Good gameplay, interesting setting
Most people will refer to this game as a souls-like, which is a genre that never really appealed to me that much. But I like the Surge. The intro really hooked me in, throwing up so many questions about what has gone wrong at this presumably high-tech facility to cause the outfitting of your new exoskeleton to go wrong in such a horrifying way. Why were you apparently thrown away? What has happened to the other staff at Creo?
Then it throws you right into the game with a brief tutorial on the superficial mechanics, and then you're free to explore and make your way around the facility. Or on to the next facility.
The combat in the Surge is relatively simple, you can combine horizontal and vertical attacks into different combos, depending on the weapon and weapon type. You can move out of the way normally, dodge, or block incoming attacks. If you block at the right time, you can counter / parry for extra damage. If you dodge while blocking at the right time, you get a different, stronger counter and you don't lose stamina for blocking. So it starts simple, and you can make it more complicated as you learn the mechanics.
Weapons and armour are not drops on a kill, but you cut off the part that you want. Like his weapon? Target his arm and cut it off. Want his boots? Target an armoured leg and cut it off. Don't want to deal with it right now? Target an unarmoured part for extra damage to kill faster. Opponents also drop scrap, which is used to upgrade core power and equipment. One review mentions that this makes grind necessary, as you'll need to upgrade your weapons to keep up with stronger, more armoured enemies. To a point, this is true, but it's also pretty quick and easy to grind up so much scrap that you'll never have to worry about it again. Just look up a guide for 200 core power before the first boss.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the game, it's hard, but so is early game in Baldur's Gate, for instance. And, the bosses aren't too hard, which I much appreciate