'The Surge 2' Lands On PC And Consoles In 2019

Last year, publisher Focus Home Interactive and developer Deck13 teamed up for The Surge, an intriguing riff on the action RPG genre. Despite a somewhat lukewarm reception from critics and players, The Surge presented an enjoyable narrative with some interesting design choices. It must have left enough of an impression to merit a sequel, it turns out, because The Surge 2 has been announced for a 2019 release.

The Surge's first installment debuted in May 2017 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It followed a young man named Warren, who was originally confined to a wheelchair and looking for the chance to potentially walk again. Upon joining a bizarre new corporation named CREO in something of a dystopian society, he's bolted into a "rig" that gives him the ability to walk, but at the cost of a painful procedure that essentially fuses his body with mechanical framework that offers special abilities, super strength, and other augments. It's not pretty, but it's effective. 

When Warren wakes up, he finds that things have gone horribly awry at the CREO facility, and something of an apocalypse has occurred. Using his new rig, he has to fight his way through the ruins of the facility and figure out how to right the wrongs that have risen from CREO's growing influence over the world.

The Surge 2, according to the official announcement, will continue to utilize many of the same systems introduced in the first game, from its limb-targeting system made possible by Warren's rig and some expansion for the narrative overall. The announcement didn't mention anything about the sequel's connection to the original Surge adventure, but it will feature a brand new environment in the form of a "sprawling, devastated city" with "ambitious" level design. There's also a wealth of new weapons, abilities, implants, and drones at your disposal as well this time around. It sounds like largely the same game, but bigger and badder.

There aren't that many additional details about the sequel just yet, but a French event being held through February 8 called Le What's Next de Focus should bring some tidbits of information.