Taken direct inspiration from Dark Souls, it's no surprise that Deck13's The Surge 2 is a tough game. Like the franchise that inspired it, The Surge 2 features a variety of intense boss battles that are designed to test players' skills and their patience, offering an extreme level of challenge that most games shy away from. In fact, The Surge 2 is so difficult that it's not uncommon for players to die against the first boss, who is literally just a tutorial encounter, and die multiple times even.
As we pointed out in our Surge 2 review, the game's first boss, Nitro, is quite challenging. Players have to face Nitro without their exoskeleton, meaning that they can't dodge out of the way of his attacks, and they also don't have any powerful weapons to make the fight easier either. When players get stuck on other bosses in the game, they can grind to level up their stats and make the fight easier, but the same isn't possible for Nitro.
The trick to Nitro is to just keep one's distance from him, and move around the room in a circle. Make sure that his head is targeted, as that's the only exposed part of his body and players will lack the tools necessary to destroy his arm at this point in the game. After Nitro finishes his attack animation, quickly walk up to him, smack him in the head once or twice, and then retreat to repeat the process. Keep doing this and eventually Nitro will die and players can continue through the game's tutorial section.
Part of the reason why The Surge 2's first boss fight is so difficult is the lack of an exoskeleton. Players will be equipped with better weapons and an exoskeleton later on, which allows them to attack armored body parts and quickly dodge out of the way of attacks, which makes some later boss fights arguably easier than this tutorial encounter in The Surge 2's sci-fi world.
But like any Souls-like game, players will eventually defeat The Surge 2's first boss with enough practice, and will develop the skills necessary to take on later bosses as well. All it takes is some patience and some strategy.
The Surge 2 is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.