The Surge 2 is here to ruin your day. This sequel is an improvement over the original in every way — bigger, badder, and better. You’ll find more weapons, more sets of gear to extract from enemies, and tougher opponents in even larger environments. While the original might’ve been an impressive step toward a true sci-fi Soulsborne-style game, The Surge 2 squarely plants its flag.
Everything has changed and nothing has changed. This is a far more polished product, and the design of everything has improved considerably — new mechanics like the parry system add more depth to each encounter, and the bosses are each unique battles with twists you won’t find in any of the games The Surge 2 takes inspiration from. This is a great game to jump right into if you’re a fan of the Dark Souls series — and we’re kind of experts when it comes to those games.
Below we’ve compiled 10 quick tips to get you started in the crumbling ashes of Jericho City. Be prepared for a very bad time.
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1: Be Agressive!
In The Surge 2, you can heal yourself with your stock of energy — and energy only charges when you successfully attack an enemy. Offense is the best defense! Try to generate as much energy as possible to keep yourself heealed up.
2: Ditch The Auto-Heal Implant
It also helps to ditch the useless Auto-Heal implant. This implant automatically heals you when you’re about to die. It might sound handy, but really you won’t find any use for it if you’re a Dark Souls veteran. Get rid of it and slot in a different implant ASAP.
3: Beware The Drawbacks of Goliath Class Gear
Equipping gear with the highest defense might sound like a great idea, but you’ll also encounter serious downsides. Goliath Class gear, which is the heaviest and provides the most defense, usually gives you a stamina penalty, or makes your attacks slower. Some even lower the amount of energy you generate per attack. It’s better to stick with lighter armor so you can dodge attacks rather than absorb more damage.
4: If You’re A Beginner, Try Using The Spear
Spears are a class of weapon that is pretty ideal for beginner’s. They’re quick to attack, have good range on your enemies, and there are some awesome spears to find even very early in the game. Otherwise, you’ll want to stick to fast weapons like the 1-Handed Blades or Punch-Daggers. The faster you can attack, the easier you can escape bad situations.
5: Learn When To Unleash Charged Attacks
Charged Attacks are powerful moves every weapon can unleash. They take a moment to charge (naturally) but the extra damage they do is worth the wait. The trick of most encounters is just finding a good opportunity to unleash a Charged Attack — they’re great at breaking armor too. Once armor is shattered on an enemy, the rest of the fight can be trivial.
6: Swap Weapons Constantly — You’ll Find Them Everywhere
Unlike Dark Souls, where you can stick with the same weapon for a very long time, The Surge 2 encourages you to swap. Some weapons are just straight-up better than others. Ditch the old weapons and embrace the new.
7: Parry Is One Of The Most Useful Skills
Parry is crazy-good in The Surge 2. It’s also a little complicated — you’ll unlock the ability to predict what direction you need to parry fairly early in the game, and I recommend using it. Parrying it’s just an important skill against regular enemies, it’s also critical for handling the bosses in the game. Many bosses have extra “Shields” on their status bar. These shields indicate how many times you have to parry to stun them.
8: Exploit Enemies Weaknesses To Make Life Easier
Many enemies have unique weaknesses you can exploit — and it’s all about which part of the body you attack. For example, when you reach the Garden and have to deal with the robots here, you can attack a variety of different body parts to weaken them. Shooting their heads with your drone will stop their laser attack. Attacking their legs can immobilize them completely.
9: Explore, Explore, Explore
Each area is a maze of passages and corridors and it’s important to explore every nook and cranny you can. There are lots of shortcuts you can open that make future trips through these areas much easier. And there are items, weapons, and implants you won’t want to miss.
10: Use Your Drone To Help Control Combat
The drone on your back doesn’t seem all that helpful at first. It has limited ammo, and even when you shoot enemies, it doesn’t do that much damage. But, the drone can serve a variety of functions — from shooting EMP grenades that stun groups of opponents, to blasted far-off enemies with a Sniper Rifle. Using the drone wisely (and targeting weak spots on enemies to disable their abilities) can make your journey much easier.
