The Xbox One X is the most powerful console in the world, at least until the next generation machines release. Players naturally expect games to run and look better on it, and third parties take advantage of that too—for instance, consider Red Dead Redemption 2 on the system.

So of course, we expect other developers to also try to push the system for all its worth when they’re developing a game hitting it. When we got the chance to sit down with Jan Klose, creative director from Deck 13, developers of the upcoming The Surge 2, we decided to ask him how they are planning to push the One X, too.

“We’re working on it and will pump it up as high as possible,” he said. “We have a lot going on on the screen, but we really want to keep the high fidelity when it comes to combat and movement. Therefore, a higher framerate is more important to us than the highest possible resolution. In any case, we want to make The Surge 2 look great on the Xbox One X.”

Personally, given the kind of game The Surge is, requiring frame perfect action and response from the player, I think it is good that the developers are prioritizing the frame rate over everything else. That said, like they themselves said, in spite of this, I am sure that the game will end up looking great on Xbox One X too.

The Surge 2 launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2019. Be sure to check out some of its recently released gameplay footage. Stay tuned for our full interview on The Surge 2 soon.

Focus Home Interactive has released a new pre-alpha trailer for Deck 13’s The Surge 2, a follow-up to the 2017 sci-fi Souls-like. The trailer gives us a short demonstration of the combat and exploration, and even features a creepy looking boss. Check it out below.

Developed on the studio’s FLEDGE engine, The Surge 2 will go beyond the first game’s CREO Complex and into a sprawling world. The trailer showcases the Park sector and the wrecked city that surrounds it. Players will have to be wary of The Hunters, a group of mercenaries who can cloak and lay traps down.

The signature limb targeting system is making a comeback and the combat looks even more visceral than before. Deck 13 notes that there will be directional parrying along with “more advanced” dodging and some unique behaviour from the AI. New abilities, drones, weapons, and more to further customize one’s character will also be provided.

The Surge 2 is out on Xbox One, PS4 and PC in 2019.

Though available through Steam Early Access, Radical Fish Games’ CrossCode has had a long, fruitful development process. It has been available in its current state since May 2015, but will exit Early Access next month. In a new blog post, the developer has now confirmed the exact date – September 20th.

Along with the complete story containing “twice the amount of cutscenes”, there will be a brand new area and dungeon, along with extensions to several current locations. Furthermore, Rhombus Square is touted as being the “largest city” in the game (which currently offers the beginning Newcomer’s Bridge and Cross Central for teleportation). Other new additions include new party members, 9 new enemy types with variations, 13 new boss fights, improvements to the menus, and “countless” other improvements and changes.

Furthermore, new features like New Game Plus, Boss Rush, and additional non-playable characters will also be coming after launch. This includes the Last Minute Hero Guild, new enemies, new quests, and more.

Depending on the success of the release, additional DLC could arrive later. “Beyond that, we have a long, long list of stupid ideas and other content we’d love to add to the game, most likely as a DLC of sorts,” the developer said. “But this, of course, depends on how the release will work out. So no promises on that yet!”

CrossCode will also be heading to the PlayStation 4 at some point as well, but a release date for that is currently unknown.

The Surge, while certainly a good time, had a few issues when it launched. Despite that, it was a solid game, and a competent Souls-like with some unique ideas that made it stand out a bit. All of that is also true of the expanded content found within A Walk In The Park, but the setting alone doesn’t drastically change the mechanics or tone of The Surge as a whole.

"CREO World has an almost dark decay to what was once a bustling amusement park, with robotic mascots firing lasers from their eyes and the bright red tracks of a roller coaster, managed by the carnage of the rampaging technology."

The dilapidated CREO World, an amusement park that players find access to towards the beginning of the game’s world, doesn’t have the same kind of esoteric entry requirements that Souls DLC would ask of players, but that’s in line with the rest of the game generally being more friendly as well. Stapled onto the game via a train, players can enter this amusement park by way of Skynet, bringing a roughly 8-hour side quest to the game.

World design was a strength of the original game, never having the grandeur as the Souls games, but fitting within a cohesive world, and the same is easily true of the expansion content as well, though it does a better job of wowing through the environments. Mechanically sound with loopback points and hidden secrets galore to encourage exploration, CREO World has an almost dark decay to what was once a bustling amusement park, with robotic mascots firing lasers from their eyes and the bright red tracks of a roller coaster, managed by the carnage of the rampaging technology.

"The world design helps keep the short walk compelling. There are even a few quieter moments when the game will slow down to tell its story, an improvement over the main campaign."

The expansion features some great art style and lighting effects, adding onto the atmosphere the original game exhibited so well. You might go to flip a switch to clear the way and be ambushed by a rouge cyborg in the dark, and have to equip lighter gear that has lights on it to navigate a blackout. What your goals are still aren’t very creative, in line with the original game you’re doing things like trying to locate survivors, but the world design helps keep the short walk compelling. There are even a few quieter moments when the game will slow down to tell its story, an improvement over the main campaign.

Of course, the game is still The Surge, meaning that the main problems of that game are still around. The story is better told here, but not necessarily any better written than the tropey base game, though the story doesn’t need to be of much consequence. Though the team tries to weave the content into the main story, it’s not super successful as a lost chapter, since the content itself doesn’t want to spoil continuity of the game and the base game content isn’t altered to acknowledge the revelations of CREO World either.

" it’s likely that the core fans of the game will at least be coming into this from a New Game+, and not find much use for the drops."

Depending on how late into the game you tackle A Walk In The Park, the new gear and weapons you can wrestle from the new foes aren’t going to be all that compelling. Considering that The Surge didn’t make that big of a splash at launch, it’s likely that the core fans of the game will at least be coming into this from a New Game+, and not find much use for the drops.

The new enemies that drop that new gear aren’t very creative themselves, outside of visual design at least. While an animatronic monster is a clever visual, it mechanically doesn’t add anything new to the game like what From Softare did in Dark Souls III’s Ringed City. The one other standout is zombified paramedics who can heal during battle, invoking some small feeling of Breath of the Wild’s Master Mode. There are only two bosses in the content, and unfortunately those feel like a missed opportunity as neither creatively ties into the theme park aesthetic or are particularly hard, leaving what should be massive set piece moments feeling like they’re no more special than any other enemy.

Learning some new lessons with their world design does slightly elevate The Surge: A Walk In The Park above the content of the base game, but the rest of it, still very much The Surge. All of the storytelling and mechanical flaws persist, while the core gameplay loop holds it up just enough to be compelling. Deck13 gets better and better with every piece of content they release, and A Walk in the Park for the flaws it has as an addition to the base game, shows polish above the original experience.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

Sci-fi Souls-like from Deck13, The Surge arrived earlier this year to a decent critical reception, and now we’ve learned when fans can expect the first expansion to the game, titled The Surge: A Walk in the Park, as well as a small tease of the action, taking place in a run down amusement park with…something going on.

Releasing for all platforms The Surge was on originally on December 5th, and recalling those disastrous, totally not planned Roller Coaster Tycoon massacres, Players will adventure through CREO World, a derelict amusement park complete with deranged exeskeleton workers, Rogue machines and other dangers, like a Doughnut mascot I’ll see in my nightmares tonight.

While it’s unknown wether they’ll borrow Dark Souls esoteric access routes to the DLC area, Gamingbolt enjoyed the original release well enough, finding the mutations around the core Souls formula to be fun, but it never really stepped out of their shadow.

Souls-like action RPG The Surge, developed by Deck 13 of Lords of the Fallen fame, will be receiving an update to support the Xbox One X which launches in November. It’s included in the list of over 100 titles that will receive similar updates for the upgraded console.

Game design head Adam Hetenyi offered more information to DualShockers about the same, noting that the update was planned to release by 2018 end, around the same time as the DLC “A Walk in the Park”. That is to say that it will arrive after the Xbox One X’s release. Those who don’t pick up the DLC can expect a big update when the paid content eventually arrives.

Hetenyi also briefly talked about the possibility of bringing The Surge to the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, he noted that it would be “very very very difficult” to get the game running on the platform and would result in downgraded graphics. As of right now there are no plans for a Switch port but if enough demand emerges, that could change in the future. So not quite a “no” but don’t hold your breath.

The Surge is currently available for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It also takes advantage of the PS4 Pro’s hardware for enhanced visuals.

Anyone who has played Life Is Strange knows that one of the most compelling characters in that game was Chloe’s stepfather David. David initially comes off as an antagonist, but soon reveals himself to be a far more layered and nuanced character than what initial impressions suggest.

The new trailer for the upcoming prequel, Life Is Strange: Before The Storm, shows us David and Chloe, and the struggles they faced in getting along with one another due to Chloe’s rebellious streak. It’s beautiful and poignant, especially if you have already played Life Is Strange, and you know the full context surrounding these characters.

Life Is Strange: Before The Storm will be a three episode prequel starring Chloe that will debut on August 31 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A full fledged Life Is Strange 2, meanwhile, presumably starring entirely different characters, and set in a new setting, is under development, but with no other details known as of now.

Deck 13’s sci-fi Soulslike The Surge will be receiving a free demo next week for PS4, PC and Xbox One. The studio announced as much on Twitter. Though the exact content of the demo wasn’t confirmed.

However, it’s a good way to test the game out for yourself to see if it’s for you. The Surge received above average reviews near launch for its overall theme, new ideas and interesting tone. Of course, the combat wasn’t as lauded as From Software’s Dark Souls or Bloodborne.

Along with news of a free demo, Deck 13 has detailed its newest patch for The Surge. This includes new customization options like an FOV slider and fixing numerous bugs, like players dying when opening a security door. Check out the full patch notes below.

What are your thoughts on the game at this point? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned for more information on the upcoming demo.

Tweaks:

• Allow early evading by default. This will enable the player to cancel attack animation in pre-hit phase and long combo chains by using evade, should they have enough stamina.

Fixes:

• No longer end the hit/staggered state on a hit that doesn’t interrupt the character.
• Fixed a crash related to pathfinding in some enemies.
• The MG Judge v2.0 is no longer able to hit through walls.
• Equipping the ATLAS Power Core will now work properly in NG+. In rare cases, the player could not level up any longer because the Power Core could not be equipped properly.
• Defence values will now scale properly through NG+ and beyond for undirected attacks.
• Reward pop-ups will no longer be carried over from previous games when starting/loading a new game.
• Fixed an issue that could lead to the player’s death in rare cases when opening security doors.
• Fixed a crash that could happen when attacking PAX in the security captain boss fight while its AI is inactive.
• Capped the core power requirement for unlocking new implant slots at level 125.
• Properly updated the UI FX state when switching between injectables that do (not) require energy to use
• “Drone Skill Ready” will now properly display at the correct times.
• No longer display an error message when using the kill switch.
• Fixed an issue that would cause the destruction of upgraded weapons when removing duplicates from the inventory.
• Raised the volume of the PAX sounds when stunned.
• Security Heavy NPCs will no longer try to attack you if there’s a fence between you. They will now go around the fence.
• Sound now plays properly when hitting the base of the Assembly boss.
• Board room door in management will now properly open.
• Fixed a missing pipe in Materials Processing.
• Fixed a poison puddle in Core Processing.
• Stuck in fight vs Rogue Process (collision is now bigger and should always push the player out towards the arena)
• Doors will now open and close correctly. Door to PAX spawn (doors will now animate to a specific rotation value and no longer by a value, so they should always be either opened or closed correctly).
• The PAX will no longer shoot rockets after falling over.
• The Security Captain will now no longer call the PAX when backstabbed.
• SQ06 Davey’s dialog will now always be available.
• The flamethrower drone will longer turns against the player.
• Further fixes to the Security Agile NPC.
• Elemental damage is now correctly applied to all attacks
• Enemies killed with the drone Emergency Coolant Vent skill will now give proper XP.
• Giving Jo tech scrap will no longer update the player’s tech scrap counter.
• Skipping the end video will no longer cause it to play over the opening train ride in NG+.
• Disabled pausing during the ending dialog sequence
• Disabled the kill switch during ending and loading screens.
• If the player dies in the arena after killing the big sister, the tech scrap was located in the air. Tech scrap will now be placed on the lower floor where the player needs to go to continue to R&D

PS4 Specific Fixes:

• Activate HDR display output by default (if an HDR display is connected).

PC Specific Fixes:

• Fixed NVIDIA Ansel issues with multi-res and 360-degree screen capture.
• Added a hint for how to delete savegames when using mouse and keyboard control schemes.
• The game should no longer crash upon exit.
• The game should now behave correctly when alt-tabbing.
• Fixed a crash on startup when no mouse is connected.
• Properly disable the medbay music when entering a new level while the medbay music is configured to never play.

It’s a pretty large game, too. So to help you navigate all that it has, we’re here with this guide. In this guide, you’ll find cheats for unlimited and infinite Stamina, Energy, Injectables, Consumables, Health, how to defeat all bosses, basic tips and tricks, Schematics and Overcharge levelling up, gear and armour types, collectibles and locations for Ferguson Audiologs, Mallory’s Audiologs, Liberator Audiologs and Iron Maus Comic’s, implants along with videos for some trophies and achivements.

The Surge is now available for the PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Basic Tips And Tricks:

• Bank your scrap. Banking your scrap means you don’t lose it if you die.
• Interact with everything! Who knows what you will find?
• Don’t get too aggressive. Always leave some distance between yourself and your enemy.
• Keep your duplicate implants. They can stack, and enhance the effects you get from them.
• Pay attention to signage in levels and keep notes of areas you can’t access.

How To Level Up:

As much as The Surge takes cues from Dark Souls, it has its own very unique spin on leveling up.In this section of the guide, we give you a quick primer on how to stay on top of the leveling mechanics:

Core Power: Unlike other Souls-likes, you don’t invest your EXP/Currency into different stats to level up. Instead, all of it goes towards your Core Power (i.e. your Level), which also increases your health each time it goes up.

Your Core Power is what is used up each time you equip Gear. For instance, your head gear may cost 4 Core Power, while your armor costs 6 Core Power- to equip these, you need to be at least Level 10.

Implants are what you equip to unlock skills that you can use. These allow you to change your build and loadout on the fly. These use up Core Power when equipped, too.

Tech Scrap is the currency that is used to level up. Think of it as this game’s equivalent of Souls.

All Boss Fights:

What is a Souls-like game without some spectacular bosses? The Surge has some great boss fights, and if you need help working your way through them- well, we’ve got you covered.

All Gear And Armor Types:

Dark Souls, and games of its ilk, have a legacy of having a lot of fantastic loot- The Surge is no different. In this section, we walk you through a quick overview of all the different kinds of Gear you can find in this game.

Rhino Gear

Elite Hazard Gear

Lynx Gear

Scarab Gear

Chrysalis Gear

Mg Cerberus Gear

Black Cerberus Gear

Elite Hazard Gear

Mg Gorgon Gear

Collectibles Locations:

What is an RPG without collectibles? Well, it’s an RPG without collectibles. Thankfully, The Surge does not have to suffer the indignity of being one. Instead, there are a lot of collectibles for you to find.

Liberator Audiologs

Iron Maus Comics

Ferguson Audiologs

Mallory’s Logs

Advanced Tips and Tricks:

Once you have understood the basics of The Surge, you will find that you can do a lot more with the game i you have an understanding of some of its more intricate nuances and mechanics. In this section of the guide, we walk you through some of those:

• Schematics are what you need to build different kinds of gear. For instance, if you want the Scarab Gear, you need to target an enemy wearing Scarab armor. You need to target specific body parts to unlock different kinds of armor. Once you damage it enough, the enemy drops that armor or gear piece, and you can pick it ip and deconstruct it to gain its schematic. You can later on use this to reconstruct that piece for yourself.
• Overcharge is actually a rather basic, but important, functionality in The Surge. You can use it at junctions are usually located near powerlines and pipes, allowing you to change the current flow in a circuit, and open or close a door, switch on lights or power them down, and so on. Your capacity for Overcharge scales up with your overall level (i.e. core power).

Cheats And Cheat Codes (Unlimited and infinite Stamina, Energy, Injectables, Consumables, Health):

Please be advised that the following methods are to be used at the sole discretion of the system owner. GamingBolt or its staff members take no responsibility for problems that may arise or issues that may occur from trying the below.

Do you want to do more with The Surge than the rules of the game permit you to? You can always fiddle around with the game, use some cheats, and do things that you were never intended to do. You can find a cheat engine table here, if you wish to do so- just keep in mind that this may have unintended consequences for your game, and that you do so at your own risk.

The Best Implants:

Implants in The Surge are like rings in Dark Souls– and equipping them can give you some pretty cool abilities and bonuses. Here are some of the best ones that you should consider equipping:

• Vanadium E-Cell: Your maximum energy scales with your Core Power (and is increased)
• Vital Boost: Your maximum health scales with your Core Power
• Aggression Amplifier: Restores health after every finishing move
• Blue X Cables: Reduces cost for finishing moves

Achivements And Trohies Guide:

I’ll Be Back
Died for the first time

Sorry, I Dropped This 
Found your lost Tech Scrap after dying

Melting Down 
Defeated all five smelting machines

Right Tool for the Job 
Upgraded a weapon using the Nano Core crafting component

Man of Steel 
Upgraded a full gear set using the Nano Core crafting component

Core Power 
Reached a Core Power of 80

Jack of All Trades 
Reached level 5 weapon proficiency in each of the weapon types

Nothing to Lose 
Carried more than 50,000 Tech Scrap

Overconfident 
Defeated a boss while carrying at least 20,000 Tech Scrap

GOLIATH 
Acquired a full set of GOLIATH gear

OPERATOR 
Acquired a full set of OPERATOR gear

SENTINEL 
Acquired a full set of SENTINEL gear

The Surge
Unlocked all achievements

P.A.X 
Defeated the Pacification Automaton X

Firebug 
Defeated the LU-74 “Firebug”

Big Sister 
Defeated the Big SISTR 1/3

The Black Cerberus 
Defeated the security chief of Echelon 9

Brave New World 
Finish the game without corrupting the Utopia protocols

For the Good of Mankind 
Finish the game after corrupting the Utopia protocols

On My Own Two Feet 
Acquired your personal CREO Exo-Rig

Hey Listen
Acquired your personal CREO companion drone

CREO Killed the Video Star 
Met Don Hackett

Gear Up 
Enhanced your Exo-Rig for the first time

Watchman 
Received the security upgrade for your Exo-Rig

Who’s in Charge Here? 
Found the Board

Turing Test 
Met Sally in person

It Lives! It Sniffs! It Conquers! 
Acquired the Iron Maus gear

Sunglasses at Night 
Found yourself some sunglasses

Pusher Man 
Helped someone refill their supply of medicine

Repeat Customer 
Gave Jo Tech Scrap three times

Shall Not Pass 
Defeated the guard at the NUCLEUS elevator

Duty-Bound 
Accompanied a lost soul on her quest to find herself

Ghost in the Machine 
Accompanied a father and his little daughter on their way through the facility

Follow the White Rabbit 
Found all of Mallory’s audio logs

First Day on the Job 
Acquired your selected job gear

Liberation 
Found all audio logs about the infamous “Liberator”

Raging Drones 
Found all audio logs from and about Ferguson

Evolution Theory 
Found all of Dr. Murphy’s audio logs.

Butcher’s Bill 
Cut each limb from human enemies at least once

Most Wanted 
Provoked and defeated the security forces in Central Production B

Infidel 
Defeated the vending machine cult

It’s Blue Light 
Killed an enemy in a dark zone using the ASTir SpecterBite

I Choose You 
Found a BOTECS Power Core for your companion drone

Homo Machinalis 
Killed Barrett after his transformation into Homo Machinalis

Was That Yours? 
Defeated a boss with its own weapon

Guard Dog 
Acquired the complete Black Cerberus gear and the MG Judge

Sniffing Around 
Completed your Iron Maus comic collection

Personally speaking, Deck13 Interactive’s The Surge has to be one of the surprises of 2017. After playing it for more than 20 hours, I was convinced that despite taking several cues from the Souls series, The Surge had enough variety to keep a Souls fan like myself hooked up. Powered by the developer’s Fledge Engine, the game manages to successfully implement some fantastic lighting and post processing effects. The Surge may not be the best-looking game of 2017, but it certainly manages to create an eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere due to its smart use of intriguing art style and the sci-fi setting. In my opinion, this is as close as we’re going to get to a Dark Souls game set in a sci-fi setting unless, you know, From Software decides to make a new IP in a similar setting, Now wouldn’t that be amazing?

Enough of the wishful thinking and coming back to the topic at hand, The Surge has managed to surprise us with its graphical fidelity and some exceptional support on both the PS4 Pro and the PC versions. One look at the PC graphical settings, and you won’t even realize that this is AA game…a game that should ideally be lacking resources to implement a massive number of graphical settings. There is everything here…Resolution Scale, Texture Quality, Shadow Quality, Volumetric Lighting Quality, Motion Blur Quality, Anti-Aliasing modes which includes FXAA and SMAA, Ambient Occlusion, Subsurface Scattering, Lens Flare Intensity and Chroma Shift. Seriously, AAA developers who deliver barebones PC version have a lot to learn from Deck 13.

If you think Deck 13 only cares about the PC version, then you are awfully wrong. The PS4 Pro version is also packed with a number of graphical settings. First of all, the Pro version comes with two modes: Quality and Performance. As the names suggest, quality mode allows the game to run at a higher resolution while the performance mode will ensure a higher frame rate. Playing on a 4K TV, The Surge runs almost flawlessly at 30fps at a dynamic 4K resolution. The Fledge Engine manages to render the game in dynamic 4K with the image buffer mostly running at 2900 X 1680p resolution. But it’s the performance mode that will delight PS4 Pro players. The Surge runs at a full 1080p resolution with an almost locked 60fps frame rate buffer.  And that is not all. The PS4 Pro version also allows you to tweak motion blur and lens flare quality along with a number of UI parameters that can be changed to your liking. Given how disappointing PS4 Pro support has been in previous games such as Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 and Prey, it’s refreshing to see the console’s power being put to some good use in The Surge.

The PC version, as expected, looks and feels better than the PS4 Pro build. With better quality screen space reflections, anti-aliasing, texture filtering and shadow quality and the ability to scale resolution, The Surge on the PC is a better deal overall. However, other parameters such as object detail and texture quality look pretty much the same across both versions. Load times too are remarkably fast on The Surge which is surprise given that once you die the engine needs to recalculate all enemy and character states…essentially load the entire level all over again. This is something that similar games like Bloodborne struggled to do initially resulting into long load times, though it was fixed later.

From a technical perspective, The Surge seems like a AAA game built with AA resources. Deck 13 have totally outdone themselves here. The game features arguably one of the best PS4 Pro features, a fantastic PC build and intriguing gameplay mechanics.

PC build: GTX 1080Ti, 16GB of DDR4 memory and a Ryzen 7 1700 processor.

PS4 footage seen in video above is from PS4 Pro.