The Surge 2 Critic Reviews

The Surge 2 is like a juicy, metal-plated bone that gamers looking for a well-crafted yet brutal combat experience can really sink their teeth into: it will push them to their limits, hurt and punish in all the right ways, but offers that sweet, sweet payoff when you finally emerge victorious.

The Surge 2 is still a fun improvement over the original that will win more people over with its tight and well-designed environments and combat.

The Surge 2 is that kind of game where you clearly notice all it's problems... but you can't stop enjoying anyway. Once you've started slicing and dicing to dress with the limbs of your enemies, you'll have to cut your own hands to put the controller down.

The Surge 2 is a solid proof that Deck 13 learns from their mistakes and that with every next game they level up their performance significantly.

This a very good fight-focused action-adventure. It has some flaws in terms of storytelling as well as visually, but makes up for that with an excellent level design, exploration and motivating character development.

This “Sci Fi Souls” has really grown into a beast of its own. The exploration is rewarding, the combat hectic and the progression system has a lot of possibilities going on. It may not be the most majestic take on the genre, and there are issues with the performance on base systems, but The Surge 2 is a strong new entry in this so-hard-yet-so-satisfying niche of games.

Deck13 included a number of new weapon and armor types, all of which can be upgraded extensively, again putting heavy weight on the act of grinding, which is a bit excessive, but thankfully it ends up being fun. If you like the idea of cobbling together armor sets earned by felling difficult foes, give The Surge 2 a try. You may get a bit lost in the world at times, but every encounter is fun and well thought out. The bosses in particular are nicely designed, exotic in look, and push you to play with brutal precision.

Even the twisty and open game world surpasses the rather boring CREO terrain of its predecessor by far.

The Surge 2 has some marked improvements over its predecessor but doesn’t color too far outside the lines. It takes a formula that works well and continues using it in satisfying ways, just not in fresh or surprising ones. Still, that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s a hell of a lot of fun, and once it sinks its hooks into you it’s tough to pull away. The Surge 2 is absolutely a compelling entry into the souls-like genre, yet I can’t help but feel it’s missing an extra spark of creativity to make it a true game-changer.

The Surge 2 offers more and better than seen in the first chapter, polishing certain rough edges but keeping certain errors of its predecessor. Its combat system reaches the saga to a new exponent of possibilities and its futuristic setting brings a different vision to the genre.

The Surge 2 is a much better, engaging, and rewarding experience than the first game. Dozens of quality of life improvements, more interesting environments and characters, and the addition of parrying makes The Surge 2 a must-play for anyone who even slightly enjoyed their time with the first game. However, the game holds itself back from being an excellent souls-like with some poor lighting in areas, intense difficulty spikes, and a final area that is just plain unfun.

The Surge 2 is a step forward in every aspect, that helps define the franchise. It’s better than its predecessor and a very solid options for those who enjoy that Souls feeling.

The Surge 2 is a refinement – rather than reimagining – of the Souls-like genre. It offers wonderfully compelling, meaty combat and a robust character-levelling system which will keep fans of the genre entertained for hours. But there’s little here that’ll entice newbies to the series.

The Surge 2 does enough to tweak the formula of the original to iron out some of the creases that plagued the original game, these improvements overshadowing the game's hit-or-miss writing and occasionally recycled content.

The Surge 2 improves on every aspects of the previous game. It’s more nervous, more intense, more varied. It’s consolidating on the very solid base of the first The Surge, and does it well.

The Surge 2 is a very good Souls-like. The level design has really improved after the first episode, and the gameplay key features will procure good sensations to players addicted to challenges.

The Surge 2 is essentially the first game, but better, with more content and a gameplay that's still enjoyable if you like Souls-Like games. On the other hand, the visuals are quite dated, the camera isn't perfect and the story adds no value whatsoever.

Perhaps most important, for the first time, I actually felt like I understood the Souls genre with The Surge 2. It’s the first one that made me actually feel anything other than annoyed and confused and that I wanted to actually stick around to see the end of. It still has issues, and I’d love to see more enemy variety, but I can safely say that I’ll be back for whatever Deck 13 has planned next.

The Surge 2 rises above both its technical limitations and its predecessor to set itself apart in the action RPG genre. It could even be debated that it makes a case for being lumped in with its genre cohorts - a case that is strong indeed thanks to its innovation and willingness to change and improve upon the foundations set in the first game. While it flits in and out of being a smooth-sailing and sleekly presented package, it nevertheless provides a walloping good time and can't be faulted for its enjoyable combat and exploration, navigation issues aside.

The Surge 2 is a thrilling ride from beginning to end. The foes are a joy to battle, the maps are built to invite and reward exploration, and the story offers just enough intrigue to keep the player hooked until the final battle. It’s wonderful to see developers taking a hard look at the successes and failures of their previous effort and ensuring that the sequel surpasses it in every way.