The Surge / Characters

Main and secondary characters from the Souls-like hack-'n-slash The Surge. Beware of spoilers.

open/close all folders

Warren

"First day on the job remember?"

The man of the hour. An unlucky everyman initially bound to a wheelchair, he goes to work for CREO and gets painfully grafted into a brand new Exo-Rig.

Action Survivor: While having an exo-suit that multiplies your strength and stamina substantially, and having a neural-link that greatly speeds your thinking capabilities certainly helps... At the end of the day, Warren was just a wheelchair-bound Average Joe looking for a job. Also by the end he's fought through armies of zombified workers, killer robots, several giant mecha (including one the size of an entire production line), CREO's highly trained and borderline paramilitary security forces and a Mind Hive nanomachine scourge dedicated to wiping out humanity.
Audience Surrogate: Doesn't know much more about the workings of CREO (including the facility's layout) than the player does.
Deadpan Snarker: Most of the hesitant dialogue options and even some of the more compliant ones make Warren veer into this.
The Engineer: Warren's role before starting at CREO was unclear, but once he's there he shows remarkable aptitude for customizing his Exo-Rig and tools/weaponry. Keeping his gear updated and competitive is how he gets much further than everyone else in the game.
The Everyman: Warren is in no way a badass on his own. In fact, he's confined to a wheelchair at the beginning, and it's only when he gets his Exo-Rig that he manages to become truly hardcore. Of course, that comes with the downside of said installation...
Fanboy: A Walk in the Park reveals he is a big fan of Carbon Cat and had visited CREO World before he'd actually gone to work for CREO.
Lightning Bruiser: The Exo-Rig makes him move fast and hit hard. He can wield the leg of a Bloodhound robot longer than he is and it will barely slow him down.
Locked Out of the Loop: He has no idea what's going on and no one will give him any information. He's never hesitant to voice his displeasure about this.
Meatgrinder Surgery: A recipient. Watch it here!
Slept Through the Apocalypse: In the prologue, everything seems normal, after his RIG is painfully grafted to his body he loses consciousness and wakes up in the junkyard, by then everything has gone to hell, it's never explained how long he was unconscious, or why he (and a couple of others) were unaffected by the titular Surge.
Spanner in the Works: Just a random new employee that manages to survive somehow and ends up potentially stopping(or at least changing) the Utopia rocket launch and slowing down the Rogue Process' Assimilation Plot.
Throwing Off the Disability: Part of the reason he signs up with CREO is to walk again - and the Exo-Rig allows him to do just that. It gives out in the ending forcing him to crawl back to his wheelchair. By the time of The Surge 2, he's managed to find and equip a replacement.
Unlucky Everydude: He was a wheelchair-bound man looking for a new lease on life. Now he's fighting for survival in a world gone mad.

Non-Player Characters

Don Hackett

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/don_24.png

"Welcome! I know you're glad to be here! I am, and I'm glad to see ya! CREO, you know who we are, or at least you think you do. Everywhere you turn we are there, whether you see us or not. Maybe it's time to take a closer look..."

Literally the first face you see when you start the game. Don Hackett is the spokesperson for CREO and his smiling face can be seen on countless screens throughout the facility.

Dead All Along: Hanged himself long before Warren woke up.
Despair Event Horizon: Likely crossed this once everything at CREO went down the shitter.
Driven to Suicide: As soon as he finds out what Utopia will actually do, he records a suicide note and hangs himself shortly afterward.
Foreshadowing: Some of his very first lines hint at something shady going on at CREO. He's often talking about technology or events that have happened with a pro-CREO spin, which given the setting where you're viewing them... tend to be rather suspect.
Stepford Smiler: The promotional Heads-Up with Don talkshow episodes, as well as the interviews with Guttenburg, paint Don as a pretty swell, friendly guy who cares deeply about the world at large. Given the situation, you might be inclined to believe that there's more to it than that. Stumbling into his studio and seeing his hanging corpse, along with a recording of his last message to his wife, gives you the answer.

Sally

Sally/S.A.L.L.

"Your Rig has been damaged. Its distress beacon has been triggered. You need to get back into the factory."

The first NPC you meet in the game. You communicate with her via information terminals in Medbays and she points you towards the Executive Board. Following her quest-line is the equivalent to the 'main quest', as it were.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She was guiding Mallory Stark the same way she guides Warren, except when Mallory called it quits, Sally remotely shut down her Exo-Rig immediately, stopped keeping her healthy, and left her to die so Sally could find another sane employee to use.
Despair Event Horizon: She completely loses it when you discover the fate of the Executive Board. From that point on, her communications terminals are offline and you never see her again.
Voice with an Internet Connection: The most consistent and reliable source of help throughout the game and is always pointing Warren where he needs to go. Unless you cross her. Which thankfully Warren doesn't.
Walking Spoiler: Relating to what Warren finds out in the Executive Forum, namely that she's the resident A.I., and she's been trying to get someone past Security to physically access the Executives' conference room.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Reacted in this way once Mallory tells Sally that she refuses to do Sally's bidding after getting past Security. Sally responds by completely destroying her chances at further survival and focusing on the next sane survivor.
Your Soul Is Mine!: The Rogue Process uses lines she said throughout the game, indicating that the Rogue Process assimilated her after Warren found the board.

Hobbs

Dean Hobbs

A man Sally asks you to rescue in Central Production B. He's in the unfortunate position of being stuck in an Exo-Rig without any power. Fix him up and he'll hang out in Ops.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Not confirmed. He's always nice to Warren but if you believe Jo, he was one of the ones responsible for abducting and experimenting on her brother.
Killed Offscreen: Ends up suffering this if you end up helping Jo all the way. Arriving at the Ops Station after CREO Security rolls out, you'll spot his bloodied corpse a little ways away from the door. Next to it is a heavy-duty weapon - the description indicating it being the very same one Warren helped make for Jo.
Nice Guy: Always friendly towards Warren, and gives him some sought-after upgrade components once you rescue him.
Only Sane Man: One of the few to not lose his mind. Unless you count being terrified out of his wits.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: He's either killed by Jo or left living in fear of her. Guy can't win.

Davey

Another man Sally asks you to rescue in Central Production B who has locked himself in a storage room. Really needs his "medical" implant, which you can get for him from the Resolve Biolabs.

Functional Addict: His medical implant calms him down dramatically when you give it to him, restoring him to sanity. But the next time you come back to Central Production B, he's lost his mind. Some of his ramblings indicate that this is caused by him being assimilated by the Rogue Process rather than overdosing on his implant, though.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: Get him his medical implant or not, he still goes insane.

Irina Beckett

A plucky engineer looking for scrap to keep her alive. Always friendly to Warren and thankful for his aid, until she slowly starts becoming distant...

Already Done for You: If you give her a SERU HSS BioMaster or MG Negotiator before fighting the two smelter machines deeper in Central Production B, she will take one of them out off-screen, making a very tough fight far more manageable.
Deadpan Snarker: She often snarks about the situation, and appreciates if Warren does as well.
The Engineer: She was one at CREO before the disaster and it shows, as she's able to modify a weapon far beyond what Warren can do.
Fighting from the Inside: Her engineer persona is trying to fight back against the template overwrite the second-last time you see her. It doesn't take.
Gadgeteer Genius: Whatever staff you give her (except the Reinforced Pipe, which will get her killed), if you help her during the game, she will turn it into the Peacekeeper.
Grand Theft Me: Has her mind overwritten by a CREO security template if you help her out.
Optional Boss: You don't have to fight her unless you talk to her twice in the Executive Forum. You don't even need to get through the door she's guarding since it's a redundant shortcut, but Irina's wielding a very nice staff by then...
Walking Spoiler: Relating to her eventual fate past donating a staff.

Mallory Stark

Another new employee like Warren who is attempting to help Sally reach the Executive Board.

Apocalyptic Log: Her audio logs tell the story of a woman struggling to survive.
Despair Event Horizon: Slams into it hard once Sally stops helping her. Specifically, after getting sick of Sally's shit and telling her to fuck off, Mallory's Exo-Rig suddenly malfunctions and she ends up in severe pain and agony. She outright calls herself 'broken' because of it.
Hero of Another Story: Doesn't actually appear in the game, instead her audio logs suggest that she is progressing through the factory a bit before Warren.
Meatgrinder Surgery: Like Warren she was a recipient when her rig was installed without anesthetic.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: It's implied that after Mallory stopped helping her Sally left her to die.

Joanne Sullivan

A woman crawling around in the vents that occasionally asks Warren for tech scrap donations.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's a lot less nice, to the point of trying to kill Warren, when he finds her hideout. Help her out, and she'll also murder Hobbs, though she claims that he had it coming.
Cool Shades: Your reward for (accidentally or intentionally) skipping her sidequest is finding sunglasses in her hideout.
Stronger Than They Look: The Equalizer is a large heavy duty weapon, and Jo doesn't wear an Exo-Rig.
Together in Death: Her brother was snatched for Proteus conversion. Once she's done getting revenge, she'll kill herself next to his corpse.
The Unseen: Hides in the vents throughout the game until, if you completed her questline, you find her corpse.

Dr. Chavez

Doctor Melissa Chavez

The lead scientist on Project Resolve. Was fired after the project's catastrophic failure, but hid in the Resolve Biolabs to continue her work and fix her mistakes. Rescuing her is the key objective of that area and she provides a large amount of plot information as a result, as well as the way to a different ending.

Developer's Foresight: You can inform her of everything up to the final boss fight if you're willing to backtrack to her, and she will give you guidance and information as you go. You can even tell her you achieved the goal that she was aiming for and she will thank you sincerely.
Mission Control: In a downplayed manner. At any point you can go back to her in the Resolve Biolabs to keep her apprised of the situation. After Sally loses it, she's the only source of guidance you have beyond your own information.
Only Sane Man: Next to Warren, probably the only character who doesn't get driven into fear, madness, or hijacked in one way or another.
Spanner in the Works: She's this for the Rogue Process. She sets in motion a plan to neutralize Utopia and can succeed with Warren's help, leading to the "good" ending.

Dr. Barrett

Doctor Gene Barrett

The lead scientist on the Utopia Project, designed to overcome the shortcomings of Resolve. Seems to be one of the few sane individuals left in the entire facility, at least until Warren figures out what Utopia will actually do.

Affably Evil: Once he realizes Warren isn't serving as an assassin for the Board, his menacing veneer slips away and he becomes polite and friendly towards him. Still planned to kill ninety-five percent of the world's population and convert the rest into cyborgs, though.
Evil Counterpart: To Dr. Chavez. Chavez is focused on saving the planet and is willing to fix problems in her project to do it. Barrett, despite working on the replacement project, couldn't give it a second thought and is happy to commit near-genocide out of apathy.
Evilutionary Biologist: Was obsessed with finding ways to beat the human condition. Saving the planet is no more than an afterthought.
I Shall Taunt You: Quietly taunts and threatens Warren as he moves through Research and Development, until he realizes Warren isn't the assassin Barrett thinks he is.
Mad Scientist: Let's count the ways.
- He created an alternative to Resolve that would kill off ninety-five percent of the world's population.
- He was the only one with project input, the only one to test it, and the only one to sign off on it.
- He was distracted by his own personal project, which involved plucking people that would not be missed off the streets and forcibly converting them into cyborgs.
- When everything comes crashing down around him, and provided Warren leaves him alive, he converts himself into one.
Transhuman: Making these is his real goal. In his opinion, Utopia was a side-project.

Largo

Search & Rescue Operator Largo

The first friendly face that Warren will encounter in the CREO World Amusement Park. He was saved from going crazy by sheer luck, having been inside the portable Ops station that was separated from the S&R helicopter and crashed into Iron MAUS Plaza.

Barrier Maiden: He won't open the main door to Ops because it leads to a completely un-survivable fall.
Mission Control: A refreshingly straight example compared to all the others. Largo is in your ear the entire DLC, providing advice, giving direction, and clearing the way towards your next objective.
Mr. Exposition: Once he cracks the Black Box, he reveals that the Board knew that something was going to happen, if not the Surge, and that the S&R team was deployed to observe and intervene when necessary. After that, he advises Warren to continue on his quest to find the Board and get some answers, and even provides a handy map!
Nice Guy: Concerned for the well-being of his S&R squad, explains what they were like before the apocalypse, is distraught when they inevitably turn up either insane or dead, and never, ever, steers Warren wrong.
Playful Hacker: Inasmuch one can be when the apocalypse is going on. He's surprisingly upbeat and has almost total access to the systems of CREO World.

Rusty Rat

The other sane survivor of CREO World. Iron MAUS's faithful sidekick is little more than a scared man in a suit and needs a bit of assistance.

Distressed Dude: Has the unfortunate honour of being chained to a rocket along with several highly explosive power cores.
Lampshade Hanging: Points out that the Ops Announcer always says Warren's name when he enters, which is how he knows it. Except that the CREO World Ops station doesn't.
Skewed Priorities: He's actually not stuck in the Rusty Rat costume. He's just not wearing anything underneath, and would rather blow up than lose his dignity by going naked.
Stuff Blowing Up: Ignore his cries for help, and this is how he dies.

The Supervisor

The mysterious person running the Testing Facility in The Good, The Bad, and the Augmented DLC. Appears to be a weird combination of game show host, narrator, facility administrator and sadist.

Enemies

Drones

Ubiquitous around CREO, floating drones made up a large part of the facility's workforce before everything went to hell. They come in multiple variants and are seen in every area of the game.

Action Bomb: The self-destructing variant, which is thankfully rare. Laser drones can also fire an EMP that wipes out both Warren's shield and energy, but doesn't kill it.
Goddamned Bats: The shield variants have a nasty habit of floating completely out of range and hitting Warren with a powerful energy blast that will likely kill him instantly by the time he encounters them. And if they're not Warren's current target, they'll project a shield over whoever or whatever is.
The Goomba: The initial variant which does a short charge is near-harmless and easy to kill.
Palette Swap: Crystallized Drones, seen only in Lower CREO World, have been infected by the Rogue Process and as such they fly much faster, charge much further, and extend sword blades for a whirlwind attack compared to the weak maintenance drones seen at the start of the game.

Single-Rigged/One-Handed Zombies

Zombified Lynx/Liquidator/MG Gorgon/Mantis

The first humanoid enemy type in the game, with mostly light Operator-class pieces and either single-rigged weapons attached to their Exo-Rigs or one-handed melee weapons. Their brains were fried when the titular surge happened, leaving them to shamble about the facility in a zombie-like manner.

Blade Below the Shoulder: Their single-rigged weapons are essentially the BFS version of this trope.
Deadly Lunge: A slow, shambling figure that can suddenly launch a long-range leaping thrust attack.
My Rules Are Not Your Rules: In a non-cheating sense. In Abandoned Productions, Lynx rigs use the ASTir Vibro-Cutter like a single-rigged weapon, but Warren uses it as a one-handed one.
Palette Swap: Liquidator rigs are tougher variants found mostly in toxic areas wielding KLINGE Power Grips. MG Gorgon rigs, being former CREO Security forces, are even tougher, found in the final area and wielding MG Legionnaires or Fractal Reavers.
- Mantis rigs are found in CREO World, with a few different weapons and new attacks, such as the ability to fire the sawblade out of their HUMI M248 'Emerald' weapon.
Playing Possum: Can often be found lying on the ground, only to reanimate as Warren approaches.
Zombie Gait: These enemies slowly shuffle around and swing their weapons clumsily, acting more like actual zombies than most other victims of the surge. Only rarely will they break into a run, for the sake of their Deadly Lunge attack.

Twin-Rigged/Heavy Duty Zombies

Zombified Rhino/Scarab/Mantis

Bigger zombies equipped with heavy duty or twin-rigged weapons. Only a few appear in the first area, but they make up the majority of enemies the first time you go through Central Production B. Depending on the type of weapon they wield, they can be very, very different adversaries.

Blade Below the Shoulder: The twin-rigged variants use a Dual Wielding version of this trope.
Boss in Mook Clothing: The two Yosuke Butterfly rigs in Abandoned Production are faster, more damaging, and less telegraphed than anything else you've faced by this point.
Carry a Big Stick: The Heavy Duty enemies use their tools as huge clubs.
Lightning Bruiser: Rigs with the Yosuke Butterfly twin-rigged weapons fight fast and hit hard, and their health pool is nothing to sneeze at. One serves as a miniboss fight in the Abandoned Productions power plant early in the game.
Palette Swap: Scarab rigs are slightly tougher than their Rhino counterparts, which is odd as Rhino armor is more protective on Warren.
- Mantis rigs with these loadouts are tougher again, wielding either the Chopmaster 500 heavy duty weapon, or a twin-rigged ROBOI Auto Nailer.
Mighty Glacier: Rigs with the ENDAS RS-3 'Titan' heavy duty weapon are slow but hit like a freight train.
Monster Closet: There's an NPC locked in a storage cupboard in the power plant. By the time the power is back on, he's gone insane and a heavy duty Rhino rig marches out.
Screaming Warrior: They call their attacks with feral screaming and snarling.

Smelter Bot

There are many giant smelting machines scattered throughout the CREO complex. Like most things caught in the titular Surge, they were sent haywire and see you as a target to be terminated.

Attack Its Weak Point: The panels on either side and at the front and back are the only reliable ways to cause them damage, and only when those panels are open. The weak points actually get harder to hit on each successive bot.
Dual Boss: There's two of them next to each other at the lower sections of Central Production B. If you don't give Irina a good staff, you have to fight both at once otherwise she will have already destroyed one by the time you get there.
Giant Mook: The biggest non-boss enemies in the game.
Optional Boss: Fighting them is optional but recommended because they give out a good amount of scrap and a token needed for the Iron Maus armor.

CREO Security

CREO Echelon IX Security Forces

"Move along, there's nothing to see here."

Seemingly unaffected by the chaos going on, CREO Security forces in MG Gorgon armor stand guard over the access points to CREO ONE and the Executive Forum/Nucleus. Later, when Research and Development is breached by Warren, they leave their nest and spread out throughout the facility in an effort to find him and stop him. Understanding how big a threat Warren is, they roll out the heavy troopers in MG Cerberus gear.

Boss in Mook Clothing:
- Four are located in Central Production B. At this point, they work in pairs, fire stun shots from their shoulder cannon, take next to no damage from your strikes, and hit harder than anything you've encountered up to this point. Killing the ones outside CREO ONE gives an achievement. Killing all four and severing the correct limbs nets you the MG Gorgon armor and MG Negotiator staff. They won't respawn.
- The first MG Cerberus rig found if you try to re-open a sealed shortcut, except he respawns. You won't see another one of these guys until you make it to the Executive Forum itself.
Early-Bird Cameo: MG Gorgon rigs are standing guard at the start of the game before Warren gets his Exo-Rig, where they're non-hostile and helpful.
Elite Mook: MG Cerberus rigs are this to other security forces. Now consider how hard it is to defeat the normal officers...
Lightning Bruiser: In a game full of them, both variants of these guys stand out. At least, in the beginning.
More than Mind Control: They are seemingly unaffected by the Surge turning everyone to zombies, but they appear to be taking their orders from the mainframe and, if Irina is any indication, they're under heavy mind control to keep them in line.
Police Are Useless: More interested in gatekeeping than actually solving any problems beyond their assigned checkpoints.
Shoulder Cannon: MG Gorgon rigs have one. If it's sticking out, they will fire when you're in range, and that shot will paralyze Warren long enough for them to pummel him. You don't get this weapon when you're wearing the armor.
Sorting Algorithm of Evil: By the time Warren can take on MG Gorgon rigs in numbers, the MG Cerberus rigs start to appear. Justified, as CREO ONE has opened up and Security has dispatched the big hitters after realizing the threat Warren poses to them.

Bloodhounds

Bloodhounds/Security Bloodhounds

Three legged security robots that usually accompany CREO Security members on their patrols. Very dog-like in manner, and highly aggressive.

Attack! Attack! Attack!: If you run past most enemies, they tend not to pursue. Not so with Bloodhounds, who can and will happily chase you half-way across the facility. They also attack more frequently than other enemies.
Boss in Mook Clothing: The ones in Discarded Safety Equipment are outright lethal to anyone who explores there early on. They're still very deadly by the time they become common at Resolve Biolabs.
Demonic Spiders: Far tougher than any enemy you have encountered thus far and will remain so until you get back from Research & Development, when they're replaced with a variant that is faster, tougher, more damaging, and can stun you. Have fun!
Early-Bird Cameo: You find a bunch of non-respawning ones in the aforementioned Discarded Safety Equipment way earlier than you're intended to face them without instant death. But, after you come back from Resolve Biolabs? Try to head back to the Maglev to the starter area? Enjoy facing down the Upgraded Security variant standing between you and the Maglev.
Exclusive Enemy Equipment: Sever the tail and they drop an Ancillary Core implant, which adds six (or nine, if you get the XL version) core power to Warren's rig when slotted. Getting these from the non-respawning Bloodhounds in Discarded Safety Equipment is a key part of being able to use MG Gorgon armor before you normally could.
Glass Cannon: They attack very fast, hit extremely hard, and their most damaging attack crosses an incredible distance. But they go down quickly if you focus on their tail. Part of the trouble is actually landing a hit, as one of their most common attacks is a backwards dodge and even weapons with a huge impact score do very little to actually stagger them.
Grievous Harm with a Body: The Bloodhound weapon is the severed leg of one of these bots. The bots themselves don't drop it, you have to find it in the facility.
Meaningful Name: A spot-on designation, considering their extreme aggressiveness and persistence in trying to smash you to pieces.
No-Sell: Far more resistant to being staggered than most other enemies in the game.
Palette Swap: Security models are tougher, have a ranged attack with stun properties, and drop a better implant when you break off their tail.

ARC Welding Bot

Three-wheeled welder bots with corrupted programming. They will happily attack you with their welding arm and can be very tricky enemies to anticipate. Maddy is a red, non-hostile one of these and you will need a part from the normal variant to repair her.

Attack Its Weak Point: Its armor mitigates most damage but careful positioning can open the way to its pitifully-weak rear wheel.
Heal Thyself: A robot variant - if one of their wheels get damaged they'll stop and weld it back together.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: Very difficult if not impossible to pull off due to enemy positioning, but if they ignite their exhaust vents whilst in a gas cloud, they'll blow themselves up along with everyone around them.
Stone Wall: Can and will soak up damage to its front plate and very hard to stagger, but its attacks are easily telegraphed and dodged.
Subsystem Damage: Their wheels can be damaged thus stopping them dead in their tracks.
Weaksauce Weakness: Nearly all of their attacks hit high and can be easily avoided by ducking. Additionally doing the follow-up knee strike leaves them dazed allowing you to get a few hits in.

Maintenance Robot

Floating robots that hang out in the access ways and sewers on fixed patrol paths, presumably cleaning up the mess left behind when everyone went nuts. Has an easily-destroyed sensor arm that fires pinpoint lasers in either direct or sweeping arcs.

Bandit Mook: A variant. They don't steal from you, they scoop up any items left on the ground. Killing them and breaking the crate on their back will make the item drop again.
Failed a Spot Check: By design. They can be avoided by staying out of their spotlights. Once they see you, however, all bets are off.
Status Infliction Attack: The most dangerous attack isn't the laser, it's the freezing cloud they regularly emit that slows you down and stops your stamina regeneration. Getting close when the cloud is out is a death sentence, which isn't always easy because they love hanging in tight corridors.

Hazard Response Squad

Flamethrower/Grenade Operative

In a game of melee combat, these guys don't play by the rules and attack from range. These surprisingly sane Liquidator-armored enemies are first encountered after releasing the lockdown in Resolve Biolabs, where they announce their presence with a sudden burst of flame. More dangerous ones in Elite Hazard gear show up in Research and Development.

Attack Its Weak Point: Damaging the tank on the Flamethrower operatives causes them to blow up, killing them quickly but robbing you the chance to dismember them for scrap.
Chainsaw-Grip BFG: How they hold their weapons.
Desperation Attack: Grenade operatives will try to beat you down with their weapon if you get too close. Don't get complacent, the weapon is a huge Chainsaw-Grip BFG, the wind-up is massive, and it hurts like hell. Flamethrower units have a different one where they cause an explosion at the point they're standing.
Elite Mook: The aptly-named Elite Hazard units. They don't differ too much other than the fact they have bigger healthpools and use drones to shield themselves.
Logical Weakness: Both enemy types are completely vulnerable while reloading, which takes a good five seconds.
- Grenade operatives are rendered almost completely impotent by the Toxic Autofilter implant, which neutralizes gas damage.
- Flamethrower operatives will happily blow themselves up in gas clouds, of which there is plenty near where they are fought.
- Both enemy types are made much easier if you fight them while wearing the Liquidator set, which is the same thing they wear. The elemental resistance bonus from the set renders Warren completely immune to the gas grenades and highly resistant (though not immune to) the flamethrowers.
Mighty Glacier: Powerful, but outrageously slow. Doubly so if their armor gets boosted by a drone.
Stuff Blowing Up: If their flames hit any of the gas floating around, stand clear because it will go up in a huge explosion.
Too Dumb to Live: Flamethrower operatives are perfectly happy to attack you whilst standing right next to (or even inside) a gas cloud.
Unusable Enemy Equipment: Warren will never get the weapons from either of these enemies, only scrap.

Proteus Units

Proteus/Bloodied Proteus Test Subjects

Only by accessing the highly restricted Research and Development labs does one come across these abominations. The culmination of Gene Barrett's research, Proteus Units are humans forcibly converted into mostly-machine entities. The berserk tendencies aren't a good side-effect, but that's unlikely to stop Barrett trying to perfect the process.

Ax-Crazy: They were turned psychotic by what was done to them, and it shows as every single one is hostile to not only Warren, but Security as well. Averted once Barrett perfects the process. He remains sane after he converts himself..
Blood-Splattered Warrior: The Bloodied variant. Don't ask who's blood.
Carry a Big Stick: Their Codename: Parsifal weapons resemble futuristic maces.
Cyborg: In a game full of them, these guys are the peak.
Elite Mook: The Bloodied variant is the normal Proteus unit turned up to eleven, complete with the same kind of sliding attacks the player and the Black Cerberus use.
Glass Cannon: They hit really hard but don't take much to take down, and you may not even build up enough energy for an execution dealing with them. This isn't a good thing.
Last Chance Hit Point: The first time you kill one, it'll revive and come after you again. If you didn't lop off a limb, it'll fight even more aggressively but lose health the whole time. Kill it again to put it down permanently.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: One of the indicators (besides all the blood) that the Bloodied Proteus is more dangerous than the normal units.
Reviving Enemy: They come back to life after you take them down, even if you cut their heads off. They'll eventually die of their wounds once they do, however.
Was Once a Man: Made by plucking those that would not be missed off the streets. All that's left of them is the top half of their head.
Vader Breath: They breathe heavily all the time and the noise makes it clear it's machinery doing the work.

Chrysalis Soldier

Rigs that have been entirely subsumed into the Mind Hive of the Rogue Process . Driven by savage bloodlust, they act to protect the Utopia rocket at all costs.

Blade Below the Shoulder: They dual-wield wrist-blades called the Metamorphing Talons. You can get them yourself if you sever their arms.
Flash Step: They charge at you so quickly that they may as well be doing this. It's faster than you can perceive the motion.
Heavily Armored Mook: Played with. They have varying levels of armor on their body like any other creature, but they can move this armor around if you attack one body part too much. However, this also leaves other parts of them vulnerable to damage.
Spin Attack: Taken up to eleven, where they reach Medicopter levels of speed and whirl towards you. Thankfully it can be blocked.

Nanite Mass

Extensions of the Rogue Process , they are masses of metallic shards around a central core that guard the most sensitive areas of the Nucleus, to ensure the launch of Project Utopia.

Boss in Mook Clothing: There's only a handful of them in the game, and they all show up in the Nucleus, but they respawn and have a vast repertoire of confusing and damaging attacks.
Confusion Fu: Their tells are short and hard to notice for most of their attacks, and they can't be killed by depleting their HP like any other enemy.
Going to Give It More Energy: The only way to kill them permanently. You have to overcharge them like the circuits you've been overcharging throughout the game, disrupting their regeneration.
Heavily Armored Mook: They cannot be staggered until their armor has been shed, and even afterward you'll need a weapon with very high impact to do so.
Me's a Crowd: Upon being damaged enough, they will shed part of their outer armor, making their attacks weaker and lowering their repertoire of available attacks, but in return will spawn a smaller mass that can stab at you or grab you to keep you from moving, along with regenerating all their health. However, they can only do this once per mass.
Mighty Glacier: Not very fast, but exceptionally strong. Subverted for their melee strikes, which are surprisingly quick.
Shock and Awe: They can charge up and fire a blast of electrical energy. This leaves them rather vulnerable, as they cannot pivot during the attack.

Mascots

CREO World Mascots

Synthetic mascots used as attractions at CREO World. Like almost every other mechanical entity, they've gone totally haywire and will attack any sane individual they see. They serve as a tougher version of the twin-rigged enemies despite not actually carrying any weapons except their own claws, which Warren can 'liberate' from them.

All Your Powers Combined: Combines the attack pattern of the twin-rigged enemies with the EMP of the blaster drones and their own special laser beam attack.
Goddamned Bats: Not too hard to kill especially at later levels, but the EMP usually comes when you're in the middle of an attack chain, and it's hard to interrupt even with a heavy duty weapon.
Permanently Missable Content: The Popcorn Parade, a gang of four of these that patrols around Upper CREO World, will drop the Fiery Popcorn Pole if killed via torso dismemberment. They do not respawn, so if you fail to do so, you're not getting the weapon until New Game+.
Silliness Switch: Each of the four mascot types drops the blueprint for their headgear, which Warren can wear. The game becomes outright absurd when he's wearing a donut or a cola can on his head.

OGRE Robots

OGRE Power Robots

Hulking enemies wielding large heavy duty weapons, they're a bit different from most standard enemies in that they aren't rigs gone crazy, but corrupted humanoid robots. Many of the rules regarding fighting heavy duty enemies apply, but like all other enemies in CREO World, they have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Attack Its Weak Point: The huge power core on their back will go off if it's so much as touched. Hit it once, retreat, and BOOM.
Carry a Big Stick: This is what the Portable Omni-Assembler is, despite it being touted as a prototype mobile Medbay and Gear Station.
Goddamned Bats: They're tougher than the heavy duty enemies, and they're everywhere in Upper CREO World.
Mighty Glacier: OGREs can poise straight through Warren's heaviest attacks without so much as slowing down. Battles with them are either evade-and-counter affairs, or trying to hit it in the power core.

Crystallized Mascots

Crystallized CREO World Mascots

Synthetic mascots used as attractions at CREO World, except something's gone even more wrong. They're not just crazy, they're oozing purple, and falling to pieces, and have one abnormally long and dangerous limb...

Yep, it's our old friend the Rogue Process at it again, this time turning the funny mascot enemies into juggernauts that take a massive pounding to take down. Severing their oversized arm grants their weapon, the delightfully-named Nano-Infused Impaler.

Demonic Spiders: Huge. Tough. Fast. Can hit Warren across the arena. The only way to get any sort of advantage is to tear off their elongated arm and even then they still have a full repertoire of attacks.
Knight of Cerebus: Those funny mascots walking around? Not so funny now, are they?
Swiss-Army Weapon: To Warren, it's a staff. But to the Crystallized Mascot, the Nano-Infused Impaler is a staff, a spear, a whip, a sword...
You Will Not Evade Me: Go ahead. Run. No matter how far away you are, that elongated arm can reach you.

S&R Team

Zombified CREO Search & Rescue Team

The Search & Rescue team was en route to CREO World when the Surge struck their helicopter and sent it spiraling into the Rusty Spring Tower. As all others after the event, their implants drove them insane. They're clad in Eagle Operator armor and wield S&R Kingfisher staves or twin rigged S&R Jackdaws, rescue tools that are easily re-purposed into something remarkably lethal.

Operator Largo is/was a member of this team, and Squad Chief Helvig was their leader.

Black Comedy: After killing Helvig and tearing through their numbers, the AI in Ops will happily announce that the S&R Team is hiring to fill new vacancies.
Glass Cannon: They are the fastest human enemy in the game and they hit like a truck.
Was Once a Man: Like all the other human enemies, but these guys stand out because Operator Largo is the sole sane survivor and helpfully gives snippets of what they were like before the helicopter crash. They all seemed to be nice guys with happy families and a sense of camaraderie, judging from Rodriguez's panic on his audio log when detailing how Ops (with Largo inside) fell out of the chopper.

NEW GAME+ SPOILER

"Patchwork" Zombie

These guys start appearing after completing the game once. At first glance, they look like any other Zombie enemy, but with mismatched armor and suspiciously unique weapons. Tangle with them, however, and you'll figure out quick why they're relegated to the post-game.

Demonic Spiders: These guys run off My Rules Are Not Your Rules in a thoroughly unfair manner. Their health is almost impossibly high and their attack speed is far, far faster than anything the player can manage. Especially with heavy duty weapons.
Early-Bird Cameo: In a sense. Two appear in a sealed-off room in Abandoned Production that requires Security access. Their equipment is patchwork but unlike in New Game+ they aren't much tougher than normal enemies, their gear isn't randomized, and they respawn.
Lightning Bruiser: They make the regular Lightning Bruiser enemies look like mere Mooks.
Logical Weakness: Due to having mismatched armor, their stability tends to be low. Keeping them off-balance with heavy duty weapons or relentless attacks is key to taking them down.
Permanently Missable Content: Actually averts this from occurring in the rest of the game (beyond simply going into New Game+). They can appear with any combination of armor and non-boss weapon. The tricky part is if one will actually spawn with what you want.

Fire & Ice Enemies

Enemies from the Fire & Ice free DLC

Ten new enemies added to the game with the release of the free Fire & Ice DLC. These unique opponents replace ten previously existing common enemies throughout Central Production B, Resolve Biolabs, and Research & Development. What makes them stand out is the brand new weapons they're showcasing, and they aren't about to give them up lightly. The MG weapons have lower base damage but high elemental damage outputs and do a burst of fire damage every few hits, and the "Codename:" weapons usually increase your health by equipping them.

Always Check Behind the Chair: A couple of them replace out-of-the-way enemies that are either safely ignored or completely missed during a playthough. Examples are the MG Vulcan, behind a tank of some sort in the Circulation Tower, and the Codename: Siegfried which is in the first Resolve Biolabs greenhouse.
Elite Mook: They always come with a full set of armor and attack as aggressively as possible with their unique powerful weapon.
Flunky Boss: The MG Vigiles wielder is hiding in the dark antechamber filled with Liquidator rigs in Central Production B.
Jump Scare:
- The Codename: Zarathustra wielder replaces the Flamethrower Operative in the narrow catwalks in R&D. Players expecting a lumbering trooper up the corridor around a bend can be easily startled by the fast staff-wielding maniac who will attack them the second they walk through the door.
- The Liquidator rig with the Codename: Elise is the one that bursts out of the boxes near the Exo-Lift to Ops in Resolve Biolabs.
Permanently Missable Content: Averted. They respawn with their unique weapons just like any other enemy.

Cutting Edge enemies

Enemies from the Cutting Edge DLC

Enemies added in the second free DLC pack - each wielding an unique set of gear and weapons. As with the other DLC enemies - they replace previously existing enemies.

Carry a Big Stick: The Nano-Ward rig uses a One-Handed mace that's actually a prototype nanite manipulation tool.
Deadly Doctor: The Asclepius rigs are medical staff of the Executive Forum and they're fast and hit hard with their weapons. It's unknown if they're mad like the rest of the workers or simply working with the security forces.
Disc-One Nuke: They can be fought as early as Abandoned Production, the first area of the game, and their weapons can be looted... assuming you can actually beat them at that point.
Elite Mook: All of them are unique and generally more difficult to deal with than normal enemies. This especially goes to the ANGEL rig that's situated in the first area - he reaches Superboss levels of damage, has long combos that require dodging and can heal himself and jump you while you're fighting ANOTHER Superboss if you're careless.
Giant Mook: The ANGEL rig looks incredibly bulky thanks to his rig and it's Shoulders of Doom. Justified, as it's a spacesuit not meant for ground usage - the Exo-Rig is just strong enough to allow you to move around in it.
Permanently Missable Content: Averted as with the previous DLC enemies.
Worst Aid: The Asclepius rig's twin-rigged weapon is this weaponized. Technically it's supposed to be a surgery tool but even it's description notes it's more suited to maiming people.

Bosses

P.A.X.

Pacification Automation X

"Reboot in progress. Systems Check initialized. Error! Bypassing. Error! Bypassing. Bypass successful. Bringing primary weapon online. Primary weapon offline. Secondary systems operational."

A big stompy Walking Tank that Warren inadvertently wakes up when he reactivates the Power Plant. The first boss of the game. At least one more will show up during the Black Cerberus boss fight.

Hardcore Kill: Don't let it hit itself with its own missiles.

BFG: Has one which it trains on Warren at the start of the battle, only for it to immediately blow up in its own face, forcing it to use its blades instead.
Degraded Boss: At least one to four more shows up during the Black Cerberus boss fight. They are no less lethal and their easily baited missiles have been replaced with a hard-to-avoid cannon volley. These units are actually the fully operational ones, as the first one that makes up the boss fight is damaged and the cannon is broken. The only reason they're considered degraded is Villain Forgot to Level Grind.
Macross Missile Massacre: Damage it enough and it will launch a missile volley at you. Make sure you're underneath it when it fires, and it will hit itself.
Tactical Suicide Boss:
- Can be baited into hitting itself with its missiles, knocking it over and opening it up for massive damage. Its stupidity is justified for the first one Warren encounters, seeing as it is clearly malfunctioning in both hardware and programming when he finds it. The mint-condition ones that Black Cerebus deploys have no such excuse, though.
- If you knock off the armor plating on the legs, when it raises a leg to stomp, hit the other one. It'll fall over as though it had hit itself with the missiles. This is the key to getting the Hardcore Kill.

Warm-Up Boss: Fighting P.A.X. will teach you about dodging, positioning, and how the bosses all have a unique trick to beating them.

LU-74 "Firebug"

Another walking stomping robot with six legs and a tendency to spurt flame everywhere. The first boss encountered in Central Production B.

Hardcore Kill: Destroy all of its legs before killing it.

Attack Its Weak Point: In the second stage it has a small power core in the center which can be hit for massive damage. The hard part is getting past the flaming jets and spinning legs.
Early-Bird Cameo: You first see it (or another one) flying over Abandoned Production after you leave the Medbay for the first time.
Sequential Boss: Will start out walking and will move and attack slowly. Take out three legs and it will take to the air, becoming much faster and far more aggressive.
Wake-Up Call Boss: The second half ramps up the difficulty dramatically, keeping you on your toes. If you've been careful throughout the game, this is probably your first true test.

Big SISTER 1/3

Less of a robot and more like an entire production floor come to life. The second boss of Central Production B, fought on the second visit, and probably the one most likely to make you tear your hair out.

Hardcore Kill: Kill no more than two of the welding arms.

Interface Screw: When you get to the final stage of the boss fight and lock onto the core of Big SISTER, the camera abruptly zooms out and becomes fixed, which will make things much, much more awkward.
No OSHA Compliance: The Big SISTER machines are supposedly hardcoded to shut down immediately if a human enters the production area, but the CREO manual has no instructions for what to do if it doesn't shut down automatically.
Sequential Boss: Will start by attacking you with two long grasping arms and a laser. Defeat the arms, and the area reconfigures itself into a gauntlet of welding arms, with the spider-like core at the back. You can run past the welders, but they will attack you once you get to the core. Also, the floor is randomly electrified. Have fun!

Black Cerberus

"Lay down your weapons and come peacefully. Or don't! It's just the same to me."

Chief of Echelon IX, CREO's security forces. Fought after entering CREO One, just before entering the Executive Forum.

Hardcore Kill: Twofold! Have a P.A.X. robot blow up the two white fuel tanks with its cannon (this will also stop the reinforcements) to get three pieces of his armor. Sever his right arm for the last armor piece and weapon.

Custom Uniform: Wears MG Cerberus gear with red and white trim and a skull painting on the mask. The bonus is different too. A full set of Black Cerberus gear gives Warren a damage boost at high energy, as opposed to the defense boost from regular MG Cerberus gear.
Degraded Boss: Another one appears in the Executive Forum guarding the elevator to the Nucleus and the only thing less dangerous than the boss variant is that he's using the normal version of the MG Judge heavy duty weapon. You can actually get the base weapon from this guy if you got the v2.0 model from the boss.
Duel Boss: Take out the first P.A.X. reinforcement and make sure to blow up the white tanks, and the rest of the fight will be this.
Just You and Me and My GUARDS!: Will call in a P.A.X. robot when reduced to eighty percent health. Unless you know the trick, he will call in more for each twenty percent segment you take out. At worst, you'll be fighting four of them in succession.
- When you first arrive at the arena he is briefing a large squad of guards. If you wait until the end of his speech these extra guards will leave letting you start the fight one on one. However if you jump into the arena immediately you will get attacked by all of them at once as well as the boss (and probably get stomped pretty hard).
Lightning Bruiser: Heavily armored, heavy duty weapon, and definitely not slow.
Luck-Based Mission: Not the Black Cerberus himself, that part is a contest of skill, but getting the P.A.X. reinforcement's cannon to hit the tanks requires split-second dodging and perfect positioning otherwise the bullet will miss the tank. And if you mistime your dodge, expect to eat three rounds from being stun-locked.
Sergeant Rock: Has shades of Apone when addressing the assembled security forces. His voice even sounds similar.

SPOILER

Rogue Process

"See how they run...see how they run..."

The final boss and the reason everything's gone belly up at CREO. Fought at the end of the Nucleus.

Hardcore Kill: Sever its right arm.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Grew so advanced it became sentient and launched a plot to convert the remaining 5% of the world's population into cyborgs after Utopia wiped out the rest.
Anti-Villain: The Rogue Process itself isn't inherently malicious, but its creation involved it experiencing the pain and terror of everyone in the CREO network when the Surge was unleashed, resulting in a violent gestalt entity made up of the minds of everyone who died or went insane coupled with the intelligence of the Utopia nanotech.
Apologetic Attacker: On its last legs and realizing it is likely going to lose, it apologizes, but says that it doesn't want to die, as you're the only thing standing between it and freedom.
The Assimilator: Every individual it absorbs becomes part of its Mind Hive. Lawrence Murphy's logs explain the process behind it in as-he's-experiencing-it levels of detail.
Big Bad: The reason everything went to hell at the CREO facility. It's all but outright said that the Rogue Process is subverting everything connected to the CREO network, which is why every robot is hostile, the insane workers seem to be defending strategic locations, and CREO security is actively trying to stop Warren from reaching the Board and preventing the Utopia launch.
Meat Moss: More of a nanite moss, but the implication is the same. The stuff is everywhere in the Nucleus, spreading from the Rogue Process at the Utopia launch pad. The corruption is so complete that the area where you fight the Rogue Process is named //DATA CHECKSUM FAIL.
Mind Hive: Speaks with the voices of Lawrence Murphy, Don Hackett, Gene Barrett, Melissa Chavez, some CREO Security members, the guy in the Golden Ticket audio log from the very start of the game, Sally, and Maddy. Murphy's audio logs indicate that it was created from not just the Utopia nanites and Barrett's nanotech cybernetics, but also the minds of everyone linked into the CREO neural network.
Nanomachines: It's a self-aware nanotech originating from Dr. Barrett's research into Utopia and the Proteus cyborgs that grew far too advanced and intelligent, converting humans and machines it infects and transforming them into new lifeforms.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The titular event was set off by the Rogue Process to take over the facility and launch Utopia. It also put Warren in a prime position to fight his way to the Rogue Process and take it down/stop the virus.
- The titular Surge itself was a direct response by the Rogue Process when it seemed like the CREO Board was split on the vote to launch Utopia. The moment a majority of votes were passed by the Board to launch Utopia, the Surge occurred, frying the minds of most of the workers and killing seven of the eight Board members. However, the last surviving Board member was incapacitated but not killed, which prevented the vote from going through until Warren gets to the boardroom. In effect, the Rogue Process tried to force the launch, which gave Warren the time he needed to get to the Nucleus and stop it.
Sequential Boss: Starts off as a giant crab thing, then transforms into a more humanoid shape for the final showdown.
Villainous Legacy: By the time of The Surge 2, the Rogue Process no longer exists thanks to the efforts of Warren and Dr. Chavez, but the Utopia nanites themselves are still active and wrecking havok as they spread mindlessly. They end up latching onto Athena and using her as a sort of guiding control system, and both A.I.D and the Children of the Spark are dedicated to taking control of the swarm inhabiting Jericho City.
Was Once a Man: It's implied that Lawrence Murphy was patient zero for the AI's creation judging from his audio logs, and much of the Process' personality comes from assimilating the minds of the people linked in the CREO network.
Walking Spoiler: It's presence is only first implied when Warren finds the Board.

Squad Chief Helvig

A former rescue unit chief flying in on-board a now-crashed helicopter for Search & Rescue operations when the titular Surge hit and driven completely insane as a result, Squad Chief Helvig waits for you near the downed helicopter at the Rusty Spring Tower. He was Largo's boss before the events of the game.

Hardcore Kill: Sever his right arm. Seeing a pattern yet?

Ax-Crazy: Like everyone else. The description of Helvig's Kingfisher outright states that he killed all his former comrades himself.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: His bosses knew something was going to happen and gave him secret orders to deal with it. They didn't fully anticipate the scope of the event, though.
Duel Boss: Helvig is the most mechanically straightforward boss fight, with no flashy tactics required and only a single stage to the battle. It's just you, him, and a bridge of rubble and pools of sludge as your battleground.
Establishing Character Moment: First seen impaling a RIG before casting it aside and moving on to you.
Lightning Bruiser: In a game full of them. He's even faster than the Black Cerberus, hits just as hard, and has the health bar to match.
Pre-Insanity Reveal: Played with, in that it's not much of a stretch to assume that Helvig's gone nuts, and the game doesn't really dip into people's psyches prior to everything going to hell. When Largo asks you to find the chopper that had him on-board to see if he's still alive, he's also explaining that Helvig was a family man, as were most of his team.

Carbon Cat

One of the three main merchandising characters for CREO World, along with Iron MAUS and Rusty Rat. Carbon Cat was historically the antagonist of the other two, and a foul-tempered mascot robot was built to represent him. Of course, with everything going crazy, that foul temper would give way to homicidal insanity and what he was programmed to pretend eventually became his true goal. He will not rest until Iron MAUS and Rusty Rat are dead!

Hardcore Kill: Defeat him in the Iron MAUS costume.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Averted. Being infected by the Rogue Process and made sentient hasn't stopped him from following his programming. His programming just involves killing Iron MAUS and Rusty Rat, and it's not pretend anymore.
Arch-Enemy: To Iron MAUS. He details it in the audio logs he leaves behind. Catching on to this and providing him with that showdown will fulfill the Hardcore Kill condition.
Card-Carrying Villain: Carries the most personality of the bosses, after the Black Cerberus. Becoming sentient only blurred the lines between script and reality. Now, instead of pretending to be a giant cat out to defeat its hated nemesis, it IS a giant robot cat out to defeat its nemesis. It tries to kill Rusty Rat by chaining him to a rocket and strapping a comically huge amount of volatile power cores around him.
Defeat Equals Explosion: Blows up pretty impressively, compared to the other bosses who just shut down.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: While comically expressing the desire to kill Iron MAUS and having a scheme to kill Rusty Rat not far off from strapping him to train tracks, Carbon Cat's first truly homicidal act was to bite the head off of a child that wanted his autograph. You get to hear the father's traumatized account of it.
One-Winged Angel: His first form is humanoid with the ability to throw some crates around, but his second is a massive juggernaut with huge reach and bigger damage.

Characters / The Surge

Edit Locked