The Surge’s malfunctioning theme park DLC is out now
Park LIFE!
I mean that the theme park is malfunctioning, not the expansion pack itself. You’re not going to get killed by a bit of rogue DLC, ha ha. Oh no, wait, you are. The Surge is a hard game, wobbly in parts but redemptive in others. As an unabashed soulslike, it did exploring and shortcuts very well but combat less so. Most of the environments were unremarkable recreations of sci-fi factories or science labs but the Walk in the Park expansion is brightening things up with a colourful area full of rollercoasters and crazed robot mascots. It came out yesterday and you can see some of the baddies and bosses below.
As well as the new enemies and boss fights, there are new weapons, armour and implants - those are the wee chips that slot in your exo-suit to give it special abilities like regaining health or releasing freezing gas. You can see what the new implants do in this forum post.
The Surge is a decent take on “Dark Souls but in the future”. It never approaches the glory or depth of the series that inspires it, but few games that set out to mimic those strengths ever will. In our review I said:
If, sometime in the future, you’re suffering from Soul withdrawal and you spot this half-price in a sale, I will be the first to nod and say: “You know what? Yeah. Yeah!” in a surprised-with-my-own opinion tone of voice.
And guess what? It’s half-price today and tomorrow. The Walk in the Park DLC is an extra £12.99 though. And if you’re still wary of slightly shonky zombie-smashing, there’s also a demo.