cerberus.
@ninge88 scales with core level, been awhile, I think that's what it's called.
Surge 2 is one of my favorite souls-likes I've ever played. I thought the interconnected level design was pretty incredible. I've done a few playthrough's and I always find some weapons/armor/shortcuts/quests that I've never found before. I was really impressed with the level design especially
The combat was also very entertaining that I found myself using strength weapons and I normally don't use those in s souls game
Was really sad that the main character isn’t warren as I loved his character. At least he survived the first game(and the second probably)
The Surge is such a special game for me. Really underrated, it deserved much better attention and praise.
Same, especially since they took what they learned from Lords of the Fallen and made a much better Soulslike game.
I would have preferred The Surge 2 to be a lot more like The Surge, the stackability of implants made the first one better imo.
The factory in the first Surge had unbelievable atmosphere. I love both games.
Lords of the fallen bosses have two types of weapon drops, one from a regular kill or one from killing them while meeting specific requirements. Same mechanic was carried on into the surge 1&2, downside being that the challenge wasn't just a no hit kill and not always obvious.
Liked the mechanic in the surge that gave players buffs or bonuses if they choose to keep the "souls" rather than banking them.
Pooping is done with the butt. Always remember that.
Sometimes I forget that and then, I end up talking shit.
Heyo maybe someone told you already, but the enemy from LotF that blocks everything (21:04) is best handled with the dash mechanic, that also opens secret passages: sprint towards him and raise the shield, that way he loses his poise. good video btw
The original Lords of the Fallen was actually a damn good launch window title. Same goes with The Surge games.
It really wasn't.
The surge 1 and 2 are absolutely phenomenal in my opinion...
I really like the first Lords of the Fallen. It actually does some really cool things. I also like Surge 2.
Currently working my way through the first Surge for the first time & its probably my favorite so-called souls-like not by FROM SOFTWARE (havent played Lies of P yet). Hard af sometimes. Way harder than the Souls games imho. Thats a good thing tho. Gives it a nice hard sci-fi edge. Not sure about Surge 2's less immersive design but looking forward to the updated combat & itemization. I knew when I saw the Atlas trailer it would not be good. I just said to myself "Oof, what ? They shouldve made Surge 3 instead" cause it looked like a jumbled mess for the sake of being different, & clearly also wanted to be Elden Ring, Elex, etc. Thanks for confirming that its not worth checking out. They already found their niche. Its The Surge. At least make it a trilogy. Its got a unique feel all its own. They should go back & do Surge 3 for sure. Back to a more immersive, gritty, & mysterious world like #1 tho. Adding story filler to your game doesnt make it better.
Also side note: Man I just love the German design aesthetic. The way they do the containers spread around the world, for example, in Surge & Elex, nobody else does better containers than these German devs. Their mechanical/technical aesthetics are second to none, unsurprisingly, & The Surge really highlights this.
If you love Soulslikes, you might love Lies Of P then. There's not too much wrong with it. The difficulty can vary wildly at times. For example, the 3 bosses before the one called Laxasia could be considered jokes by comparison. Some of the weapons and combos are just not viable. And, some parts of the level design can be tedious. Other than those things, I had fun with it.
Surge 1 and 2 are both great games. I enjoyed my multiple runs in those two games.
The character and monster design in Blood Knights looked better than I would have expected. Some of those designs are pretty rad. Also, it's a shame that Atlas Fallen didn't turn out well. You would think an RPG with movement options like in that game would have turned out to be amazing. Surge 3 when?
They designs got worse with every game which sadly is common for modern western developers
To be fair, that some big shoes to fill to come up with new designs each time. Also, Deck 13 is from germany... Not sure this is a western problem more like a common one instead.@@youdontsay193
Atlas Fallen is okay imo. If you just ignore the story and just focus on the gameplay which feels really fun in my opinion
The Surge scrap multiplier also makes the farming so easy than any Souls game. Makes your level go high as much as you want in the very first area of the game.
Probably the easiest game in the genre to level up, if you know how to do it. I got up to core power 611 in NG++++ on my last playthrough.
Personally I think the Surge 1 had the better story/atmosphere while the Surge 2 had the better gameplay/environments.
Lords of the Fallen 2014 was also one of the first PC game with Denuvo and started whole trend of delayed cracks.
Honestly The Deck 13 "soulslikes" really nail the meatiness, heaviness and feel of the combat. No other soulslike has the same feel of weight in the combat like the first Lords of the Fallen. And The Surge 1 and 2 just continued that, the weapons and combat just feels great, heavy and meaty. Also the Surge is BRUTALLY hard!
totally agree. big heavy weapons should never feel like paper.
The first LotF wasn't "meaty". It was like moving around in syrup. They have some good games but they'll continue to be hit or miss if their fans praise the bad parts of them.
@@johndiddilyjoe6258 LotF was like that. If anything at least for the Surge, Deck13 learned from what they did with LotF in what works and what didn't when it came to making another Soulslike game.
The Surge 2* the first one was ass. But it is good to see them slowly learning.
Thankfully The Surge and The Surge 2 are nothing at all like the 1st Lords of the Fallen which was unplayable in my opinion.
I really like the way you put this video together! I own both venetica and Lords. Gave up on them both a few hours in. The Surge games are on my list now!
Both Surge games are much better than Venetica and the 1st Lords. I just started playing Venetica a few days ago and am enjoying it for the most part, it is miles behind The Surge though.
Hi there fellow gamers. I have played pretty much every Deck 133 game, except for Blood Knights, wich wasn´t my jam, and Atlas Fallen, altough I got the game for Series X for free in a game shop deal.
All I have to say is The Surge games, especially The Surge 2, wich is my favourite, are very fun and addicting games.
There are many souls-like type games that tend to be in ancient times, but The Surge franchise has that future industrial style that visualy sets it apart. And just like C4G mentioned(sorry, don´t know your name, but I´m a big fan of your content) the combat mechanics are very fun and engaging, especially the dismenbering mechanic for getting new weapons and armour.
Also the level desing is very good, lots of shortcuts to find and some unique Bosses to fight.
Would love Deck 13 make The Surge 3 for current gen and improve some of the visuals as well as the story bits. Maybe one day.
Cheers and happy gaming everyone
The Surge has to be one of the more unique games I've played. I love the setting and atmosphere, everything just seems to reinforce the fact that you are essentially jousting with huge industrial equipment and I love it XD
Venetica and Sudeki were RPGs on my old list "to check out" but forgot about them.
Surge looks nice - different setting for soulslike certainly helps. And combat is great!
Atlas Fallen would be great if they tried to copy Darksiders series - amazing games.
Atlas Fallen had one problem. Multitude of mods but there was no reason to ever use anything else than those that give you special attacks/momentum generation. I do not think I changed my build drastically depending on the encounter.
I liked Venetica and even the combat. I recommend it.
I completely forgot about that game even thought I beat it and still have it for XBOX 360.
The Surge 1 and 2 are amazing games, the second part being my favorite non-Fromsoftware-soulslike shortly after Nioh 2!
And I actually really liked the original Lords of the Fallen quite a lot! The German voice acting hits the spot I guess, because, while the dialogues were lacking, the voice acting itself felt good. But it's been a long time since I played it. And it really felt amazing mastering the combat. Until... there was a part of the game where it just became a frustrating mess. Whelp.
Unpopular opinion, i think that Lord of the Fallen is actually pretty good, yes you can cheese almost every boss fight and some builds are really OP, but the art style and the heavyness of the weapons 👌
Venetica is a GREAT game! I have played through it three times! You're obviously not on my wavelength!
It looks good from this video, and is now on my steam wishlist
Platinumed both surge games, I effing love this series. I wish there was a third or a sucessor to it
I was hyperfixated on Atlas Fallen from around late June-the release date. I even pre-ordered it. The combat sold me on it and I almost completed it, but I ended up getting annoyed with it near the end. The final nail in the coffin was the puzzle to lift the stones in the under city, the distance between each was unreasonable.
The Surge is an excellent game, with only one issue... Boss battles. Is one of the most unique souls-like that you can play, probably with one of the best level design in the genre. I don't know why it was so hated.
I have also The surge 2, but i have not finished yet.
However i din't like Lords of the fallen, but maybe i will give it a chance in the future.
lords of the fallen spent all their money on looking great, and 0 on playtesting
I've just given The Surge another chance and it's finally clicked with me (I always appreciated the aesthetic). Going to sink some serious time in it and thankfully there's a sequel!
I WAS BORNNNN, INA PRISOOON, WITH NOOO HOPE FOR ESSSCAAAPE.
Really under rated game... and that song fucking HITS everytime you go to save. Spent so much time just listening to it in game.
Lords of The Fallen was actually my first soulslike game, I would play Dark Souls long after I finished it, so that game has a very special place in my heart.
I think Deck 13 was the only soulslike developer who indeed tried new formulas above the From Soft tropes, like the armor design in Lords and the body parts farming from The Surge.
Unfortunately after that every soulslike game just tries to be Dark Souls 394 or Bloodborne 271.
So actually on pax on the surge, you're supposed to wait till he picks one leg up to stomp on you and hit his other leg and he'll fall over and you can do damage to him
Picked up Venetica for very cheap while on sale at steam and I am enjoying it, quite advanced for its age. It is not without flaw, or annoyance, but for those who truly enjoy the genre and are willing to give it a fair go, I believe it is worthwhile and deserves some credit.
as someone who not only played and finished, but even 100% lords of the fallen(old one), my advise is, invest in str as much as you need to equip the special mace(forgot the name), that thing will carry you with minimal investment, and the best part is, its extremely effective even against shielded enemies. later you can swap to its big brother(also dont remember the name since its been a long time since i beat it).
originally i wanted to play as all classes, but by the end, i basically started as them, but changed into a heavy armor using that mace. it genuinely trivialize so much of the game.
I loved the first Surge, there was something so good about the combat, the environment, even the enemies! Sure it had it's questionable moments but it felt pretty solid! I loved how combat could be easier or harder depending on how you attack limbs! You can dispatch enemies easier by going for unarmored sections. or focus tougher areas for loot! Love that.
I wish I could say the same for the second one... There was something really... wrong with The Surge 2. I can't really put it to words but it just felt like a step back in every aspect? Sure it had some cool bosses and equipment but I generally didn't like it as much as the first. That said, I loved the robot pirate DLC, That was pretty fun for the most part, would loved more of that.
I generally think sci-fi settings for Soulikes are criminally underused and I wish we had more of them. Kudos for Deck 13 for taking a plunge at that.
Agreed, I have no idea why most people seem to prefer The Surge 2. I really cannot stand the environment though, it is just too bleak and bland. Deck 13 really excel in the expansions though, they are very creative when they want to be.
I have loved Venetica and I always will
Seeing is done with the eyes, always remember that.
These games are all on sale at Steam at the moment and are ridiculously cheap, except for Atlas Fallen, but even that is half price.
Funny - I just installed Venetica a few day's ago, partially for nostalgia reasons. Yeah - The game will not win any prices and feels very dated now, but I still have a lot of fun with it. I installed it alongside ArcaniA, that's also in the same league. I also have more fun with that one than it's technically possible. It only shows I am a kind of weird guy I guess...
Oh - And by the way. If you really like magic, then Lichdom: Battlemage is a funny one (but not perfect by any means). It's almost 10 years old, so it will shows it's age a little, but nevertheless It's a nice one to play.
Blood Knights Vampires treated them better even after they hunted them prior than the humans did treat them after they turned vampire ... IDK man, but kinda seems like the vampires had a fair point.
I love how u use gothic 3 musics in your videos and every time i see a video from u i have to start gothic again.
Seeing is done with the eyes. Always remember that!
Venetica was probably the first RPG I have ever played
Don't remember it well but I remember the name and the cover
Damn shame about atlas fallen. I wanted them to do a take on monster hunter but they probably have to build up to it with 4 games before they get it right lol.
I do actually love all the boss fights in the surge games, especially the hardcore kills. And as far as “recycled” bosses in soulslikes, I love those too but I could understand if you aren’t trying to perfect the bossfight and just want to get through the game, how they could become annoying. With delver though, getting my ass kicked the first time and basically perfect parrying him by the third encounter felt awesome. Love that about souls games too, like the crucible knight or bell bearing hunter in elden ring, by the end of the game, as long as you didn’t over level your self into a magic wielding Demi god, you could see just how far your skills had advanced when you were excited to take them out without much of a care.
I have enjoyed what I have played of Atlas Fallen. I am glad it is not yet another Souls-like.
Venetica is a great game, many people struggle with the tasks and puzzles then they quit, games are not created to be easy if it was then it is not a game you are playing, it's for you to use your brain to figure out what to do when you play games with tasks and puzzles
I started playing Surge again after this video, thanks for the great work.
I would lvoe a similar-ish video about some of the Falcom titles, The Ys games and such would fit right in with these sort of games.
I’m wondering if there’s something wrong with Surge 2 on PS5, because on the Series X it looks amazing and the colors are so bright and vibrant. You should the woods area in your video, and I just played through it other day on Series X and it’s so bright and green and not washed out at all. Very weird!
LoTF 2014 could be fully cheesed with running jump attack with a heavy enough weapon (Heirloom is a hammer you get pretty early on). Sadly daggers/dualwield/staves suck, especially on bosses. Did full dagger playtrough including DLC as my first and then heavy str build and it was no contest. Big shield dudes just get 1shotted. As for heavy armor, you could socket it with Luck gems to make it pretty light. Rune generation was cheesable with alt+f4 (game did not save), so with a little patience you could have gotten max amount of flawless ones.
Surge 1 can be cheesed with running sliding attack with a heavy weapon, but at least fast weapons are useful. Did Ng+3 and was using Pax 2 for majority of the game and then Fractal Reaver.
There is an awesome feeling in S1 Ng+, when get jumped by the hybrid elite enemy on the start and you just equip all your shit and make spam out of it.
Surge 2 had much better balanced weapons, I loved staves, but for bosses in NG+3 and higher the Justice of Iron Maus (insane aspeed/stagger gloves) were superior.
only other soulslike I did multiple NG+ was Hellpoint.
Loved surge 1 and 2.
I was booorn...in a prison...no hope..of rescue! Amiright
Ah yes the eyes are for seeing I never knew that.
OG Lords of the Fallen actually was a great game. Actually the first game that made soulslike genre what it is today coz original DS1 and 2 was not even close to it in terms of triple-a representation. So when people says Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3 is genre defining game, i beg to differ. It was OG LOTF.
Maybe it's because, back then, I played lords of the fallen after several playthroughs of DS2, but I don't recognise your critique at all. In fact I remember this as the last soulslike where stamina(management) actually meant something and always thought it was a bad thing the genre walked away from. It's aggressive now, not then. The combat is sluggish now, not then. Back then there was weight behind it and required dedication.
That is, the first half of the game was that and generally it was the part of the game soulsfans really liked. The game fell apart in the second half, which you didn't play, because there you level so incredibly fast it buggers the difficulty curve. You quickly start oneshotting everything with that greatsword running attack you liked so much and all the decisionmaking that made the combatsystem is out the window. You have to deliberately hamstring yourself, and thát's why the game was ill received. Ones again a promising soulslike messed up the second part of the game. Soon after Bloodborne came out, which was excellent, and nobody spoke of this game again.
But this game wasn't bad for any of the reasons you mentioned, not to any soulsfans at least. Unless you like an Elden Ring or it's younger namesake, fans of the older souls games should pick this up, knowing the second half of the game has issues.
10:57 "Surprisingly character models aren't bad at all"
Bro got 2 good points here
I haven't played any of their games but i have Venetica (GOG) and Blood Knights (Steam), both were free.
I honestly really like LotF, it feels pretty much the same as Surge 1 to me but with a fun fantasy setting. I actually bought it on both PS4 and Steam (a whopping $8 total). It’s so cheap I’d recommend anyone that liked Surge 1 at least try it
It was pretty fun a while back, I remember the magic being helpful
Working on the surge games even though I'm not typically into souls like games
I can't remember if that tough shield enemy in Lords of the Fallen was meant to indicate to you that you should be taking the alternate path until you have leveled up, but it's been a while. Surge series is amazing
I thought the same. Until I met the same NPC on another path as well. It's not impossible to kill, but it's annoying af.
@@click4gameplay yeah I don't remember a lot about the game but I do remember that enemy in particular being a pretty heavy nuisance
They are super easy with sprinting shield bash. It breaks their stance imidiately and Heirloom 1shots them. ruclips.net/video/sqq08hQxDh4/видео.html
other option is to bait them to attack you and sprint jump attack them during animation (which also staggers them and they drop the shield).
My save on the surge broke near the end as i entered a room and if i moved through a door,the game would crash,if i got on the elevator in that room,the game would crash and if i tried backtracking,the game would crash.Even worse is i was playing a digital copy so cant even blame it on a damaged disc
I couldnt get into The Surge 1, but I'm willing to admit it was a skill issue. I just couldnt click with the combat. But Surge 2 on the other hand I absolutely clicked with and couldnt stop playing until I finished it.
I'm intrigued by Deck 13, they have the potential to fill the same hole that Spiders or Piranha Bytes do for me, but they just have a few more misses than hits... I just know they are worth keeping an eye on because when they strike gold, they REALLY do, like Surge 2. And when they don't the games are still interesting in some way.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you are comfortable with it and get the right implants and weapon, the combat is very good.
I liked venetica but never finished it.
Fairly off-topic but; I just picked up Gothic 1 on the Switch 3 or 4 days ago and I've got to say I am absolutely loving it, about 12 hours in and the game design is still such a breath of fresh air, it took me about 9 hours to realize the combat revolved around the joystick rather than just pressing A xD Hopefully I can beat it before the sequel comes out next week but I will absolutely be grabbing it, I am now a believer, AWAKEN!
39:07 that's why you kept calling Warren 'Warden'
The Surge 1 and 2 are some of my favorite soulslike game to play.
Lords of the fallen had the coolest armor sets. Especially if you like wow type itemization,
If you just go for their RPGs I'd probably agree that The Surge is their best series. But if you go a bit broader they have a couple of more traditional adventure games that have been somewhat better reviewed. The Ankh and Jack Keane series stand out. And if you are into business strategy then the Transocean games are basically a modern version of the old Amiga game Ports of Call.
I loved Surge 1 & 2. Replayed them several times. I have also enjoyed Lords of the Fallen, though to a lesser extent.
Lords of the Fallen was so interesting to me. It's people just misunderstanding what made Dark Souls so good. People described Dark Souls as slow but they usually meant intentional. Your attacks have weight and meaning because you can't cancel once you've committed. Lords of the Fallen misunderstood this to mean sluggish instead of weighty and intentional to mean really slow. To their credit they executed on what they thought people wanted perfectly they were just wrong about what they thought people want.
I was able to push through the lords of the fallen on my first playthrough, I tried to replay it twice and just couldn't.
The levelled loot was also a poor design choice.
Deck13 got bought up by publisher focus home interactive in 2020. Put 1 and 1 together
I was born in a prison…with no hope of escape
i cant believe you played thse
i clicked n here for lof becauseit looked s good 10y ago.
We LOVE The Surge 1 & 2🖤
i love AA RPGs!
Surge 2 is one of my favorite games
I loved surge 2 very underated gem
oh wow I didn't but I like deck 13 I am sure they'll rock in the future
I actually like that Lords 1 is quite slow and deliberate. Not every game needs to be like ... a Team Ninja game. Also, that shield enemy has multiple ways to get staggered or bypassed. Once you learn the gimmick, he's fairly easy. And, besides the graveyard boss, there aren't many "gotcha!" mechanics in game, so you can experiment to your heart's delight. Overall, I quite like Lords 1.
for me lotf with all of its problems, is still the best in this list
Atlas fallen is fun combat in my opinion
loved Atlas Fallen
Oh man , i platinumed both surge 1 and 2. Good games.
I preferred 1 , however the difficulty gets absurd in the second half with almost all the enemies capable of one-two shotting you. Especially painful in ng+.
Didnt enjoyed 2 as much. Both are good games tho . Recommend to fans of soulslike .
I must be one of the few that enjoyed Lords of the Fallen (2014). For me, the worst thing the game had, was the loading screens between some areas. Other than that... I did 2 runs one after another and enjoyed them both.
And once I finish Lies of P (which I'm about to) I will try the new one.
I loved Suege. Didn't care for rhe sequel but then again I'm not a fan of futuristic robots and chrome. But I was sold at the intro.
I can safely say, I have most definitely mastered Lords of the Fallen 2014 combat and gameplay mechanics. I enjoyed the game myself, but the main issues for me were 1. Slow as fuck movement that feels terrible to play. 2. Dodging is horrendous and enemy staggering is stupidly done, you have most enemies being staggard by the exact same combo, but out of no-where they will just not get staggard and combo you to death (mind you, I had 30 into vitality stat and most enemies even in early game can combo you to death out of nowhere by just shoving you into the ground without you being able to get back up and dodge out of them doing it again) and 3. The enemies with big shields is a most definite a must delete from the stupid game, they take no damage what-so-ever, and have almost no openings between their combos and the game allows them to INSTANTLY put up their shield again, you can't back stab them either which is a pain and if it wasn't for the flawless poison runes I got early on in the game, I would not have gotten through my first play through against them and have quit quite soon after starting lol. I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't for those 3 aspects. A more minor thing that i found also bad was the weapons. You cannot upgrade your weapons without runes, and the Runes are honestly dog shit useless other then the flawless poison runes or flawless Luck runes (poison on weapons/luck on weapons for weapon scaling or on armor for extra equipment weight) The damage increases though is non-existent between finding a higher damaged weapon and Is overall pointless to worry about getting them as the damage increase is negligible and it will never help you do any actual damage against bosses.
noticed you said you have to make PAX shoot himself in the first fight to win. this is incorrect. you can simply beat feet until he falls, and then run to his head and bonk him to death when he's knocked over temporarily. (spoiler) the second time around you have to guide the missiles into the big tanks on the wall to do extra damage to take him out. made it less of a gimmick and more of a standard soulsgiant type boss. i liked both versions of the fight. also hated the three part boss bc of the second stage. kind of liked the fly on the wall angle for the third phase, but thats likely not a popular opinion. its probably the worst boss in Surge 1 but not a terrible time either imo. i loved both surge titles to platinum them both as well. good times.
My issue with Atlas Fallen is that this could have easily been made into a Prince of Persia game. On that note, it probably would have been one of the better games to come out of the series.
Glad to learn which ones are great.
None are great. This is coming from someone who has completed Lords of the Fallen in which I've encountered the most down syndromic shit I've ever seen a human make, and Surge 2 which was a vast improvement to the utter travesty of Surge 1, but still diarrhea inducing.
Apart from quite a fantastic map design in Surge 2, this company does NOTHING right. It is actually baffling how bad they are.
Surge 1 is absolutely amazing. The sequel was really bad imo, sad.
I don't think it is bad, but I really wish they hadn't strayed so far from what makes The Surge great, the sequel by comparison is a disappointment, but still well worth playing imo.
I’ll never understand how they went from an awful Souls-like with Lords of the Fallen to 2 of the freshest and funnest Souls-like with both The Surge games and then followed those great efforts up with the trash that was Atlas Fallen.
I’m surprised they made Venetica though. Janky as hell, buggy and ugly but a fun time throughout
Surge seems cool i dont see a lot of sci fi souls like game.
I've played most of them for some reason and I've enjoyed a few of them. The new Lords of the Fallen shows much better that ip could have been.
Yeah, I wonder what deck 13 would have done if they had developed the new Lords of the Fallen.
Great video C4G.
I'm currently playing Atlas fallen and I don't think it's a terrible game. It's far from perfect but I'm having some fun. I'm halfway through it. There are some very frustrating moment, but overall for me, it's like a 6 when it's being frustrating or a 7/10 when it's not being frustrating. It's definitely not for everyone.
The Surge 1/2 are two of the greatest Soul-likes games, the series could've benefit of PS5/XBX power, why the studio abondned the series and went with that Desert game.
Seems like the studio just kept iterating till they got it right even larien did that
39:51 thought it's unreal 5 again
Love all of your videos, and I am a huge fan of this developer, but you definitely got it wrong with Atlas Fallen. Yeah the story is mediocre, but the combat is addicting, and fun when you know how to parry and know how to fuse the right abilities to your build. Again, I love your videos, and I played the whole Gothic series when I was a kid. (How I found your channel) It was the Skyrim before Skyrim. Atlas Fallen has something going for it with it's traversal and combat, and I hope they build upon it. Maybe you rushed your review of it since it was the last game?
P.S. The Surge 1 and 2 are amazing.