Your all wrong. It's called an in depth review. It compares games to other games that are beloved or hated. It shows every aspect of the games and it also shows relations between mechanics found in games around the world. It's the perfect review people. That's what he does. The perfect review.
After playing this game recently I don't see how people need to run like he points on ,I wiped out everything in first play through and blew through ng+ and by acquiring the gear for area you are in by mk it's not hard to figure out that you upgrade as u progress example mk1 for area1 (abandoned production) area2 mk2 (production b) area 3 mk 3 (bioolabs).... and is doubled for ng+. running like a pussy ain't no fun people think this games hard lol ninja garden black is what I consider a hard game, souls and this ain't hard as people think people just get lazy and bitch coz they ain't good enough.
@@edd-ik1lw it's a hard game, because you can't just go through it like a breeze. By your logic, anything is easy if you put enough time into it. Which is true, but just just because you become good at it does not automatically it an easy game.
The explanation of how the "map" of the division is both a great asset (because of how well it replicates new york) and hindrance is something i've tried to explain many times to people. Really solid stuff.
At this point in time I've played through The Surge so many times its not funny, its just sad. The only thing I think that most reviewers are getting wrong is the whole "trash mobs" thing as there actually aren't any. Every single enemy in the game can be taken on in a one on one confrontation and that is kind of a key part of success in the game. Some of them you have to wait out their walking routes, others you have lure over to another location but there is always a way. Don't rush in to combat and if possible make them come to you. Once you get this you can see that its what makes this gamed excellent combat system really shine. The system is designed for single combat not mobs. Approaching this game like a hack and slash is asking for a quick death.
Sean Gehret Thank you. Is basically the same approach of Horizon Zero Dawn, but instead, in that game they explain you this. If people doesnt have all the instructions right in front of them, they will review things like that, and i dont like it.
Yea i agree with this. Apart from some of the nanite things. Also you can beat the Black Cerebus in one Pax. Guess that's not immediately obvious but the way I saw it you weren't meant to fight out the whole thing. But yea quite often the drone helps control mobs and/or switching up weapons..The game is very fair. Boss wise I think they should have concentrated on or balanced them with more challenging humanoid enemies so you could put what you've learned to the test..
Old comment, but I agree. It's always odd when people claim to have come from the elitist "git gud" of a game that is Dark Souls, then proceed to complain about how hard combat is in The Surge. All the while me - a pretty average player who doesn't even like Dark Souls games - was able to cheese my way through most of it, skipping no enemies along the way. It really is as simple as pulling them one by one with the Done, at which point the majority of them can be killed reliably by exploiting their telegraphed attacks. A lot of them can be cheesed to high heaven using the duck/leap dodge, as well. In fact, the superficially scary Nannite enemies are straight-up trivial this way, as most of their attacks can be ducked. Aside from a few enemy types, this game is predominantly "trash mobs." Warren is a glass cannon regardless of his build so simple mistakes will hurt, true, but all enemies are entirely deterministic and the timing on most of them isn't even all that tight.
Demon Souls may have used the formula first, but it was more of a prototype. Dark Souls then created a genre through polish and success. Think about it this way: If FromSoftware had never followed Demon Souls up with Dark Souls, do you think the genre would still exist the same way it does today? Do you think we would call it "Souls-Like"?
Skill Up just gets it, man. The bit about how cohesion of environment and world design is wonderful, but how adhering to theme so rigidly is paradoxically monotonous... and that there would be a way to achieve logical cohesion with thematic variety, especially in a sequel. That's my kind of design insight and you're speakin' my language.
"I hope there is a sequel that builds on The Surge" And that is exactly what happened. Surge 1 is a good start, it lays a fantastic foundation. But it just has so many aspects to it that turn it into an incredibly frustrating, difficult in a bad way and repetitive slog. The Surge 2 takes all the best elements of the first and expands upon them, then adds so many more great aspects. I'm absolutely loving The Surge 2 and am so glad they not only made a sequel, but pushed it to it's full potential.
Love how this guy slaps me in the face with a punch of a thousand dictionaries whilst reviewing a game.. and me thanking him for it.. no doubt SkillUp 100% best reviewer, no competition.
No competition? Haha, ACG gives this guy a run for his money. Not that this wasn't a decent review, but I feel like I got a fraction of the content for double the time investment. ACG could have said all this and way more in a 15min video. I also hate how he said he wouldn't compare this game to Dark Souls, but then immediately started comparing it to other games that are completely different. I get WHY he did it, but he could have made the same point without bringing up those other games at all and avoided the needlessly wasted time talking about games I didn't come here to hear about.
After Lies of P, I done some research on Souls Likes and found the Surge 1 and 2 in the PS store on sale, and for once I feel I robbed Sony, instead of the other way around, and I just started part one and my god, how the hell does these games not have more love is beyond me, and this review was excellent.
I'm there with ya on the combat. One of the elements that keeps pulling me back into The Surge, however I'm not a subscriber to the run past tactic. I force myself to fight every enemy as part of my penance for dying when I did
A few days ago I played the demo and fell in love. Its great cuz I've been trying to play the blood borne but couldn't get into it and now cuz of this I think I can get into it. So thank you deck 13 you opened up a whole new genre of gaming for me. Please give us supporters a surge 2.
I dunno, in comparison to Sekiro and Bloodborne, The Surge felt clunky to me in certain mechanics of combat, while in other ways it felt good. After spending the time to Platinum it and get all the parts and weapons, I think the developers were a fan of not only Souls-borne, but also Armored Core. I wish there was less incentive to have a single set compared to mixing sets. Pretty solid review, but I think you missed out on the small note of how the bosses can reward V.2 weapons for killing them in specific ways. For example, the fourth boss, the Black Cerberus guard would drop the V2 version of his weapon and have a much easier fight if you used the PAX's main cannon to destroy the two big white cylinders.
Huh, I hadn't really considered running past enemies. Guess that's an option too! You do understand that enemies give you the resources you need to upgrade your gear right? :P Well, except for those goddamned 3-legged jumping bots... Gotta say, I noticed you were using the 1st section 1-handed weapon in the last section of the game. That weapon has almost no damage, and has 'medium' proficiency scaling (so damage isn't even being upped much by your experience level with 1-handers). Given that, I'm not sure the complaint about doing 'no damage to enemies' in the last few sections of the game isn't... well, your own fault. I see you swinging that chainsword at the first boss clones legs for 33 damage. It takes 100+ from any highly upgraded high-proficiency Single-Rigged weapon. And it's not like you're getting extra swings out of the 1-hander, because you have to back off after every swing to avoid getting stomped. Did you activate the chemical-damage injectable? That at least adds some damage to quick-hitting weapons, as its just a flat per-hit boost. Your Rhino gear also isn't useful vs bosses. It's got reduced damage to armored opponents (not helpful) as a tradeoff to having increased impact - but bosses don't get staggered, and you're using a weapon with such low impact that even the rhino arms +60% impact is barely going to matter. All-in-all, I really like your review, much as I really like the game. I believe though that you screwed yourself with your gear choices. To attempt a Dark Souls analogy: you're having late-game difficulties because you never realized you could talk to a blacksmith. DId that work? Honestly I dunno, this is my first soulslike game (PC gamer here).
I know this is extremely late, but in case anyone else stumbles across this comment: The 3-legged jump bots do give one progression related thing. If you break their top-arm, they drop Ancillary Core implants. These implants GIVE you Core Power when equipped. Not exactly a form of gear upgrade, but it does let you mount implants/gear you wouldn't normally be able to.
@@supermaksas also, the top-arm took about 50% of the health, so get rid of it also disable all other attack beside charging, which is easy to counter. i tried
I agree with everything in the review 100% - very insightful observations - except for the criticism on encounter design / enemy difficulty. Thanks to the excellent enemy moveset design in this game, I found the game provided a very satisfying curve of feeling genuinely threatened and even thinking this is impossible, to learning their moves and exploiting the openings and feeling like a badass in just a couple of hours into a new area. It was incredibly rewarding. I do not think any of the enemies in the game have too much HP, save from maybe the robot spiders. Any of the other enemies can be killed in pretty much a single combo from backstab -> charged attack with level appropriate weapons. You just need to know where to aim the shot for them to stagger or fall over.
arpakyna You can easily defeat the spiders by stunning with the drone and 1-hit them. Then repeat. I had struggle with finding the mechanism in the beginning.
Agreed. Noticed his weapon choice wasn't the best either which wouldn't help. Not having enough enemy variety was more the issue for me. Difficulty not so much.
I just started playin the game, and the only time I struggle is when I get swarmed. Luckily, in most situations my companion drone is able to draw away enemies so I can 1 V 1 them. The combat mechanics and the way your weapon choice and mods affect the gameplay is the best part of this game. I'm enjoying this a lot.
Let's be real. The fact that you're using a single hand sword is...hard mode difficulty. Single rigged is the way to go if you want some flexibility with a solid amount of damage.
This game is one of the most underrated ever. Personally one of my favourites, digging for the second. Honestly i didn't find it very very hard, especially because i always killed everyone with slide, hit-and-run with Pax weapon, which deals a shitton of damage but is not really slow.
Your coverage alone conjured my interest again in this game. I'm enjoying so far bar a few gripes and just beat the first boss. Thanks for getting this game on my radar.
They should fire hamish and employ you, or maybe not fire him, just demote to work beneath you because God Damn it you understand games. Keep up the good work Bro loving the content.
Been meaning to try this game for a while now, but was off-put by many negative reviews, yours is more balanced then the rest, think i'll give it a try now. Thanks.
There has been a lot of patches and tweaks since launch, but I would like more information about how the changes take effect. Also, Deck13 released an expansion that takes place in a CREO amusement park. With rollercoasters and silly mascot enemies.
Great review, you really nailed it! You made a great choise to review it as not a souls clone but as a independ ARPG as it is. You own a new suscriber!
Matey your intros are second to none! I can't just throw your videos on from my phone, I need to wait for a lunch break or when I get home to play through apple TV, they get me excited and well worth my full attention. Nice moves bud!
The bosses in this game are extremely difficult when you fight the first time, but become laughably easy once youve learnwd their moves. I love it. It has become a comfort game for me.
I have to say... although I get where you are coming from, I eventually mastered this game in a way that did not make the end phases of this game too hard. You have to become disciplined and patient, but eventually you figure it out. I felt that Souls and Nioh for example are much more unfair feeling when random enemy combos are impossibly difficult. I found that with The Surge, the time I put into it was paid off by feeling fully in charge of my moveset and capable of taking on any enemy.
I alt tabbed the video and when I starting hearing the Division sound track I had to tab back because I thought the video changed. still love your videos and keep up the good work!
It's on sale on Steam for 2.99. Do you think I will enjoy this game if I enjoyed DS2,3 and Elden Ring? I wanted to get something similar that I can sink my teeth into and get lost in. I just beat DS2 and started playing other games and I'm having a hard time getting into any of them.
@@panamike6178 Definitely! The combat is very fun/ engaging and the gameplay is top notch. The only thing I prefer in DS is the aesthetic (I prefer fantasy over scifi) It's worth playing and does a great job of creating a nightmare world of it's own. One thing I'll tell you now, when you come across these robot headless lion abomination from hell be sure to target the tail (Every other part is clad iron) I learned this only after beating the game 😅
@@Vyrtus_ Thanks for the great response man! I'll def check it out. I became obsessed with the souls game. I loved DS2. I think I may even like it more than DS3. This looks great! I tried getting into Sekiro but I'm having a tough time since you can't change your weapon or armor and that's one of my favorite things in the souls games.
@@panamike6178 Yep I definitely feel that. The souls games killed my ability to play games with Skyrim combat systems XD I understand that with Sekiro, I also played thru Nioh and it's just not as good as DS or Surge. Happy playing, cheers!
@@Vyrtus_ Hey man, I was able to scrape up some extra money. Since I finished DS2 and DS3 I ended up buying Elden Ring on sale through steam. I'm set for the net couple 100 hours. Will check out surge after ER! I only got to 30% completion on my PS5 but with my PS5 in the living room and a wife and daughter I don't have the time to grind through it. I'm gonna beat it on the steam deck! DS2 to ER, I'm in for a wild ride. Sorry to rant but I'm beyond excited and felt the need to tell someone.
Wonderful review - its hard to believe that you are actually pretty new at reviewing. I'm surprised at how well-put together this video was for embargo. I'm sure many people think that these reviews are too long, but for me personally, I'm extremely pleased to see longer reviews where the reviewer can really sink into the game. There are plenty of 5-10 minute video reviews out there, but very few that really sink into it.
Through 5 years of gaming soulslikes, The Surge is the only game that has managed to bring back the feelings I got from first playing Dark Souls 1. Methodical, harsh, punishing exploration that frstrates you to no end and makes you feel miserable moment to moment, only to make for a super satisfying feeling after every session and a great experience overall.
Wow, the prologue of this review is as long as full reviews from other sites. Nice!. I just found this channel and im binging the reviews, they are awesome!
wow that review blew me away. very professional. in fact ive seen "professionals" on tv put nowhere near the amount of heart and soul that you put into it. very detailed, thanks for the boss spoiler warning. im super mad at immortal unchained right now so i needed another soulslike to hold me over. ill give it a go, i played dark souls and immediately bought every soulslike i could find soo X D
This for some reason is my favorite review that you have done as of late. You did a great job at sorting through the pros and cons while ending with an optimistic message without swaying or diluting ones opinion on whether to buy the game and give it a go. You do a great job at putting everything on the table in a very elegant way and letting the reader come to their own conclusions based on their individual background. Thanks for the review, great job once again!
For me, The Surge, was a way to try out a game that is "Souls-like" and I actually enjoyed it most of the time and even got it to 100% completion on Xbox One (the DLC included). The bosses gave me hard time to take them down, especially the last one (it's attack patterns are quite unpredictable in the 1st phase and the 2nd phase wasn't that easy either). At around 80 core power I started the Walk In The Park DLC, which almost did it's name justice as it comes to difficulty (it was a lot harder in NG+). Finally I ended up in NG++ with 130 core power and a Mk X Pax Imperator. Not sure yet if I try a Dark Souls game, probably Darksiders III until sequel comes out in 2019.
The most severe crime that Deck13 committed when it came to The Surge 1 is the tragically glossed over parry. The Block+Duck+Attack= The single most powerful parry in any souls like game ever made. It completely changes the game and, when mastered, allows for a far more aggressive play style and that turns you into a killing machine that flows from enemy to enemy like a some kind of.. Kung-fu Master made of old car parts and at least one tractor. I've introduced all of my friends and those willing to read my post about it on the Surge subreddit and every single person that's taken the time to get the timing down has echoed my excitement that it exists and the frustration that the only part of the game it's mentioned is basically just graffiti on the wall before you're introduced to a new enemy type which sufficiently over shadows even that. I call it "The Flying Knee of Death" and it stops Black Cerberus in his tracks and knocks the jumping scorpion robots out of the air midleap... Seriously, the only enemies that I haven't been able to parry in this fashion are the bigger bosses and I'm still not convinced that it's not a timing issue on my part. It's meant to be used like this too because if you get the timing perfect you'll send enemies flying and take a chunk of their health down with them.. I hope you read this SkillUp because, well.. You seem to like if not love those combat and game because of it as much as I do and also because this one move will completely change your outlook on the difficulty curve as well as add a whole'nother layer of appreciation for what is truly some of the best combat ever put to code in a video gsme. (The move is still in the Surge 2... Kind of.. It's there but nerfed to hell. The Surge 1 will always be my favorite because of this move and my introduction to the music of Stumfol through their use of his song Prisoner in the Medbays). Thank you all, for coming to my Tedtalk.
honestly I love how hard this game is because unlike what he said it's actually very very fair !! the reason he was having such a hard time with that end game enemies was that he didn't pay attention to his build and instead just used health and stamina augments and run past enemies, as for me right up until the very last boss i didn't even use a single health augment! but instead i found all the important and rare Implants and learned the best ways to kill enemies, cuz no matter how hard an enemy in this game is, there's always a way to kill them in 3-4 hits ! he just didn't use that!! like the spider enemies are so hard and can one shot you so fast but when you learn about blocking them and using an elemental weapon on them you'll take them down in 3 hits ! the game is so fair when it comes to combat cuz you are as strong as the enemies! I died so many times in this game but i never got mad each time i said "yeah that was my bad!"
I would give a game with good gameplay bones but no good campaigne or story a 7 because even tho you have good gameplay there needs to be a reason in my opinion.... now a days the Devision, Destiny, Battlefront 2, The Surge.... the fact that they have good gameplay (some after a long times work after it released) doesn’t mean it deserves your time... it’s sad to see that games now a days don’t give you story along with gameplay like they used to. Like Sunset Overdrive, it was a small game, but at least it had cool gameplay with a cool story and even a few dlc also like dragon age inquisition, short but had long dlc with awesome gameplay. Thank god borderlands 3 is coming out even tho they are going through major bumps in the road that they are making themselves I know that the borderlands franchise has always had a good balance of story and gameplay. That’s what games should have. NOT just gameplay.
Dear sir, Please keep doing what your doing how your doing it. I enjoy you winding reviews and videos. You cover a lot of ground and pick out the important details. In a world of sub 2 minute reviews I find yours refreshingly detailed.
Uh... I so disagree about the pacing, I find surge 1 masterpiece of crafting the difficulty. This game with every stage of progression never lets you go. As soon as you get confident clearing enemies that were nightmarish few hours ago, there's another mountain to climb, and you have to be even more careful and precise. Game never stops asking you to improve while playing it. This makes it brilliant. Sekiro that came out much later also achieved that but with a bit less consistency. Also difficult trash mobs like robot dogs, they are initially like minibosses but they are so fairly designed you learn to master those fights, they take longer but pretty quickly they become just another guy to beat comfortably and move on, I love it that there's always a gimmick / weak spot to abuse on robots. Which is on you to find and then abuse for lower effort victories down the line. If running pass the challenges was your way, my way was sometime take easier route, you don't have to kill everything that you don't aggro after all. You can and should cut exploration areas into pieces, so you can manage and deal with them in segments to loot and open doors.
I like your video essay type review, and I appreciate how long they are too. I think this format lets you talk about one point at a time while still getting deep into each one. Nice video, this is the first I've seen of your. Keep it up dude, earned a sub (:
This is by far the best and most insightful review I've seen for this game, you addressed the positives, the negatives and made some good comparisons to other games without going too much into a personal bias. Great review man.
The problem of you not dealing any significant amount of damage to mobs may have something to do with using a bloody starter weapon (Vibro-Cutter). Couple that with the simple fact that all one-handed weapons by design are more about speed than damage. Time to kill is the least significant thing in a list of problems this game have. Parade of cheap deaths, lack of proper movement physics, drab level design, lack of content, horrendous storytelling & weak plot - yes indeed. Time to kill? Nope. Under 5 seconds for any OK-ish weapon is not a gamebreaker by any stretch. And that 4th boss (Black Cerberus) is a nightmare only if you prefer to drag the fight on for 3 times longer than you should have. Make first PAX (that big walker bot) shoot at chemicals tank near the room boss hides in and that's no more regeneration or hiding for him.
Josef Odium I don't share your (and his) opinions about the design of the whole game, because i think the public is babysitted by a specific rules of game design. I found out the level design in particular well articulated and coherent with the whole scenario. And there wasn't a single time a death of mine wasn't because of "my fault".
I believe he completelly missed the "secondary mecchanics" of the bossfights that every boss but the last one have (and in most cases are connected to the V2 boss weapon), especially from what he said of the black cerberus fight: p.a.x. can be taken down with either brute brawn or brain, either disassebling the legs or using its weapon against it firebug have 4 and-a-half attacks, and 2 of them can be progressivelly disabled as the battle goes on by removing the legs the sister fight is somewhat adaptative, with the elecrified floor becoming more and more present the lower number of arms remain, and that changes how you work with movement space the proteus group mini-boss fight have you closing and opening door to divide and conquer (and once you "win the fight" the first time, those door remains locked on open or closed depending on what you did) the black cerberus have 2 modifiers: the whole cerberus toops and the p.a.x.es, start the fight too early, and you have to figh all 6 men (and one robot) in full gear at the same time, effectivelly becoming an extra phase; and the obvious big, massive, brightly painted tank esplode when hit by the pax cannon, so if you're smart, you have to fight only one of them (also, they can fall in the open trapdoor in the sie of the room, but that's likelly an oversight and ridicolously hard to accomplish) heck, the whole fight structure is like that: basic positioning an skipping around works wonder, you can complete a few NG+ess without a real need to use the vertical doghes, and you can teoretically use just whatever weapon is the most damaging of category, or the one that collect most energy (and the relative armor bonuses), but that ignore the differences between the elemental affinities that the various enemies have (like the nano-infested weackness to fire). the biggest problem, is that, aside from that one hud inidcator in the second area and some cryptic words in the weapons description, the game tells you NONE of that I said; no where does it say if a weaker weapon with high slash is better than a stronger with only crush damage, or what differenciate twin rigged generator from the 4th area from the one the enemies i ryno armor use in the first and second or why
I always like your prologue and introductions to your reviews. It tells me what to expect and create the tone of your videos and the body of your videos just elaborates it further
this game is tough ... the first boss is a huge hurdle to get over ... sprinting/ dodging is really important to do well in this game because you can get killed after just a couple of hits ... thankfully, there are online guides and forums that give incredibly helpful tips
This is the first video of yours I have ever seen, and it is the best, most comprehensive, and thoughtful review of The Surge I have yet seen. Subscribing now.
Really good review, I've just finished Nioh (doing a bit of the DLC now), so I've been thinking about this kind of game design lately. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of the design...encounters, especially with bosses, become very scripted, and don't seem to allow much room to improvise. However in this game LOVE the idea of being able to target certain parts of the enemies, and to tie that into taking components for yourself is genius. I want more flexible and intelligent combat like this. PS: this isn't a big deal, but just as many people would chose the first Terminator as the masterpiece and rate T2 as the very good but not quite as good sequel (personally I think they're about the same, but are significantly different movies - T1 more suspense&horror with action, T2 more action with philosophy). But yeah, rottentomatoes has T1 at 100%...just sayin ;)
I manage to buy the bundle a week ago on sale for $14.99 and it came with 1 and 2. 1 is hard so far but getting used to it and enjoying it too. Was able to buy the dlc for the 1syt one as well.
Say what you want about dark souls, Demon's souls is the hardest to me. Out of all of the souls games including bloodbourne, I haven't beaten DeS without a specific guide. I don't even know how you would beat most of the bosses without cheesing them. I always used the temple knight for the healing. I need to go back and knight it up proper.
I heard somewhere that interactions help RUclipsrs and while I usually don't comment, I've tried my best to remember and leave a comment on at least every one of your reviews as they're my absolute favorite take care bb
As much as I enjoy Skill's reviews for his ability to wax poetic on various topics, I have grown to feel like his scores are higher than they should be. He's just too nice to be honest with a score. The Souls series is an 8 or 9. If this game is a good but flawed execution of that formula within a sci-fi setting (as described in this review), then let's be real and give it a 6 or 7. Nioh hit the Souls formula within a feudal Japan setting damn-near perfect and is a solid 8 or 9. This game is not a sci-fi Souls or Nioh. It's a sci-fi Lords of the Fallen. It's a sci-fi 6 or 7. I say this as a fan of all of the games I've just mentioned for comparison. I've played them all and enjoyed them all. This game is not a Day 1 $60 purchase. Wait for it to hit $40 or less and enjoy it for what it is... something to scratch your Souls itch in-between actual Souls games or better Souls interpretations.
I haven't played any of the games you mentioned, but I'm loving The Surge, so much so that I might actually pick up a souls game or even lords of the fallen once I finish this game in order to scratch my "The Surge" itch. It's all about perspective. This game may be a 6 or 7 to you, but for me, it's easily an 8 or 9 if for nothing else than the absolutely perfect combat.
if you're on PS4 then bloodborne and dark souls 3 are on sale this week. Lords of the Fallen might be as well. try them all. Souls is the core of this game. It's a little slower and more deliberate with how you play/fight, but if you think Surge is an 8 or 9 then you need to play the others in order to truly get a full perspective on the genre and where this game fits into it for you.
Souls is a 10. All of them besides besides Demon Souls and DS3. DS3 was a major let down both in pvp and pve. Other than DS3, each game had weaknesses that were balanced out by the ridiculous amount of innovation and strong features that balance out the negatives. DS1 had perfect bosses and environments, but the progression was a bit flawed, and the pvp needed some tuning. DS2 lacked a bit in story/bosses compared to DS1, but the pvp was fucking phenomenal with a massively high skill ceiling to the point where an ungeared person could destroy a person decked in OP gear. Both are definitely 10s in my opinion. I agree with a 7 on The Surge though; combat is fuckin' great but the game feels really empty.
Jacob Anderson lords was kind of garbage and surge was meh the kind of thing where you play it for 15 minutes and never touch it again but the souls games ( the true souls games ) dark souls 1 and 3 and even 2 and Bloodbrone are the definition of the souls genre they are brilliant they’re not completely perfect but damn they’re such unique experiences with thought and skill and a huge world behind it
Hi SkillUp, just picked up this game, and enjoying it a lot (in the nucleus currently). I agree with you on everything, except maybe encounter design. The player needs to be deliberate about engaging a mob in the best possible way. There are certain tools such as the drone which makes things easier. I do enjoy the difficult trash mob, mainly since it keeps you on your toes the entire game. BTW, for anyone reading the comment, using regular health injectibles outside of boss fights isn't the best way, I personally just stack aggression amps and a medivoltaic along with vital boosts and one single health injectible. It makes clearing the trash much easier and also rewarding.
I really love your reviews. You're probably my favorite youtuber. Your reviews are indepth and your opinions usually match my own (for example you're one of the few youtubers who also felt assassin's creed origins is a massive grind). I finally beat the surge a few moments ago. The issues you brought up really highlight the main problems with the game. The only point I disagree on is the final phase of the last boss... man... it took hours. The surge 2 has been confirmed though so hopefully deck 13 finally craft a masterpiece. Keep up the excellent work :D.
I’ve been revisiting these games lately and have totally fallen in love. I think they’re both better than anything else in the genre. The combat is masterful.
Good review. Terminator 1 is amazing and I think it's slightly better. More in line with horror/thriller/chase. T2 is more action. T1 has this gritty look and T2 has this blue sanitized look.
Replaying the game this week, in my memory it was so hard that the first time I played 7years ago I can not finish the game. Playing today I realize there are so many things in the game that make the fight much easier, like the 4th boss for example, and the drone when used correctly can make some enemy so much easier. Such a great game, only wish the map can be more clear, at the end game I still have problem finding a to b lol
since the game came out I have play for 20 hours none stop is a Masterpiece,the combat the art getting loft everything, can say that I play it dark souls for that period of time and never finish it cuz it was repetitive to me, the surge feels more badass, it is a most have
Good and Deep review. I am happy Deck 13 announced The Surge 2. I hope they learned from the flaws of the first one. I want to replay the Surge with the Story DLC.
Something else I really felt like should have been added, but wasn't, was a multiplayer spec. This combat is fun, it would be even better against real people
Gwyn's Law: As an discussion about a game grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Dark Souls approaches 100%.
That's the name I've been hoping someone would come up with.
Funny thing is Godwyn is an actual name in Elden Ring so it applies already as a reference.
Stop calling these reviews & start calling them documentaries. Either way I loved every second please don't shorten them for any one
+Th3Jez next review: every video J3z ever made. I'll only cover the good ones though. Expected length: 2-3 minutes. Tops.
There not Docos. Its more like there essays.
Your all wrong. It's called an in depth review. It compares games to other games that are beloved or hated. It shows every aspect of the games and it also shows relations between mechanics found in games around the world. It's the perfect review people. That's what he does. The perfect review.
Ahaa! Love your content Th3Jez! Hope the wife is good, goodest of all goods and please stream some red dead redemption 2!
Fantastic review Skillup. I think you and TotalBiscuit are the only ones who have hit the nail on the head when it comes to reviewing this game.
Cheers mate :)
R.I.P.
Michael Vinson ? I think totalbiscuit and skill up are decent not great but to call them only good reviewers? Haha yea no
After playing this game recently I don't see how people need to run like he points on ,I wiped out everything in first play through and blew through ng+ and by acquiring the gear for area you are in by mk it's not hard to figure out that you upgrade as u progress example mk1 for area1 (abandoned production) area2 mk2 (production b) area 3 mk 3 (bioolabs).... and is doubled for ng+. running like a pussy ain't no fun people think this games hard lol ninja garden black is what I consider a hard game, souls and this ain't hard as people think people just get lazy and bitch coz they ain't good enough.
@@edd-ik1lw it's a hard game, because you can't just go through it like a breeze. By your logic, anything is easy if you put enough time into it. Which is true, but just just because you become good at it does not automatically it an easy game.
Another really well made review, thanks. No doubt you will become one of the greater gaming critique/review voices on RUclips
Cheers mate :)
This comment aged really, REALLY well.
You bring video game reviews to such a polished professional level. Probably some of the highest quality reviews I have seen on YT....anywhere.
dont change a thing. i like how you delve into other points.
R Parker It was a great review i loved it.
The explanation of how the "map" of the division is both a great asset (because of how well it replicates new york) and hindrance is something i've tried to explain many times to people. Really solid stuff.
"I want your armor so I'm going to cut the body part off that it's attached to."
Fucking brutal.
Your reviews are like no others. I love them
At this point in time I've played through The Surge so many times its not funny, its just sad. The only thing I think that most reviewers are getting wrong is the whole "trash mobs" thing as there actually aren't any. Every single enemy in the game can be taken on in a one on one confrontation and that is kind of a key part of success in the game. Some of them you have to wait out their walking routes, others you have lure over to another location but there is always a way. Don't rush in to combat and if possible make them come to you. Once you get this you can see that its what makes this gamed excellent combat system really shine. The system is designed for single combat not mobs. Approaching this game like a hack and slash is asking for a quick death.
Sean Gehret Thank you. Is basically the same approach of Horizon Zero Dawn, but instead, in that game they explain you this. If people doesnt have all the instructions right in front of them, they will review things like that, and i dont like it.
Yea i agree with this. Apart from some of the nanite things. Also you can beat the Black Cerebus in one Pax. Guess that's not immediately obvious but the way I saw it you weren't meant to fight out the whole thing. But yea quite often the drone helps control mobs and/or switching up weapons..The game is very fair. Boss wise I think they should have concentrated on or balanced them with more challenging humanoid enemies so you could put what you've learned to the test..
Old comment, but I agree. It's always odd when people claim to have come from the elitist "git gud" of a game that is Dark Souls, then proceed to complain about how hard combat is in The Surge. All the while me - a pretty average player who doesn't even like Dark Souls games - was able to cheese my way through most of it, skipping no enemies along the way. It really is as simple as pulling them one by one with the Done, at which point the majority of them can be killed reliably by exploiting their telegraphed attacks. A lot of them can be cheesed to high heaven using the duck/leap dodge, as well. In fact, the superficially scary Nannite enemies are straight-up trivial this way, as most of their attacks can be ducked.
Aside from a few enemy types, this game is predominantly "trash mobs." Warren is a glass cannon regardless of his build so simple mistakes will hurt, true, but all enemies are entirely deterministic and the timing on most of them isn't even all that tight.
Everyone out here giving credit to dark souls when the real OG is demon souls.
Demon Souls may have used the formula first, but it was more of a prototype. Dark Souls then created a genre through polish and success. Think about it this way: If FromSoftware had never followed Demon Souls up with Dark Souls, do you think the genre would still exist the same way it does today? Do you think we would call it "Souls-Like"?
I still think Demons Souls is better then Dark Souls.
@@jonathanpretty5031 Yeah, Demon's Souls is the gamers' favorite. I owned it on PS3. It was a big deal when it was released.
Demon Souls still better
To be fair demon's souls is only on PlayStation while dark souls is on all platforms.
Skill Up just gets it, man. The bit about how cohesion of environment and world design is wonderful, but how adhering to theme so rigidly is paradoxically monotonous... and that there would be a way to achieve logical cohesion with thematic variety, especially in a sequel. That's my kind of design insight and you're speakin' my language.
It's a really awesome setting. There's huge scope for it in the future, so I really hope they stick with it and deliver a sequel.
Surge 2 anyone?
Yep.
im allready waiting
cleaving some creo world mobs. awaiting the next DLC too ^^
calm down..i can't even get through the first part..i keep forgetting this aint assassins creed
cant wait
"I hope there is a sequel that builds on The Surge" And that is exactly what happened. Surge 1 is a good start, it lays a fantastic foundation. But it just has so many aspects to it that turn it into an incredibly frustrating, difficult in a bad way and repetitive slog. The Surge 2 takes all the best elements of the first and expands upon them, then adds so many more great aspects. I'm absolutely loving The Surge 2 and am so glad they not only made a sequel, but pushed it to it's full potential.
Love how this guy slaps me in the face with a punch of a thousand dictionaries whilst reviewing a game.. and me thanking him for it.. no doubt SkillUp 100% best reviewer, no competition.
No competition? Haha, ACG gives this guy a run for his money. Not that this wasn't a decent review, but I feel like I got a fraction of the content for double the time investment. ACG could have said all this and way more in a 15min video. I also hate how he said he wouldn't compare this game to Dark Souls, but then immediately started comparing it to other games that are completely different. I get WHY he did it, but he could have made the same point without bringing up those other games at all and avoided the needlessly wasted time talking about games I didn't come here to hear about.
Wanting a sequel? Well you are in luck! Deck13 is now making The Surge 2!
Dante Barnes where did you find out?
@@westhawk7259 they showed it at E3 last year. The footage is all over youtube
and now the surge is complete
After Lies of P, I done some research on Souls Likes and found the Surge 1 and 2 in the PS store on sale, and for once I feel I robbed Sony, instead of the other way around, and I just started part one and my god, how the hell does these games not have more love is beyond me, and this review was excellent.
They’re both masterpieces.
I just beat the surge 2 right after lies of p. I think the battery charge system was brilliant. Excellent game.
I'm there with ya on the combat. One of the elements that keeps pulling me back into The Surge, however I'm not a subscriber to the run past tactic. I force myself to fight every enemy as part of my penance for dying when I did
Vagrant Story crew represent!
A few days ago I played the demo and fell in love. Its great cuz I've been trying to play the blood borne but couldn't get into it and now cuz of this I think I can get into it. So thank you deck 13 you opened up a whole new genre of gaming for me. Please give us supporters a surge 2.
I dunno, in comparison to Sekiro and Bloodborne, The Surge felt clunky to me in certain mechanics of combat, while in other ways it felt good.
After spending the time to Platinum it and get all the parts and weapons, I think the developers were a fan of not only Souls-borne, but also Armored Core. I wish there was less incentive to have a single set compared to mixing sets. Pretty solid review, but I think you missed out on the small note of how the bosses can reward V.2 weapons for killing them in specific ways. For example, the fourth boss, the Black Cerberus guard would drop the V2 version of his weapon and have a much easier fight if you used the PAX's main cannon to destroy the two big white cylinders.
Huh, I hadn't really considered running past enemies. Guess that's an option too!
You do understand that enemies give you the resources you need to upgrade your gear right? :P Well, except for those goddamned 3-legged jumping bots...
Gotta say, I noticed you were using the 1st section 1-handed weapon in the last section of the game. That weapon has almost no damage, and has 'medium' proficiency scaling (so damage isn't even being upped much by your experience level with 1-handers). Given that, I'm not sure the complaint about doing 'no damage to enemies' in the last few sections of the game isn't... well, your own fault.
I see you swinging that chainsword at the first boss clones legs for 33 damage. It takes 100+ from any highly upgraded high-proficiency Single-Rigged weapon. And it's not like you're getting extra swings out of the 1-hander, because you have to back off after every swing to avoid getting stomped. Did you activate the chemical-damage injectable? That at least adds some damage to quick-hitting weapons, as its just a flat per-hit boost.
Your Rhino gear also isn't useful vs bosses. It's got reduced damage to armored opponents (not helpful) as a tradeoff to having increased impact - but bosses don't get staggered, and you're using a weapon with such low impact that even the rhino arms +60% impact is barely going to matter.
All-in-all, I really like your review, much as I really like the game. I believe though that you screwed yourself with your gear choices. To attempt a Dark Souls analogy: you're having late-game difficulties because you never realized you could talk to a blacksmith.
DId that work? Honestly I dunno, this is my first soulslike game (PC gamer here).
I use Pax Imperator v2
I know this is extremely late, but in case anyone else stumbles across this comment:
The 3-legged jump bots do give one progression related thing. If you break their top-arm, they drop Ancillary Core implants. These implants GIVE you Core Power when equipped.
Not exactly a form of gear upgrade, but it does let you mount implants/gear you wouldn't normally be able to.
@@supermaksas Not late at all, I plan to play this game in a few week, and this will definitely help. Thanks!
@@supermaksas also, the top-arm took about 50% of the health, so get rid of it also disable all other attack beside charging, which is easy to counter. i tried
Very good comment i just started playing for a few hours yesterday and even i was like why the heck is he still using that crap :D
I agree with everything in the review 100% - very insightful observations - except for the criticism on encounter design / enemy difficulty. Thanks to the excellent enemy moveset design in this game, I found the game provided a very satisfying curve of feeling genuinely threatened and even thinking this is impossible, to learning their moves and exploiting the openings and feeling like a badass in just a couple of hours into a new area. It was incredibly rewarding.
I do not think any of the enemies in the game have too much HP, save from maybe the robot spiders. Any of the other enemies can be killed in pretty much a single combo from backstab -> charged attack with level appropriate weapons. You just need to know where to aim the shot for them to stagger or fall over.
arpakyna You can easily defeat the spiders by stunning with the drone and 1-hit them. Then repeat. I had struggle with finding the mechanism in the beginning.
Agreed. Noticed his weapon choice wasn't the best either which wouldn't help. Not having enough enemy variety was more the issue for me. Difficulty not so much.
I just started playin the game, and the only time I struggle is when I get swarmed. Luckily, in most situations my companion drone is able to draw away enemies so I can 1 V 1 them. The combat mechanics and the way your weapon choice and mods affect the gameplay is the best part of this game. I'm enjoying this a lot.
Let's be real. The fact that you're using a single hand sword is...hard mode difficulty. Single rigged is the way to go if you want some flexibility with a solid amount of damage.
This game is one of the most underrated ever. Personally one of my favourites, digging for the second.
Honestly i didn't find it very very hard, especially because i always killed everyone with slide, hit-and-run with Pax weapon, which deals a shitton of damage but is not really slow.
Team surge
Your coverage alone conjured my interest again in this game. I'm enjoying so far bar a few gripes and just beat the first boss. Thanks for getting this game on my radar.
This and the second one aged like wine
They should fire hamish and employ you, or maybe not fire him, just demote to work beneath you because God Damn it you understand games.
Keep up the good work Bro loving the content.
Been meaning to try this game for a while now, but was off-put by many negative reviews, yours is more balanced then the rest, think i'll give it a try now.
Thanks.
There has been a lot of patches and tweaks since launch, but I would like more information about how the changes take effect. Also, Deck13 released an expansion that takes place in a CREO amusement park. With rollercoasters and silly mascot enemies.
Great review, you really nailed it! You made a great choise to review it as not a souls clone but as a independ ARPG as it is. You own a new suscriber!
Matey your intros are second to none! I can't just throw your videos on from my phone, I need to wait for a lunch break or when I get home to play through apple TV, they get me excited and well worth my full attention. Nice moves bud!
These type of videos are why I subscribe to your channel, please keep them coming!!!
The bosses in this game are extremely difficult when you fight the first time, but become laughably easy once youve learnwd their moves. I love it. It has become a comfort game for me.
I have to say... although I get where you are coming from, I eventually mastered this game in a way that did not make the end phases of this game too hard. You have to become disciplined and patient, but eventually you figure it out. I felt that Souls and Nioh for example are much more unfair feeling when random enemy combos are impossibly difficult. I found that with The Surge, the time I put into it was paid off by feeling fully in charge of my moveset and capable of taking on any enemy.
I alt tabbed the video and when I starting hearing the Division sound track I had to tab back because I thought the video changed. still love your videos and keep up the good work!
Please never change. Your reviews are extraordinary pieces of work. Great job. Thank you.
Agree on the clunkiness of Lords of the Fallen. The Surge's combat is refreshing fast paced and fun.
It's on sale on Steam for 2.99. Do you think I will enjoy this game if I enjoyed DS2,3 and Elden Ring? I wanted to get something similar that I can sink my teeth into and get lost in. I just beat DS2 and started playing other games and I'm having a hard time getting into any of them.
@@panamike6178 Definitely! The combat is very fun/ engaging and the gameplay is top notch. The only thing I prefer in DS is the aesthetic (I prefer fantasy over scifi) It's worth playing and does a great job of creating a nightmare world of it's own.
One thing I'll tell you now, when you come across these robot headless lion abomination from hell be sure to target the tail (Every other part is clad iron) I learned this only after beating the game 😅
@@Vyrtus_ Thanks for the great response man! I'll def check it out. I became obsessed with the souls game. I loved DS2. I think I may even like it more than DS3. This looks great! I tried getting into Sekiro but I'm having a tough time since you can't change your weapon or armor and that's one of my favorite things in the souls games.
@@panamike6178 Yep I definitely feel that. The souls games killed my ability to play games with Skyrim combat systems XD I understand that with Sekiro, I also played thru Nioh and it's just not as good as DS or Surge. Happy playing, cheers!
@@Vyrtus_ Hey man, I was able to scrape up some extra money. Since I finished DS2 and DS3 I ended up buying Elden Ring on sale through steam. I'm set for the net couple 100 hours. Will check out surge after ER! I only got to 30% completion on my PS5 but with my PS5 in the living room and a wife and daughter I don't have the time to grind through it. I'm gonna beat it on the steam deck! DS2 to ER, I'm in for a wild ride. Sorry to rant but I'm beyond excited and felt the need to tell someone.
Wonderful review - its hard to believe that you are actually pretty new at reviewing. I'm surprised at how well-put together this video was for embargo. I'm sure many people think that these reviews are too long, but for me personally, I'm extremely pleased to see longer reviews where the reviewer can really sink into the game. There are plenty of 5-10 minute video reviews out there, but very few that really sink into it.
Cheers mate- appreciate that :)
I still remeber onimusha and ninga gaiden had a hardcore reputation.The genre has come full circle and they sell well.
that skit with the cops tackling that dude gives me life. as does your commentary. where has your channel been all my life
Through 5 years of gaming soulslikes, The Surge is the only game that has managed to bring back the feelings I got from first playing Dark Souls 1. Methodical, harsh, punishing exploration that frstrates you to no end and makes you feel miserable moment to moment, only to make for a super satisfying feeling after every session and a great experience overall.
watching it just now!!!!!! was waiting for it! thanks SkillUp
Wow, the prologue of this review is as long as full reviews from other sites. Nice!. I just found this channel and im binging the reviews, they are awesome!
wow that review blew me away. very professional. in fact ive seen "professionals" on tv put nowhere near the amount of heart and soul that you put into it. very detailed, thanks for the boss spoiler warning. im super mad at immortal unchained right now so i needed another soulslike to hold me over. ill give it a go, i played dark souls and immediately bought every soulslike i could find soo X D
The surge has some nerve! I’m basically handicapable fighting an armored core. It was a huge surprise 😂
This for some reason is my favorite review that you have done as of late. You did a great job at sorting through the pros and cons while ending with an optimistic message without swaying or diluting ones opinion on whether to buy the game and give it a go. You do a great job at putting everything on the table in a very elegant way and letting the reader come to their own conclusions based on their individual background. Thanks for the review, great job once again!
For me, The Surge, was a way to try out a game that is "Souls-like" and I actually enjoyed it most of the time and even got it to 100% completion on Xbox One (the DLC included).
The bosses gave me hard time to take them down, especially the last one (it's attack patterns are quite unpredictable in the 1st phase and the 2nd phase wasn't that easy either).
At around 80 core power I started the Walk In The Park DLC, which almost did it's name justice as it comes to difficulty (it was a lot harder in NG+). Finally I ended up in NG++ with 130 core power and a Mk X Pax Imperator. Not sure yet if I try a Dark Souls game, probably Darksiders III until sequel comes out in 2019.
Review Starts at 6:10
The most severe crime that Deck13 committed when it came to The Surge 1 is the tragically glossed over parry. The Block+Duck+Attack= The single most powerful parry in any souls like game ever made. It completely changes the game and, when mastered, allows for a far more aggressive play style and that turns you into a killing machine that flows from enemy to enemy like a some kind of.. Kung-fu Master made of old car parts and at least one tractor. I've introduced all of my friends and those willing to read my post about it on the Surge subreddit and every single person that's taken the time to get the timing down has echoed my excitement that it exists and the frustration that the only part of the game it's mentioned is basically just graffiti on the wall before you're introduced to a new enemy type which sufficiently over shadows even that. I call it "The Flying Knee of Death" and it stops Black Cerberus in his tracks and knocks the jumping scorpion robots out of the air midleap... Seriously, the only enemies that I haven't been able to parry in this fashion are the bigger bosses and I'm still not convinced that it's not a timing issue on my part. It's meant to be used like this too because if you get the timing perfect you'll send enemies flying and take a chunk of their health down with them.. I hope you read this SkillUp because, well.. You seem to like if not love those combat and game because of it as much as I do and also because this one move will completely change your outlook on the difficulty curve as well as add a whole'nother layer of appreciation for what is truly some of the best combat ever put to code in a video gsme. (The move is still in the Surge 2... Kind of.. It's there but nerfed to hell. The Surge 1 will always be my favorite because of this move and my introduction to the music of Stumfol through their use of his song Prisoner in the Medbays). Thank you all, for coming to my Tedtalk.
*Dead Space meets Dark Souls*
fixed
honestly I love how hard this game is because unlike what he said it's actually very very fair !! the reason he was having such a hard time with that end game enemies was that he didn't pay attention to his build and instead just used health and stamina augments and run past enemies, as for me right up until the very last boss i didn't even use a single health augment! but instead i found all the important and rare Implants and learned the best ways to kill enemies, cuz no matter how hard an enemy in this game is, there's always a way to kill them in 3-4 hits ! he just didn't use that!! like the spider enemies are so hard and can one shot you so fast but when you learn about blocking them and using an elemental weapon on them you'll take them down in 3 hits ! the game is so fair when it comes to combat cuz you are as strong as the enemies! I died so many times in this game but i never got mad each time i said "yeah that was my bad!"
Facts
I would give a game with good gameplay bones but no good campaigne or story a 7 because even tho you have good gameplay there needs to be a reason in my opinion.... now a days the Devision, Destiny, Battlefront 2, The Surge.... the fact that they have good gameplay (some after a long times work after it released) doesn’t mean it deserves your time... it’s sad to see that games now a days don’t give you story along with gameplay like they used to. Like Sunset Overdrive, it was a small game, but at least it had cool gameplay with a cool story and even a few dlc also like dragon age inquisition, short but had long dlc with awesome gameplay. Thank god borderlands 3 is coming out even tho they are going through major bumps in the road that they are making themselves I know that the borderlands franchise has always had a good balance of story and gameplay. That’s what games should have. NOT just gameplay.
Love how you integrated the division theme around min7 :) Great video again. Thy!
Dear sir, Please keep doing what your doing how your doing it. I enjoy you winding reviews and videos. You cover a lot of ground and pick out the important details. In a world of sub 2 minute reviews I find yours refreshingly detailed.
for the third boss you don't actually need to fight the robot 3 times, there is something you can do to the arena to prevent additional spawns.
ComManDerN7 And it nabs you the full armour set too
Surge 2 is coming. I'm so hyped
Uh... I so disagree about the pacing, I find surge 1 masterpiece of crafting the difficulty. This game with every stage of progression never lets you go. As soon as you get confident clearing enemies that were nightmarish few hours ago, there's another mountain to climb, and you have to be even more careful and precise. Game never stops asking you to improve while playing it. This makes it brilliant. Sekiro that came out much later also achieved that but with a bit less consistency.
Also difficult trash mobs like robot dogs, they are initially like minibosses but they are so fairly designed you learn to master those fights, they take longer but pretty quickly they become just another guy to beat comfortably and move on, I love it that there's always a gimmick / weak spot to abuse on robots. Which is on you to find and then abuse for lower effort victories down the line.
If running pass the challenges was your way, my way was sometime take easier route, you don't have to kill everything that you don't aggro after all. You can and should cut exploration areas into pieces, so you can manage and deal with them in segments to loot and open doors.
Another brilliant review, kudos to you. Love the depth of your reviews bringing in past elements and comparisons.
I like your video essay type review, and I appreciate how long they are too. I think this format lets you talk about one point at a time while still getting deep into each one. Nice video, this is the first I've seen of your. Keep it up dude, earned a sub (:
These videos are excellent. Probably the highest quality game reviews out there by an independent RUclipsr!
Demons souls was the first souls i played, i have great memories from that game. :)
This is by far the best and most insightful review I've seen for this game, you addressed the positives, the negatives and made some good comparisons to other games without going too much into a personal bias. Great review man.
The problem of you not dealing any significant amount of damage to mobs may have something to do with using a bloody starter weapon (Vibro-Cutter).
Couple that with the simple fact that all one-handed weapons by design are more about speed than damage.
Time to kill is the least significant thing in a list of problems this game have.
Parade of cheap deaths, lack of proper movement physics, drab level design, lack of content, horrendous storytelling & weak plot - yes indeed.
Time to kill? Nope. Under 5 seconds for any OK-ish weapon is not a gamebreaker by any stretch.
And that 4th boss (Black Cerberus) is a nightmare only if you prefer to drag the fight on for 3 times longer than you should have. Make first PAX (that big walker bot) shoot at chemicals tank near the room boss hides in and that's no more regeneration or hiding for him.
Josef Odium I don't share your (and his) opinions about the design of the whole game, because i think the public is babysitted by a specific rules of game design. I found out the level design in particular well articulated and coherent with the whole scenario. And there wasn't a single time a death of mine wasn't because of "my fault".
I believe he completelly missed the "secondary mecchanics" of the bossfights that every boss but the last one have (and in most cases are connected to the V2 boss weapon), especially from what he said of the black cerberus fight:
p.a.x. can be taken down with either brute brawn or brain, either disassebling the legs or using its weapon against it
firebug have 4 and-a-half attacks, and 2 of them can be progressivelly disabled as the battle goes on by removing the legs
the sister fight is somewhat adaptative, with the elecrified floor becoming more and more present the lower number of arms remain, and that changes how you work with movement space
the proteus group mini-boss fight have you closing and opening door to divide and conquer (and once you "win the fight" the first time, those door remains locked on open or closed depending on what you did)
the black cerberus have 2 modifiers: the whole cerberus toops and the p.a.x.es, start the fight too early, and you have to figh all 6 men (and one robot) in full gear at the same time, effectivelly becoming an extra phase; and the obvious big, massive, brightly painted tank esplode when hit by the pax cannon, so if you're smart, you have to fight only one of them (also, they can fall in the open trapdoor in the sie of the room, but that's likelly an oversight and ridicolously hard to accomplish)
heck, the whole fight structure is like that: basic positioning an skipping around works wonder, you can complete a few NG+ess without a real need to use the vertical doghes, and you can teoretically use just whatever weapon is the most damaging of category, or the one that collect most energy (and the relative armor bonuses), but that ignore the differences between the elemental affinities that the various enemies have (like the nano-infested weackness to fire).
the biggest problem, is that, aside from that one hud inidcator in the second area and some cryptic words in the weapons description, the game tells you NONE of that I said; no where does it say if a weaker weapon with high slash is better than a stronger with only crush damage, or what differenciate twin rigged generator from the 4th area from the one the enemies i ryno armor use in the first and second or why
Love your reviews dude. Really nice to hear an Australian on the game review scene.
I always like your prologue and introductions to your reviews. It tells me what to expect and create the tone of your videos and the body of your videos just elaborates it further
this game is tough ... the first boss is a huge hurdle to get over ... sprinting/ dodging is really important to do well in this game because you can get killed after just a couple of hits ... thankfully, there are online guides and forums that give incredibly helpful tips
your videos are generally very well written. good job.
This is the first video of yours I have ever seen, and it is the best, most comprehensive, and thoughtful review of The Surge I have yet seen. Subscribing now.
Really good review, I've just finished Nioh (doing a bit of the DLC now), so I've been thinking about this kind of game design lately. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of the design...encounters, especially with bosses, become very scripted, and don't seem to allow much room to improvise.
However in this game LOVE the idea of being able to target certain parts of the enemies, and to tie that into taking components for yourself is genius. I want more flexible and intelligent combat like this.
PS: this isn't a big deal, but just as many people would chose the first Terminator as the masterpiece and rate T2 as the very good but not quite as good sequel (personally I think they're about the same, but are significantly different movies - T1 more suspense&horror with action, T2 more action with philosophy). But yeah, rottentomatoes has T1 at 100%...just sayin ;)
Kogaryu no Hake-Suroshi similar to the Alien movies :)
I just found your channel and holy crap, if all your reviews are this good then you might be my new favorite game reviewer :D
Oh noooo! You actually put a score at the end. Well... ok, your review was great anyway. As always :)
" i love this amputation system so much." best thing said.
"i want to review the surge without mentioning dark souls" he says after a 3 and a half minute segment where he was constantly saying dark souls lol
jesus i just started the surge and seeing how far you can go with the exo and weapon type damn dude i need to grind
Wonderful review. So well written and thought out. Excellent work. I hope to see more videos like this.
I manage to buy the bundle a week ago on sale for $14.99 and it came with 1 and 2. 1 is hard so far but getting used to it and enjoying it too. Was able to buy the dlc for the 1syt one as well.
Say what you want about dark souls, Demon's souls is the hardest to me. Out of all of the souls games including bloodbourne, I haven't beaten DeS without a specific guide. I don't even know how you would beat most of the bosses without cheesing them. I always used the temple knight for the healing. I need to go back and knight it up proper.
Got Gud
I heard somewhere that interactions help RUclipsrs and while I usually don't comment, I've tried my best to remember and leave a comment on at least every one of your reviews as they're my absolute favorite
take care bb
That's true! Very kind of you mate. Appreciate it :)
As much as I enjoy Skill's reviews for his ability to wax poetic on various topics, I have grown to feel like his scores are higher than they should be. He's just too nice to be honest with a score. The Souls series is an 8 or 9. If this game is a good but flawed execution of that formula within a sci-fi setting (as described in this review), then let's be real and give it a 6 or 7.
Nioh hit the Souls formula within a feudal Japan setting damn-near perfect and is a solid 8 or 9. This game is not a sci-fi Souls or Nioh. It's a sci-fi Lords of the Fallen. It's a sci-fi 6 or 7.
I say this as a fan of all of the games I've just mentioned for comparison. I've played them all and enjoyed them all. This game is not a Day 1 $60 purchase. Wait for it to hit $40 or less and enjoy it for what it is... something to scratch your Souls itch in-between actual Souls games or better Souls interpretations.
I haven't played any of the games you mentioned, but I'm loving The Surge, so much so that I might actually pick up a souls game or even lords of the fallen once I finish this game in order to scratch my "The Surge" itch. It's all about perspective. This game may be a 6 or 7 to you, but for me, it's easily an 8 or 9 if for nothing else than the absolutely perfect combat.
if you're on PS4 then bloodborne and dark souls 3 are on sale this week. Lords of the Fallen might be as well. try them all. Souls is the core of this game. It's a little slower and more deliberate with how you play/fight, but if you think Surge is an 8 or 9 then you need to play the others in order to truly get a full perspective on the genre and where this game fits into it for you.
Souls is a 10. All of them besides besides Demon Souls and DS3. DS3 was a major let down both in pvp and pve. Other than DS3, each game had weaknesses that were balanced out by the ridiculous amount of innovation and strong features that balance out the negatives. DS1 had perfect bosses and environments, but the progression was a bit flawed, and the pvp needed some tuning. DS2 lacked a bit in story/bosses compared to DS1, but the pvp was fucking phenomenal with a massively high skill ceiling to the point where an ungeared person could destroy a person decked in OP gear. Both are definitely 10s in my opinion. I agree with a 7 on The Surge though; combat is fuckin' great but the game feels really empty.
Jacob Anderson lords was kind of garbage and surge was meh the kind of thing where you play it for 15 minutes and never touch it again but the souls games ( the true souls games ) dark souls 1 and 3 and even 2 and Bloodbrone are the definition of the souls genre they are brilliant they’re not completely perfect but damn they’re such unique experiences with thought and skill and a huge world behind it
Another awesome review! I'm a fairly new subscriber to your page, but really love the depth of your videos! Keep up the great work!
bloodborne is more than a spin-off, it's a masterpiece
*ITS A MATSAPEECE*
Hi SkillUp, just picked up this game, and enjoying it a lot (in the nucleus currently). I agree with you on everything, except maybe encounter design. The player needs to be deliberate about engaging a mob in the best possible way. There are certain tools such as the drone which makes things easier. I do enjoy the difficult trash mob, mainly since it keeps you on your toes the entire game. BTW, for anyone reading the comment, using regular health injectibles outside of boss fights isn't the best way, I personally just stack aggression amps and a medivoltaic along with vital boosts and one single health injectible. It makes clearing the trash much easier and also rewarding.
The damage improve with proficiency level which means u can deal more than 400 damage in ng+. Which means you can three shot all the enemy.
I really love your reviews. You're probably my favorite youtuber. Your reviews are indepth and your opinions usually match my own (for example you're one of the few youtubers who also felt assassin's creed origins is a massive grind). I finally beat the surge a few moments ago. The issues you brought up really highlight the main problems with the game. The only point I disagree on is the final phase of the last boss... man... it took hours. The surge 2 has been confirmed though so hopefully deck 13 finally craft a masterpiece. Keep up the excellent work :D.
Loved the Vagrant Story shout!
love the in depth review. keep up the great work.
less than an hour skill up review?! its nice going back.
holy shit your reviews are epic dude... well done man... well done..
you can bate single enemies with your range bot and deal with them 1 at a time making it an easier task
I’ve been revisiting these games lately and have totally fallen in love. I think they’re both better than anything else in the genre. The combat is masterful.
One of my favorite games the last 5 years, easily
Good review. Terminator 1 is amazing and I think it's slightly better. More in line with horror/thriller/chase. T2 is more action. T1 has this gritty look and T2 has this blue sanitized look.
Replaying the game this week, in my memory it was so hard that the first time I played 7years ago I can not finish the game.
Playing today I realize there are so many things in the game that make the fight much easier, like the 4th boss for example, and the drone when used correctly can make some enemy so much easier.
Such a great game, only wish the map can be more clear, at the end game I still have problem finding a to b lol
since the game came out I have play for 20 hours none stop is a Masterpiece,the combat the art getting loft everything, can say that I play it dark souls for that period of time and never finish it cuz it was repetitive to me, the surge feels more badass, it is a most have
I could have done without a The Division interlope.
Good and Deep review. I am happy Deck 13 announced The Surge 2. I hope they learned from the flaws of the first one. I want to replay the Surge with the Story DLC.
I like your insight on how "dark souls" hard is an easier universal understanding than saying very hard
Something else I really felt like should have been added, but wasn't, was a multiplayer spec. This combat is fun, it would be even better against real people
I actually really liked Surge's story.
Here in 2022, and it’s crazy how much better the big man has got over the last 4 years.
Not done with video yet, but just wanted to let ya know, I do in fact love this story, that is all