This is a pleasant surprise: The Surge is taking Dark Souls' gameplay and turning it sci-fi. Apparently announced eons ago, this is the first your humble host has seen of Deck 13's latest, and while it obviously lacks the artistic panache of a From Software release, the gameplay loop's looking strong – even if the obligatory emphasis on crafting has caused us to roll our eyes just a touch.

The game's set in a dystopian future, and sees you equipped with a CREO exo-suit. You can use parts that you salvage from enemies to upgrade your robotic outfit, augmenting yourself with combative and armour upgrades that best suit your playstyle. Of course, the combat is the chief appeal – it's all melee-based, and definitely has the slow, methodical pace of the Souls series.

There's about 15 minutes of gameplay embedded above, which shows off the core combat loop across a couple of minor boss bouts. Those paying extra attention may also notice that the button prompts change between a DualShock 4 and an Xbox controller depending on the circumstance, so we've no idea which platform this footage was captured on. PC, perhaps?

[source blog.eu.playstation.com]