History VideoGame / TheSurge

* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Some enemies are carrying flamethrowers and gas grenade launchers, but while you can harvest crafting material from them, you can't actually use them yourself. The [[DropTheHammer Titan]] is also shown to be capable of launching projectiles (though with the aid of an additional mount for support), though again, Warren is incapable of using it this way. And then there's the armor sets MG Gorgon and MG Cerberus, which feature a shoulder mounted stun gun and back-mounted missiles, respectively.

* MeatgrinderSurgery: Warren should've been sedated when the rig is being placed onto him. He ''isn't''.

** CREO's layout is [[{{Metroidvania}} extremely confusing, full of doors that can only be opened from one side and/or with enough Core Power - when they don't require a late-game Security Exo-Rig]] - and ''[[UpToEleven three-dimensional]]'' with the only maps being two-dimensional boards at various points through the facility. Justified in-game by Warren being a new hire and a [[TokenMinority tax write-off]] at that; CREO didn't expect him to actually ''do'' anything save be present at public facilities looking productive in his shiny exoskeleton while the robots do the real work, so him wandering the halls in utter confusion was to be expected even under normal conditions. Warren is regularly told by MissionControl to "go to X" only for him to to {{Lampshade}} that ''he has no idea where anything is.'' On top of that, CREO is a big fan of [[ObstructiveBureaucrat mushroom management]], so no-one besides the execs giving the robots commands actually knows anything beyond their own departments.

* BossInMooksClothing: Almost every enemy can be considered this, but [[spoiler: Proteus/Blooded Proteus [=RIGs=], [=CREO=] Security, and Bloodhounds moreso. Especially the latter two, who can be fought as early as the first visit to Central Production B, the second area.]] The MG and ANGEL zombies, added by the ''Fire and Ice'' and ''Cutting Edge'' [=DLCs=] respectively, can become this since they are not only fast but armed with powerful weapons and can often use the same combos that Warren can, except even faster.

** The ''Cutting Edge'' DLC adds enemies wearing specialized space armor and weapons, and one of them can be fought in Abandoned Production, before you reach the first boss. Killing them not only yields parts for the ANGEL set but also the Engelhart, a single-rigged weapon comparable to the PAX Imperator 2.0... assuming [[BossInMooksClothing you can kill them]].

** In the tunnels under the Power Plant pretty much ''at the beginning of the game,'' there is a tunnel filled with toxic waste which chips away at your health, if you make a run for it down that tunnel and make it, there is a single-rigged weapon called the Volatile Spectre, a relatively average Single-Rigged weapon with a hidden property, without any gear bonuses, it is the fastest swinging S.R weapon in the game, it also does good elemental damage, which few enemies are immune to.

** Played straight for Warren however. All of the weapons available to you are melee weapons, you can't even salvage the flamethrowers and gas grenade launchers carried by some of the security mooks, as they're locked to a set of registered personnel for safety reasons, and Warren, being only an engineer on the first day of the job, [[RealityEnsues isn't cleared to use them]].

* RealityEnsues: The Exosuit Rig upgrade that's standard for all CREO laborers is powerful and overcomes a lot of physical disabilities, making the wearer practically superhuman. Unfortunately, it also makes personal life very hard because of the sheer bulk it adds to the worker. Aside from the issues associated with being permanently linked to the CREO network (since Rigs are a CREO asset, meaning privacy is nonexistent), an audio recording in CREO World points out that the workers can't actually fit into normal planes anymore because of how bulky the Rig is, let alone go on beach vacations. Worse still, if the Rig loses power (or in one case, is forcibly shut off remotely), then it becomes little more than a metal weight wrapped around the wearer that they can barely move in, which happens to Hobbs, Mallory, and [[spoiler:Warren in the ending]].

* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:The Rogue Process, formerly the assisting AI for CREO's neural implant tech and systems, grown so advanced it's become sentient and wants to eradicate humanity to replace them with cyborgs out of fear of death.]]

** [[spoiler: Warren]]'s fate at the end is also up in the air. It cuts to black just as he's [[spoiler:in arm's reach of his wheelchair.]] In the sequel, it's revealed that [[spoiler:he was recovered by A.I.D. in the aftermath of the incident and taken to Jericho City, where he acquired a new Rig.]]

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: When you eventually die, your Scrap Metal (used for upgrades and making new equipment) is left where you got killed. The game starts a timer, and when it runs out your Scrap will outright disappear. What prevents this from being an unreasonable obstacle is the following: it doesn't start until you leave ops (and pauses if you re-enter), you can add more time by killing enemies, it stops counting down if you enter an elevator or exo-lift, and also stops if you talk to an NPC.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Staff weapons. High damage and very fast, but with terrible energy gain that, unlike [[DeathOfAThousandCuts twin-rigged weapons]], isn't offset by the number of hits that land. All-important finishers become a struggle to achieve. Averted by the [=MG=] Ignis [=DLC=] weapon, which has excellent energy gain.

** Story-wise, the Exo-Rigs are this. While being equipped with one makes you move and strike with the force of a freight train at max speed, it also comes with numerous downsides outside of combat or construction. Among them include a complete lack of privacy due to being linked to CREO's network 24/7; the size and mass of the Rig making it difficult to be in an airplane and other vehicles presumably; and if your Rig runs out of battery (or gets shut off remotely), [[AndIMustScream you're basically trapped inside of it and unable to move until it gets turned back on.]]

* BlackMesaCommute: Just like the trope namer the game starts with Warren on a train going into work.

* BonusDungeon: Discarded Safety Equipment, a dead-end area available early-on, filled with a high number of non-respawning Bloodhounds (which you wouldn't normally encounter for another level and a half or so) and very narrow corridors which make the Bloodhounds' leap attacks (basically instant death at that level) very hard to dodge. The reward for managing to survive the gauntlet? A implant which may or may not be useful to you. Though, the Bloodhounds drop good amounts of scrap and a useful, farmable implant that can be recycled into more scrap. Making a run up here to get at least one of those implants is the quickest way to be able to use [[DiscOneNuke MG Gorgon]] armor before leaving Central Production B.
* BoringButPractical: A rare example for the NPC's side. The Nanite Mass, a endgame enemy, can throw down comet-like shards of itself, duplicate itself, form itself into a railgun... but its most dangerous attack? A few simple swipes of a hard-to-dodge, highly damaging limb.

** Staff weapons have low energy buildup and impact damage, making it hard to apply up-front damage and finishing moves or charging up energy for implants. However, they are without a doubt the ''fastest'' weapon, and a player skilled at dodging and timed blocking can really capitalize on that speed, especially if they have significant implants focusing on stamina and energy buildup on successive hits.
* DiscOneNuke: In theory at least - an early-game area contains two pairs of [=CREO=] Security guards as optional enemies - they cannot be fought separately, and are fully armored, making them an extremely difficult fight. Worse, they do not respawn if killed; however, managing to separate a (different) body part from each will let the player craft a suit of MG Gorgon (with its good stats and excellent set bonus) gear and the [=MG=] Negotiator roughly half the game earlier than normal... and also far earlier than a player will have the power core capacity to equip it without sacrificing at least one of their implant slots for an Ancillary Power Core... which requires fighting a ''different'' set of non-respawning late-game enemies in very unhelpful conditions to acquire.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Don Hackett is ultimately revealed to have hanged himself after learning the AwfulTruth about Utopia.]]

* FantasyGunControl: Played with: Security mechs have missiles and railguns, but the majority of enemies use melee weaponry or short-ranged attacks like gas grenade launchers and flamethrowers. This is justified in the case of many of the security guards, since Rig-outfitted humans are tough enough to literally ignore conventional gunfire, and they need the massively-boosed strength of a Rig to even hurt another Rig operator in close combat. The few enemies and weapons outfitted for direct combat are equipped with real lethal weaponry instead of repurposed maintenance equipment or less-lethal shock staves.
** Played straight for Warren however. All of the weapons available to you are melee weapons, you can't even salvage the flamethrowers and gas grenade launchers carried by some of the security mooks, as [[RealityEnsues they're locked to a set of registered personnel, and Warren, being only an engineer on the first day of the job, isn't cleared to use them]].

** The fact that each boss in the game has a Hardcore Kill condition. Hardcore Kills demand a specific requirement, and if fulfilled will make the boss drop a better version of their loot upon death. These border on SelfImposedChallenge, as they usually require that the player ''not'' use the boss' weakness against them or to actively make the fight harder. To make it better, this is only mentioned in a single loading screen hint which might never be seen by a particularly unlucky player, and the only hints as to how to obtain these weapons is usually in the description of the less powerful version. And if you fail to get the Hardcore Kill, the reward is [[PermanentlyMissableContent unobtainable]] until your next playthrough.

* MeatgrinderSurgery: Warren should've been sedated when the rig was placed onto him. [[NightmareFuel He wasn't.]]

* RealityEnsues: The Exosuit Rig upgrade that's standard for all CREO laborers is powerful and overcomes a lot of physical disabilities, making the wearer practically superhuman. Unfortunately, it also makes personal life very hard because of the sheer bulk it adds to the worker. Aside from the issues associated with being permanently linked to the CREO network (meaning privacy is nonexistent), an audio recording in CREO World points out that the workers can't actually fit into normal planes anymore because of how bulky the Rig is, let alone go on beach vacations. Worse still, if the Rig loses power (or in one case, is forcibly shut off remotely), then it becomes little more than a metal weight wrapped around the wearer that they can barely move in, which happens to Hobbs, Mallory, and [[spoiler:Warren in the ending]].

* ReplacementGoldfish: Heavilly implied with Alec Norris's [[spoiler: robot daughter.]]

*** Film/ManOfSteel
*** Literature/BraveNewWorld

The Science Fiction ''[[VideoGame/{{DarkSouls}} Souls-esque]]'' that you've all been waiting for.

'''The''' key gameplay mechanic is that pretty much [[EverythingTryingToKillYou every single opponent he meets]] is a BossInMookClothing capable of killing him in single combat unless he pays absolute attention. Any attempt to mindlessly hack and slash through a fight will leave him very dead in short order. Dodging and blocking are ''not'' optional; he may be wearing half a ton of armor like it's a T-shirt and swinging an industrial power tool like it's a foam rubber bat, but ''so are every single one of his enemies.'' And at the same time, he always has to keep an eye out for the opportunity to rip off someone's [[AnArmAndALeg arms, legs]] or [[OffWithHisHead head]] if not make them HalfTheManHeUsedToBe, as the only way to upgrade his own Rig is by tearing new components right off their bodies before their Rigs [[NoBodyLeftBehind self-destruct]].

** [[spoiler: Warren]]'s fate at the end is also up in the air. It cuts to black just as he's [[spoiler:in arm's reach of his wheelchair.]] In the sequel, it's revealed that [[spoiler:he's still alive and in Jericho City, with a new, functional Rig.]]
** Even after the plot is generally laid out through reading descriptions and listening to the audio logs, it's unclear just how much of the berserk workers and violent robotics is due to them being driven mad by the titular energy surge and how much is [[spoiler:them being subverted by the Rogue Process.]] In addition, while the security guards seem to be following the Board's orders, [[spoiler:the fact that the CREO Board members were all killed or incapacitated by the Surge, Black Cerberus seems to be acting on his own initiative, and Irina's personality being overwritten by a generic security guard's personality implies that they may have also been subverted to some degree by the Process and are being used to block Warren's path.]]

** Even after the plot is generally laid out through reading descriptions and listening to the audio logs, it's unclear just how much of the berserk workers and violent robotics is due to them being driven mad by the titular energy surge and how much is [[spoiler:them being subverted by the Rogue Process.]] In addition, while the security guards seem to be following the Board's orders, [[spoiler:the fact that the CREO Board members were all killed or incapacitated by the surge, Black Cerberus seems to be acting on his own initiative, and Irina's personality being overwritten by a generic security guard's personality implies that they may have also been subverted to some degree by the Process and are being used to block Warren's path.]]

* DoorToBefore: While already a staple of the genre, The Surge takes opening shortcuts to a new level - each major area only contains a single Ops Center, and is absolutely filled with malfunctioning doors, lifts and exo-lifts that can only be operated from the other side. Central Operations B alone contains no less than eight such shortcuts between the two times you visit it.

* EventTitle: "The Surge" is what causes all of the cataclysmic events between the prologue and the start of the actual game. What exactly caused The Surge is discussed by [=NPCs=] and audiologs found throughout the game, with some suggesting terrorism or insurgency. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that The Surge was caused by a rogue AI in an effort to exterminate or subjugate all humans.]]

* WhamEpisode: The Executive Forum is full of twists and reveals for both the main plot and several side characters. To name a few, [[spoiler: the board of directors are dead and you get to watch the last one [[OutsideContextProblem get killed by his own chair]], Irina's mind is fully overwritten with a security guard template, Don Hackett hanged himself upon learning of Utopia's true intentions, Mallory Stark's body can be found here, Sally was just an A.I. the entire time and has [[HeroicBSOD shut down]], and worst of all, the rocket with the Utopia payload is about to launch and doom humanity.]]