I'd stayed away from
The Surge for a while because of the 'mixed' reviews on Steam. But always thought it looked cool. Apparently there were some issues early on. Reviews lately however are very positive.
A year and a half later, on supersale, this game feels like an absolute gem. It is like a scifi Dark Souls, where your dude is a mech with different attachable parts. I beat all three so I don't say that lightly. Your character looks like he's wearing car parts for armor.
Different weapons have different move sets, your strength with each weapon type (1-handed, "single-rigged," "twin-rigged") levels as you play. Combat feels fluid, kinetic and impactful- everything hits really hard. To unlock new armor and weapons, you have to sever the limb of the equipment you want (leg armor, helmet, weapon etc.). I was surprised at how visceral and brutal the fighting is. You'll die a lot.
I like that you can 'bank' the tech salvage (or 'souls') you collect, instead of having to carry the ones you couldn't spend. There's a lot for action rpg players to chew on here.
The atmosphere is dark and industrial. The game has a really vibrant color scheme and the sound design is awesome. At times it's pretty unnerving. I was lurking around in this dark basement underground wearing headphones, and my gf scared me to death when she tapped me on the shoulder to say good night. It reminds me of Dead Space and Event Horizon in a way. I'm about 10 hours in so I have ways to go, but I'm enjoying this one a lot so far.