The Surge 2 Launch Trailer

Focus Home Interactive and Deck13 will be releasing their Dark Souls-inspired action-RPG The Surge 2 in just a few days, on September 24, 2019. And before we get to enjoy the game’s brutal combat and shiny sci-fi aesthetics, we can check out the official launch trailer that shows off plenty of action while highlighting The Surge 2’s impressive gear variety. Here it is:

The Surge 2: Slice and dice your way to release with the brand new Launch Trailer!

Hardcore Action-RPG The Surge 2’s blend of limb-chopping combat and post-apocalyptic exploration releases September 24 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Developer Deck13 and publisher Focus Home Interactive are delighted to deliver a sequel enjoyable by all – either for its incredible standalone story and gameplay, or how it builds and improves upon The Surge in every way. Check out today’s launch trailer for just a taste of the fast-paced action.

The Surge 2 presents a harsh, sci-fi, dystopian world to explore and survive. Create your own character and decide how to approach the hardcore melee combat, putting your reactions and RPG character-building skills to the test. Deep character progression and customization lets you decide how to equip yourself and handle enemies – with many additions over the original game, including challenging but rewarding directional parries and companion drones with dozens of uses. Limb-targeting and executions return new and improved, so get ready to target, loot, and equip everything you see on your enemies.

Pre-orders are now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and come with the URBN Gear Pack, which includes a new armor set, two new weapons, and other cosmetics and equipment. The Surge 2 releases September 24.

The Surge 2 releases September 24 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

On top of that, we can also check out this recent developer blog where Deck13’s animator Alex Sennert talks about the intricacies of the game’s animation and motion capture. An excerpt:

How much of the animation is done with motion capture? Are certain types of animations better suited toward it?

Mocap is a great way to create a lot of data that functions as a base to work with. But the vision of the result has to be very clear. We used it almost exclusively for humanoid characters, basically you get a very realistic moving base to work with. On top of the mocap animations, there are further steps, such as pushing poses, combining mocap-tracks, animating fingers and faces and then editing the whole movement.

For some animation styles, like heavy stylized ones, mocap data can even slow down your progress because of the micro movements you need to get rid of. Because of that, robotic and non humanoid characters are completely keyframe work here at Deck13.

Games in this genre are known for requiring a lot of precision in combat. What was the biggest challenge in accomplishing this?

In case of an enemy it would be making the attack readable without making it too easy. Making clear that an attack starts and indicating the direction it’s coming from sounds simple, but if you take into consideration the camera perspective let alone the sheer amount of animations with the different weapon styles, that all have to be distinct from each other, the task becomes a real challenge.

The Surge 2 will include some very strange and dangerous creatures. How do you approach animating something so alien?

We first defined the “nano” movement theme, a lot of which was already defined in The Surge 1, but we pushed the design even further for The Surge 2. Some monsters are based on insects, to include a kind of twitching movement and push that creepiness that comes with them. In combat they are also sneaky and deceptive. For example, some creatures have misleading windups in their attacks, so the player needs to be very careful not to be tricked when fighting them.