If you're the sort of human who is tickled by glimpses into the eventual demise of your own species, The Surge – Deck 13 Interactive's 2017 cyberpunk-ian Souls-like – has got you covered. Before you even assume control of your unfortunate character (whose name happens to be Warren), you're hit with a dystopian combo savage enough even a veteran prizefighter wouldn't begrudge it a nod of respect : earth's resources are exhausted, environment's in the crapper, maladies run rampant and unemployment is rife. And what's worst is technology has so outpaced human ability, regular joes (like Warren) have to get fitted for exo-suits (which the game calls "rigs") just to be able to keep up.

That's what Warren's in for, as the game opens: to trade in his wheelchair for a working set of (mechanical) legs at a multinational called Creo (think Apple, but with actual technological innovation; or Amazon, but – worse). But because the plot is a wee bit heavy-handed (and Deck 13 is a German dev) the operation to drill the mechanical bits into him proceeds without anesthetic and he (mercifully) passes out from the pain, mid-procedure.

When Warren comes-to again, the good news is that – despite the "discomfort" – his exo-suit works. The bad? A system-wide malfunction has turned all of Creo's machinery (including other networked employees) into mindless, cybernetically-enhanced zombies... Cymbies? Zombots? Whatever you'd call them, they are powerful, aggressive and everywhere. As befits a poor schmuck up-creek-sans-paddle, Warren begins exploring the demolished Creo complex for clues about what went wrong, which inquisitive excursion turns into about 50 hours' worth of Trying to Save the World...

I don't play many Souls-likes and was attracted to this one mainly because of its technological bent and dystopian setting and where world-building, presentation and tone are concerned, The Surge doesn't disappoint. The rig design is logical and believable, and the gears (the head, chest, arm and leg pieces you attach to your rig to change its statistics) feel like they serve a distinct purpose. When you look at a Rhino, for instance, and are informed it's an older design meant for heavy lifting, it fits.

While the rigs offer you implant slots (which let Warren equip items that modify stamina consumption, raise your energy level or proficiency with certain kinds of weapons); the gears break down into three classes of Operator (light), Sentinel (medium) and Goliath (heavy), each of which is designed for a different play style.

Operator gears are built for quick attacks and dodging, with negligible defense or the ability to block heavier attacks; Goliath are on the opposite end of the spectrum – slow and ponderous, but able to take a lot of punishment and block most things coming their way; while Sentinels strike a balance between the two.

Rounding out the list of items Warren can equip are two classes (handheld or rigged) and five sub-classes of weapons. These determine the damage you deal, but also the move-sets Warren is able to perform. And here, again, The Surge's mechanical design shines: you won't find any laser rifles or plasma guns, but can pick from plenty of things that look like they have real-world applications (like an industrial staple gun, an arc welder, length of pipe or even a helicopter rotor).

While The Surge offers some side activities — like a drone Warren can send on errands, encounters with survivors, a handful of quests, crafting and a serviceable plot — the core experience of the game revolves around exploration and fighting.

The former is extensive: the Creo complex is quite large and intricately laid out, with multiple paths to the same objective, plenty of side areas or secret nooks to snoop around in and enough background variety to visually set apart, say, the Biolabs from Creo World or the Executive Forum. The game's draconian save system (which only saves in key spots) is a bit of a pain, but – as I gather – also kinda key to the Souls-like experience.

The latter falls into one of two categories: regular and boss fights.

Regular opponents are just like Warren (save the sanity): wearing rigs particular to their former jobs and armed with whatever they were using to do 'em before the surge scrambled their brains. The way Warren acquires new gear parts or weapons is a little grisly (by excising them from his opponents), but does force you to plan each fight just a little (especially if you are low on health, far from a save point and just happen to run into a "part" you don't have yet).

As for the bosses, while not as majestic as opponents in other Souls-likes, they are quite distinct and offer enough of a challenge you won't lament having to face them Just The Once. There are five in the base game and two DLC packs (A Walk in The Park and The Good, The Bad, and The Augmented) double said number.

The neat thing about boss fights is that there are two ways to complete them. Simply beating the boss will net you a unique weapon as reward; but beating them in a specific manner (which is called a "hardcore kill") will result in the unique reward getting upgraded into a weapon that looks different and has better stats. Even though the criteria for hardcore kills are very specific and kinda arbitrary (meaning, there are no hints as to what'll fulfill or fail them other than trial and error), it is an inventive way to keep things interesting for the more adept players.

Overall, the only criticisms I can level against The Surge are its steep difficulty (nothing sucks more than mis-stepping mid-difficult-fight and dying from a fall only to have to reload a whole section of gameplay); its bleak plot (a lot of people die and really bad things happen in the canon ending, only for poor Warren to end up exactly where he started); and its NG+ mechanic (which does ramp up the difficulty and gradually opens up small, previously inaccessible areas, but – otherwise – simply re-hashes the same 50 hours you've already played).

That aside, for what it is (a protracted fighting game with extensive exploration), The Surge is a well-made title that's heaps better than Deck 13's previous attempts at an aRPG (like the distinctly clunky Lords of the Fallen).

If you like Souslikes, dystopian future settings, cybernetics, robots or creepy, abandoned industrial areas, The Surge will make you grin.

Pig Recommends:

• -hankering for even more mechanical/exo-skeletal/robotic action? still feeling optimistic, despite The Surge's dire setting? binge Neill Blomkamp's District 9, Elysium and Chappie (films) — and then, well, take up drinking, I suppose... the three movies are competently assembled and very entertaining, but almost uniformly bleak;