The Surge, the futuristic Dark Souls type game from Focus Interactive and Deck 13, has had some DLC released. Entitled “A Walk In The Park”, it slots neatly into the game and allows you to explore a whole new area, the aptly named CREO World. With the addition of 16 new weapons, three new armour sets and a whole new area, is it worth diving back back into the murky world of giant robots, crazed cyborgs and tech scrap for this expansion?
So, having defeated the first boss and moved onto the second area of the game, if you make your way through you will find a train station. If you are on the NG+ playthrough, the whole of the DLC will be accessible to you, but if you haven’t finished the game yet, only the first part of the expansion will be accessible, with the second section opening up once you have advanced the story and defeated the third boss of the main storyline.
Now, part of the fun of the DLC is finding where it is and how to get there, so I’m not going to reveal too much about the path to CREO World, but once the DLC is active, checking your inventory will reveal a ticket allowing admission. With the ticket in my cold, metal hand, I boarded the train and went off to CREO World, hoping for an Alton Towers-esque break from all the death and destruction of the main game. As you may expect given the tone of the rest of the game, there is however no rest and relaxation to be found at CREO World, as the park mascots and workers all seem to have undergone the same transformation as the rest of the world’s populace.
Upon entering the park, our hero is contacted by the lone survivor of a rescue squad that was sent to the park to help rescue the civilians. Unfortunately for the team, their helicopter crash landed in the park, and the only team member who is currently available to talk to is holed up in a precariously balanced module which acts as the hub for this area. After talking to him, it becomes clear that all is not well at CREO World. The power is out, the computer network is down, and the rest of the rescue team is ominously radio silent. So, with these tasks in front of you, whose job do you think it is to get things up and going? That’s right, it’s ours!
What follows, without going into the fine details of the story, is that you have to explore the park, moving through sections that open into new sections, in a different layout to the rest of the game. In the new area, opening doors or restoring the power opens new pathways, themed around the various rides that are in the park.
As you’d expect for an expansion, the changes aren’t restricted only to the new areas. There are new enemies to face as well, including the mascots for the park, which look a whole lot funnier than they actually are. The donut headed enemy is my personal favourite, however the way that it leaps around, attacking with its oversized, white gloved hands makes it an enemy to watch. Other mascots involve coffee beans, iron bars and even cans of soda, each with a strange looking head that can be scavenged and worn – if you really want to!
Of more interest are the three new exo suit enemies that you’ll come across. The Mantis class is the light duty class, and they don’t cause too many issues, as long as you’ve been upgrading your rig appropriately. One exception is a new Lumberjack attraction, where the bad guys have the ability to charge their weapons up with electricity, causing issues if they hit you. Luckily, the act of charging means they can’t attack for a couple of seconds, so that’s the ideal time to press the attack and try and defeat them before they can bring their weapons to bear.
The next new enemy is a real heavy hitter; the new Ogre class. These move slowly and are easy to kite around, but if they do hit you it can often be curtains, as the amount of power they pack is unreal. Their two main attacks are a spin that hits twice, or an overhead smash that can one shot you with no problem. Caution is definitely the order of the day with these guys. The last armour class is the Eagle, who can be identified as they carry a med pack around on their backs. Again, these are a lighter class of rig, so they shouldn’t cause you too many issues to take down. Obviously with new rigs to fight, targeting their limbs and body and so on will allow you to harvest schematics and build your own sets.
The same applies to the new weapons in the DLC, which can either be found just lying about the place or by defeating the enemies that swarm all over. There are also two new bosses to fight in the DLC, but I’ll be keeping the details about them to myself, for fear of spoiling things. Suffice it to say that the bosses can also drop weapons when they are defeated, so keep targeting and slicing for the best chance of scoring something new.
All in all, the ‘A Walk in the Park’ expansion is a worthy addition to the base game. I enjoyed my time with The Surge when I reviewed it way back in the mists of time, and the expansion has the exact same feel as the main game, but has turned everything up to 11 with the addition of the new enemies and weapons. The new area perfectly captures the feel of an abandoned amusement park, and the creepy mascots are a very cool touch. With a bunch of new achievements, including some miss-able ones, this is a fitting and fun expansion that adds to the base game.
Jumping back in to The Surge is a pleasure, and I think you’ll like a trip to this world.
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