Inspired by games like Dark Souls and Lords of the Fallen, The Surge exploded onto the scene in 2017 with challenging combat, bullet time, and exoskeletons. The original performed well enough to warrant a sequel in The Surge 2, which was announced last February and is now only a month away from release. To celebrate the arrival of Gamescom 2019, Focus Home Interactive released a brand new trailer that gives fans nearly 5 minutes of gameplay and story surrounding a war torn future and mech suits.
The trailer opens to reveal the main character walking through the ruins of a massive futuristic city that has been taken over by cults, military forces, and AI machines. To fight back against the threat in Jericho City, players get access to an exosuit rig which can be further customized with parts scavenged from enemy characters. Using the combat system, players can target specific body parts, damage it, and then use a finishing move to essentially hack it off.
However, to balance this out, the exosuit has a weight capacity which means that players cannot carry every weapon or equipment piece they come across. Thankfully, The Surge 2 also has what it calls implants and injectables, items that add additional modifiers and effect bonuses. The video details a few of them including slowing time, parry predicting, and more.
Asynchronous multiplayer is also a big part of the experience, letting players place symbols or banners int he world for other players to find. Taking a page from Lord of the Rings: Shadow of War and its Nemesis System, players may also discover what The Surge 2 calls Revenge Enemies. These specially marked and upgraded enemies may appear after they have killed another player in their game, allowing the current player to attempt to get revenge and a possible reward or two.
Even with all of the upgrades and new features, The Surge 2 may be facing an uphill battle due to the very crowded release timeframe it finds itself in. Not only are huge franchises like Borderlands 3 and Gears 5 releasing before it in September, but only one week later Bungie is launching its latest expansion and free-to-play update for the very popular shooter, Destiny 2.
The Surge 2 launches on September 24, 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.