If you like Soulslikes The Surge is a really good sci-fi take on the genre. It succeeds in the vagueness, the atmosphere, and the combat. It has a bit of a gimmick with how you obtain parts by targeting and dismembering limbs which is really fun. However the story kinda goes off the rails near the end and the last few areas of the game are arguably the worst designed levels of the game. Plus the boss fights can be a PITA despite being super cool design wise.
I don’t see it brought up as often as things like Nier or Mortal Shell though, and IMO it’s better than both of those.
DMC grades you on the “rule of cool.” It’s not about being good. It’s about looking good, and is based on how many times you can hit something without missing or being hit; often you’ll take out an enemy pretty fast without getting even a B rating, and I feel like getting through the game faster is better than keeping a weak ass enemy in the air for 1000 hits. So found it much easier to ignore than Hitman and other stealth game rating systems, as those really do kinda judge how well you did since they focus on being stealthy. Sure you can go in guns blazing and kill everything to win, but it’s a stealth game. You’re supposed to be sneaky. The scoring reflects that.
To be specific, it’s build engine mechanics, with modern game ideas, in a cyberpunkish setting; so it’s got a little bit of all those things in it. It’s great!
All I remember about this game was how the media went nuts over how many times the word “fuck” was used in it. IIRC, it even had a dedicated “fuck” button!
It’s funny and true; I have no desire to continue playing and yet I am still excited to get my hands on the toolkit and make my own shit because all I see are missed opportunities everywhere. Honestly, I kinda wonder how into sci-fi the devs actually are, because everything is surface-level and misses the mark on a lot of referencial material so often.