The Surge

The Surge is a 2017 action RPG developed by Deck13 Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment, released May 16, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It holds Metacritic scores in the low-to-mid 70s, and a firm place in Soulslike history as Deck13’s own answer to losing the Lords of the Fallen license — swapping dark fantasy for an industrial sci-fi disaster and inventing the genre’s most literal loot system along the way.

The hook: enemies wear their loot. Target an armored limb and the fight gets harder but the sever earns you that exact gear schematic; target an exposed one and the kill comes easy but empty-handed. Every encounter is a risk-reward shopping decision made with an industrial cutting blade.

Technical Specifications

One Very Bad First Day at CREO

Warren, a wheelchair user, arrives for his first day at megacorp CREO to receive a rig — a powered exoskeleton surgically grafted on, in one of gaming’s most notorious opening scenes, without anesthesia. He wakes in a facility gone mad: workers fused to malfunctioning rigs, rogue machinery, and a corporate catastrophe whose layers (nanite swarms, Utopia project) unravel across the complex. The setting earned consistent credit for making a Soulslike out of OSHA violations instead of cursed kingdoms.

Reception

Critics praised the limb-targeting economy, the crunchy exo-combat, and the interconnected shortcut-dense zones — Deck13’s level design at its best — while dinging enemy variety, a drab mid-game, and a story told too quietly. The r/soulslikes long-tail verdict mirrors it: a solid B-tier pick whose central mechanic remains uncopied. Two DLCs and a Complete Edition wrapped support before the sequel expanded everything two years later.

Where to Play It Today

The Surge is on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, with the Complete Edition perennially under $5 — one of the cheapest genuinely distinctive Soulslikes anywhere.