When comparing The Surge vs Dark Souls III, the Slant community recommends Dark Souls III for most people. In the question“What are the best RPG games on Steam?” Dark Souls III is ranked 16th while The Surge is ranked 36th. The most important reason people chose Dark Souls III is:
There's tons of lore everywhere for you to discover, but it isn't necessarily told through a conventional story. Weapons, armor, spells, and items you acquire have descriptions on them that tell you where in the game world they came from, any prominent characters they're associated with, and a bunch of other relevant and interesting information. So when you find examples of the lore scattered around the game, like bosses wearing a style of armor you read about, or an obscure NPC mentioned in a sword's description, you know the history behind the design and their purpose without that boss or character needing to explain anything to you. Even though the actual story in Dark Souls III is very thin, there's a lot to find under the surface if you're willing to look for it.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Engaging combat system
The Surge's combat primarily consists of you fighting robots or cybernetically enhanced humans in close quarters. You have to read enemy patters, dodge when needed, and strike when there's an opening. What makes the combat stand out, however, is the ability to target specific body parts of enemies, allowing you to deal more damage on unarmored body parts or even cripple them. This adds more strategy to combat since you're not just swinging in the general direction of an enemy, but also constantly looking for their weak spots.
Pro Enjoyable loot system
In most games items tend to have drop chances, so you're often stuck killing an enemy over and over until you get the item you're looking for. The Surge changes this up by allowing you to slash off pieces of equipment from enemy bodies when finishing them off.
For example, when you're fighting a cyborg with really cool looking armor, you can slice off its arm with a finishing move. You can loot the arm afterwards, allowing you to craft the arm piece of that armor set. This means you can get the full set after fighting that type of cyborg several times rather than spending hours fighting them and getting nothing.
As a result, you have a loot system that rewards effort without relying on your luck, which feels like a really nice change of pace.
Pro Good selection of weapons
The Surge has many types of futuristic weapons - from a vibration powered chainsaw, to a large axe with an energy blade, to even a giant robot's arm re-purposed as a weapon. The most important differences between weapons, however, are in speed, reach, and available combos.
For example, you can pick a very slow weapon with a wide reach that has devastating combos, but carries the risk of getting interrupted by enemies faster than you. Or you can choose a very fast weapon to easily outmaneuver enemies but you always have to stay close because the weapon has a poor reach.
As a result, each weapon has differences in tempo and playstyle, allowing you to choose one that fits you the best.
Pro Extensive lore that's presented in unconventional ways
There's tons of lore everywhere for you to discover, but it isn't necessarily told through a conventional story.
Weapons, armor, spells, and items you acquire have descriptions on them that tell you where in the game world they came from, any prominent characters they're associated with, and a bunch of other relevant and interesting information. So when you find examples of the lore scattered around the game, like bosses wearing a style of armor you read about, or an obscure NPC mentioned in a sword's description, you know the history behind the design and their purpose without that boss or character needing to explain anything to you.
Even though the actual story in Dark Souls III is very thin, there's a lot to find under the surface if you're willing to look for it.
Pro Stunning environments
The world of Dark Souls 3 looks amazing, so you may often feel the need to stop and take in the beautiful sights. This can be the sheer size of structures, mountains, or caves. It can also be the decorations, inscriptions, or details in a room. There's always so much to look at, allowing you to truly immerse yourself in its world.
Pro Can give a great feeling of accomplishment
The Dark Souls series is known for its difficulty and Dark Souls 3 is no exception. It's filled with difficult enemies and tough boss battles, able to cause you grief on more than one occasion. However, every time you progress to the next safe spot or defeat a boss you'll often be filled with a mix of joy and relief. Beating this game will almost certainly feel like an achievement.
Pro Unpredictable boss battles
The boss battles in Dark Souls 3 consist of several phases, changing up how the bosses fight over the course of the battle. They will gain new abilities, become more aggressive, or reveal various nasty surprises. This creates an enjoyable experience that is different from most modern games where bosses are just glorified pincushions.
Pro A great variety of equipment for almost any playstyle
You'll be finding new pieces of equipment quite often, giving you many options to choose from. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to pick the equipment that best suits your playstyle.
For example, heavy armor will make you move slower, but you'll be better protected. Greatswords have a wide reach, but you swing them really slow. Conversely a dagger is very fast but it has a horrible reach.
Pro Solid controls
This game feels and plays really well. Your character responds to button inputs immediately and it almost never feels like you're losing control over it. The control scheme can also be customized, giving you the option of a more personalized experience.
Pro Great combat system
Dark Souls 3 is a very fast-paced game but it's not just about having quick reflexes. A lot of the combat comes down to exploiting your enemies. To do that, you have to learn their patterns and attack the moment they pause or perform a telegraphed attack. This creates a combat system, which rewards awareness and patience, and is satisfying to master, even if you don't have extraordinary reflexes.
Cons
Con Might feel a bit too punishing
Even when you have good equipment, the regular enemies can still kill you in a couple of hits if you're not careful. Some enemies are very aggressive and fast, so a momentary lapse in focus can cause you to restart an area from the beginning. This is further amplified during boss fights where most hits taken will outright kill you, which can feel frustrating and unfair, especially when you've no idea what a boss does.
Con Exploration can feel disorientating since there's no map
While a lot of games without maps and/or waypoints play fine, The Surge may feel too disorientating at times. This is mostly due to its over-reliance on maze-like environments that tend to look exactly the same, so even though you've entered a room for the first time, it may feel like you've already been there. This is also made worse by the fact that enemies respawn after a while, so you can't use their absence or presence for guidance either. If you don't like to perfectly memorize level layouts, the Surge might be annoying to play.
Con The story isn't that good
The story starts out intriguing, but it doesn't do much with the initial setup afterwards. The main character's motivations don't seem very believable, the side characters aren't that interesting, and even the conclusion isn't satisfying. In the end, the story in The Surge is just a vague excuse for you to slaughter robots and cyborgs.
Con Poor support for mouse+keyboard control
The default DS3 key/button bindings actually prevent full use of certain weapons by requiring the shift key to be pressed and not-pressed simultaneously. Rebinding is possible, but limited by issues like the left mouse button overriding all others and certain bindings not actually working in game (e.g. Shift+MiddleClick).
Con It's hard
You should try avoiding the trap of great review scores since most of them fail to mention the difficulty. It's simply put - hard. A lot of the combat requires quick reflexes, good mechanics, and the mental fortitude to carry on after failing for hours. If you're new to the Souls-like genre or simply want to enjoy a relaxing evening playing a video game, you most likely won't enjoy Dark Souls III.
Con Poorly tuned dynamic visiblity
You may notice some texture pop in while sharply turning the camera. It can be somewhat distracting if you notice it, but most of the time you won't because it happens in the distance.
Con Occasional performance issues
There are portions of the game that will have noticeable framerate drops, which can negatively affect the gameplay. Most of the fault lies with the game engine, so getting better hardware won't help that much.