The Surge: When Science Fiction is Science Fact (Lore, Themes & Analysis)

I've wanted to talk about The Surge for a while now, I think it needs more attention than it gets, aside from being a really good game, it's also a really subtle one in terms of pointing out issues that affect our world today.
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[@Deck13]

Great video! Not many were able to carve out these themes like you did. Without confirming specific points, we can generally say that you were able to land some hits :D

[@CoD7Vietnam]

Amazing game, I can't get enough of it. I love the mystery of what happened at CREO. I'm taking it very slow to make sure I take everything in :) can't wait for the Surge 2 and 3 (hopefully :D )

[@brendanmonshall9834]

Did the devs actually comment on this? Sik.

[@aesiro1336]

Congratulations, you fucking broke me 😭.

[@Tom_Fuckery]

@Deck13 As a fan who can't stop annoying others about this series, I hope you guys are able to make a third part with your themes intact. Potentially a cyber-lovecraft Color Out of Space/Things from the Flood setting considering the ending of the second part 👀Athena's plan has me so curious. I don't care what sales or reviews say, this game reinvigorated my love of science fiction and ambient storytelling and I hope we get to see more. You all did a phenomenal job! Now...... time for Highrise City

[@woogha]

This is why I love Deck13.

[@RadSco]

Another great and tragic character story you could cover is that of Don Hackett, CREO's head of PR. He begins the game a genuine believer of the CREO family and Jonah's vision to save humanity, even being reluctantly willing to help cover up some of CREO's failings (in the PR message at the train station to the Resolve Biolabs he audibly winces at the "We at CREO have never had anything more than a... _stubbed toe_!" line, moreso when you notice the *suicide discouragement notices* on the bridges in Central Production B). But as Jonah's mental breakdowns intensified until he was removed, and Don was forced to interview other executive board members (the murderous Greene who creeped Don out into cutting the interview short, and the humble Bonham who restored some of Don's faith in humanity). Realizing something was amiss he used his journalistic skills and snooped under the noses of CREO's security (who went out of their way to beat a researcher to death in the nanite-infested Nucleus for warning her family to flee to their uncle's shelter), finding about the horrific truth of Project Utopia and Barrett's Homo Machinalis pet project. When the Surge happened he was trapped in his studio with no way out, and with nothing left to lose he chose to die a human and hung himself, but not before making a final recording: Revealing that he is married to a Rheanne Hackett with a daughter Jewel, and how he sacrificed all the time he could have spent with them for the CREO vision he genuinely believed in, because he truly wanted to make the world a better place for them and for them to be proud of him. The great tragedy of Don's story was how he started off as a vision of hope and idealism for CREO, slowly turning into despair before finally taking his own life as his one final act as a free human. Even sadder is that there is no player ability to save him - had Warren reached him in time, the hope of making it out alive would have changed his mind from hopping the noose.

[@visitor5451]

this is why i love the Surge. its one of the most topical cyberpunk stories ever. it's very, fiercely political in a way i was shocked to see from a soulslike game.

[@GuardianOwl]

A little more about the driving force to get the Rig is mentioned in the Creoworld DLC, it was very much Warren that was pushing for it, and he became a little obsessed with walking again after his accident sent him into a depression. His girlfriend was against it since CREO basically owns you after the procedure. Given her horror and hesitance on her part at his decision to become a CREO lumberjack and that it was months after the accident before he acted, I'm not sure the only choice in this society are put on the rig or die. Another piece of information we learn in the DLC is the lumberjack CREO rig program (what Warren was applying for) is exclusively for people who have lost the ability to walk. That would almost seem to indicate the opposite, that CREO has to prey on the hopes of people who want to walk again in order to fill out their rig work force.

[@RadSco]

There's another theme the Surge subtly touches on: The concept of God and religion as a man-made construct. The audio log beside Don's corpse has dialogue from Jonah, where he talks about how technology has become so advanced that it's bordering on the divine - "Ascension is not in the power of the divine, but rather here in the machine." When you speak to Dr. Chavez about Utopia, she mocks it without elaborating what it really is with the line "Gods are meant to create, not to destroy..." - which, is a line the Rogue Process repeats to Warren during its boss battle. The gargantuan size of the CREO megaplex from its fathomless depths to its towering skyscrapers evoke a biblical sense of a Tower of Babel, reaching the Heavens in the arrogance of Jonah and several of the board members. In the end, they thought they were reaching and achieving Heaven, when rather in their impatience for results and glory (Jonah's obsession for a legacy) they instead flew too close to the sun like the story of Icarus. *Multiple times*. And now the world will burn for it under a hail of nanites.

[@sliphstream4927]

Don't forget Alex Norris! His story is interesting. You can help him find his daughter Maddie who you find out is a robot with AI. It believes that it acually is a small girl. Norris loves the bot as if it was a real person, very much in the theme of "how do you define life?" The really heartbreaking part is that when you do find maddie hiding in Norris's office you can see a picture of a little girl on the counter. It could be inferred that his real daughter died and he made this Maddie-bot to deal with the grief. (Also, Norris doesn't have a rig!)

[@NikoTeaJay]

Norris, Chavez and Barrett all seem to be quite normal when you first meet them. Makes sense in a way. Manual laborers need rigs, science staff less so.

[@Fr0stbite1801]

This is the reason I love the cyberpunk genre. 2 very common themes for the genre are AI and transhumanism, and the operative question is the same for both themes: How human is human enough?

[@RadSco]

1) Warren's motivations to join CREO was actually fully revealed in A Walk in the Park DLC; losing the function of his legs reduced him to a shell of his former self, and it was after a second trip to CREO World, a place of fond memories, and seeing the Lumberjack show where the power of EXO rigs were demonstrated that he realized that joining CREO was the way to get his legs back. To the point of even ignoring the warnings from Elizabeth, his girlfriend. 2) The theme of discrimination against someone who refuses to augment is also covered in the game - there's an audio log where someone complained about a worker who refused to rig up and get augmented despite how much easier it'd make his job, and the speaker made clear an intention to replace this worker.

[@Walamonga1313]

It is a lesser game for sure. But that doesn't mean much, when it's compared to the pinnacle of gaming. The Surge is still a good game. Massive improvement over Lords of the Fallen too. I liked the atmosphere and lore in this game more than I thought. Recently played Bioshock 1 and 2, The Surge gave me a similar vibe too. Speaking of that, I've always loved horror, even when it's not the core focus. These games have that tinge of horror that really gets me invested. I'm right at the end kf the game, couldn't bother to find all the audiologs and such but I wanted to know more so here I am watching this video.

[@BadnikMechanic]

I'm just happy the game still has new players discovering it!

[@lostgurureboot]

Great analysis of the parallels the game draws to modern socio-economic issues! I don't know if the first conclusion I would leap to for the glitching screens in the train would be that it's a simulation. The first thing that came to mind was that the train was just part of the CREO "guided tour" that new arrivals would see when pulling into the station, showing them a panning shot CREO facilities. Or maybe it's a shot of what the view would have been like if they weren't in a tunnel pulling into the station.

[@darrenmatthewdeguzman8095]

I know this is a little late to the party, but to support the simulation theory, one of the CREO ads that plays talks about the DTs (Dream Tour System) which was a neurolink that let's the CREO workers go and do anything they desire in their minds, effectively an incentive to never leave the CREO facility or take time off. It is possible that the whole game is a DTs simulation and the actual solution to saving humanity was to put everyone under DTs like Infinite Tsukyomi. Another take could be running disaster simulations to figure out how to avoid the whole calamity, hence tying in death and New Game Plus into the lore as the player keeps repeating until they are victorious.

[@amsterdamG2G]

🤔interesting

[@MsSmellybob]

The surge is incredible. INCREDIBLE.

[@alexrogers9051]

The Surge games have a special place in my gaming heart.

[@thirteenfox4948]

Wheres ur surge 2 video!? Awesoome video btw

[@alexrogers9051]

I noticed the train glitch on my most recent playthrough…I was like huh that’s weird but didn’t think anything else of it.

[@magic666z]

27:51 I have seen this when I started the game for the first time, I thought that commercials are installed in the glass of the train and they glitched out, but now when you slowed it down and explained your theory, I can see that I was wrong, this is confirming simulation and game+ blood trail is very strange, story is much bigger then we first thought, too bad that this game is underrated and we dont get more opinions on it, is it possible that we can contact developers to see what they think about it, whey did they put glitch in the train at the start and everything, maybe they will answear some fan questions?

[@PhantomBones101]

I thought we were just going under an arch way or bridge lol

[@asterr001]

Amazing content. I've been looking through countless videos that discuss the game's story, at the very least in a civilized manner, and this is the only video that does it justice. I agree with a lot of things you talk about but the one thing I disagree with is the "it's all in his head; he's fighting the nanites" theory. For the train, I believe the holograms were just to make the trip more enjoyable; nothing more, nothing less. And as for the wheelchair, I think was just a random one, as many other handicapped/disabled people also wore suits, OR just as dark, this was a false wheelchair generated by Warren. Don Hackett talks about DTs, the tour simulator that let's go anywhere in a dream-like state. I think at the end, he turns it on either completely awake or incapacitated, as a means to say he wants to go back. Go back to what is up to your interpretation, but definitely before CREO. As for New Game+? Well, at that point, you might not be too far off. Though all of this is coming from someone who hasn't played The Surge 2. All the same, AMAZING video and thank you for taking the time to look into an obscure game.

[@domonicsdaniel4497]

What I've realized after playing through the game, was kind of a more... "Into-your-face" kind of thing, but still required some thinking and hit me like a truck. So you are basically fighting machines, or at least, humans having exosuits taken over by machines. Warren might have chosen to get his rig to legitimately just be able to walk, so let's put that aside. But at the end, the message was: you have to become a machine to defeat the machines. Think about it. Even without taking the exorig into consideration, you strap metal pars, mechanical parts to yourself. Which, in the beginning, are little more than just a pneumatic exo helping people move more agile (Lynx) or granting them more strength and protection for heavier work (Rhino), but as the game progresses, these armors become more and more sophisticated. Even indistinguishable from a machine; they evolve from bulky-looking, obvious representations of just metal parts to something indistinguishable from a man-made armor, while being part-machines themselves. This side-note is to show that, as a critique of modern society, we have gone from bulky telephones taking up entire buildings to computers and mobile phones in our pocket, AIs mimicking humans, and, now, most of us can't even live without technology, and they are so elegant compared to what they looked like befoore that we take a mobile phone or an Apple Watch more for an accessory, than a machine nowadays. A basic part of our everyday life. And the armors evolve to the point where you aren't even sure if it's just an armor piece strapped to you or if it's a machine in itself (think Angel VI, or the Proteus armor).Some of them look like they are, in themselves, machines. Add to the fact that, since the game is a Soulslike, and a very punishing one at that, you basically have to learn each enemy's attack pattern, reach, damage and so on to be able to defeat them; in other words: have to play like a machine. Methodical. Calculated. Cold. In the end, you realize that, in order to defeat the machines, you, having started out as human, hoping to remain one, were STILL forced to become part-machine, just like those you've tried to defeat and riid the world of. You had no choice. And, as such, should something like this ever happen again, you, most probably, will also be taken over by the Nanites. And even if not, you are now part-machine. The ones even Warren detests and questions their chioces of getting those things installed/mounted on them. It plays to your theme of "Who are you, really/Until when you can call yourself human?" very nicely.

[@rudep3222]

I have an armor and helmet that makes Warren look like a literal robot and that made me think. Whats the difference? He is useless without the rig and armor. His real body IS useless in the Game. The only thing keeping him Alive IS the armor, rig and his mind. Not hid body. Evolvimg into a machines makes lots of sense

[@user-fo2ul3qc5f]

Goddamn, you earned a sub, my friend...absolute best lore video I've enjoyed for a long time, keep it up

[@BadnikMechanic]

@@user-fo2ul3qc5f Thank you! I do intend to eventually leave just doing sonic stuff lol

[@dwhite8005]

I bought this game a few days ago, I'm watching this video after beating the second boss. Being a From Software veteran and having extensive experience in everything but Demon Souls, I must say; Damb I wish you had been making videos when Dark Souls got remastered.

[@RelativelyBest]

Honestly, if I meet a holographic woman in a sci-fi game, I'm just generally going to assume that she's an AI until proven otherwise. Holographic women are basically shorthand for artificial intelligence these days.

[@Gammalification]

I've never though much of the story but presented as it is, something went wrong with the nanites and turned everybody crazy. But one weird little thing make me stop on my tracks, the final boss, the Rogue Process, calls you "Uncle Warren", like you are the predecessor, or related to them. Why the hell called you Uncle Warren. Now in NG+ i'm catching up more details, and holy shit I don't know what to think. The Liberator, The white rabbit audiologs, only Warren's sedation failed or it was like that for everyone? The inhuman treatment of the exosuit workers... The story has more meat that what i though.

[@Shad0wmoses]

you know i think that might be the voice of Maddy, the robot daughter you can find after Alec begs for your help. She calls you uncle warren if you decide to help her. it's quite a sad side quest. now that i know rogue process says that, its going to hurt a tad bit more now.

[@RadSco]

There's one more theme you left out, one shown in the ending, which easily conveys the most important message: First off I need to clarify: Warren wasn't knocked unconscious by the "last" utopia rocket - that was the very first utopia launch right after the defeat of the Rogue Process. That said, the symbolism is important: The game begins with a rocket launch in the far distance in the safety and comfort of a tram, and it ends with another rocket launch right up close and personal after great trial and tribulations. It's a testament of mankind's achievements, how we've taken it all for granted from the safety and comfort of distance when how dangerous it truly can be. Here's the most important thing: That EXO-Rig Warren wears? That lets him walk around? That gives us the ability to do great acts of strength and agility, that we gradually take for granted as we play the game? It's fried from the blastwave and the concussion damage taken from the rocket launch and no longer works. Now it's nothing more than a **steel weight** that occasionally sparks electricity, serving no other purpose than to drag and weigh Warren down. But he doesn't let it stop him - he slowly drags himself away... ...And he doesn't just go anywhere - he goes all the way back to the very first OPs in the recruitment center, **back to where it all began** - where he abandoned his wheelchair. The symbolism is as such: **When steel and technology fails us, it will fall back to none other than what we were born with, our flesh, muscle and the most basic instinct: the desire to live, to carry us through.**

[@RobertSmith-mr2nk]

I think this a SP00KY GAME

[@flamesnipr1213]

when i saw gameplay of this game back in my sophomore year of high school it looked pretty cool, unfortunately i did see much game play of it cause people stopped playing it. but i do have the 2nd game so im watching this to get caught up before i play

[@mecca6801]

great observation

[@diegoaespitia]

love this game. mostly cause the atmosphere is so cool. im a big DS fan too. been playing Surge 2, i think Surge 2 is way better. they do a lot more with the weapons, combat etc. i enjoyed these games more than the Dark Souls series except prob DS1. that is the best one

[@wuuduu609]

Surge 1 and Surge 2 are both perfect games, and their stories are awesome

[@m3m3y_]

I got the surge for free with ps plus a few months ago

[@VeryCrunchyPretzels]

I literally cannot wait this long

[@drq8138]

You are really good at this content. New fan!

[@BadnikMechanic]

Thank you. Hoping to do more videos like this in the coming months.

[@pillarmenn1936]

While the simulation theory sounds nice, it gets trashed with Surge 2. Chances are the blood trail is just an easter egg, combat ability could very well be just gameplay or something downloaded to the Exo and the "simulation glitch" looks like its still going through a tunnel since you can briefly see it passing by frames and the train's appearance alone shows its a lot faster than most modern trains. other than that though I enjoyed the video immensely. I'm wondering if you plan on making a Surge 2 video

[@BadnikMechanic]

I do own the sequel. But I've not played it yet. I may do something on it sometime but it may not be for a very long time since I have other projects planned.

[@_The_Black_Cerberus_]

I love the surge but it has a huge problem with every NG+ play through the enemies just get way harder and harder I have a save on NG+ 5 and I can’t get through the last area the Nucleus the Nanobeasts can one shot me with both melee and range attacks

[@joshproductions07]

It’s my birthday today

[@KrazyKrzysztof]

damn good analysis. every souls player should play the surge

[@stevenguitink5947]

As much as I love the Surge games - particularly 2 - I think that lack of elegance you mentioned is sadly why this game gets overlooked.

[@hundkebab2433]

1:20 bro what? there are no other analysis videos since barely anyone played or cared about this, why you cappin?

[@comradecatbug5289]

My thoughts exactly. Skill up and Shammy are the only channels that gave it some attention.

[@rafael357]

I guess you meant Lords Of The Fallen 2 😅

[@Niko-br9ql]

i hate how warren was subject to a side character in the surge 2. Even though he didn't have much character development in the first game it was still something they could have built upon. Idk what they thought we would gain from a character creator in the second game. Pink hair and a silent protagonist who shows even less emotion and character motivation at all.

[@AugerHybrid]

If Half Life had been RPG.

[@BadnikMechanic]

... .. ... Hmmmm Nearly. But... yeah I can see that.

[@zig8925]

Outer worlds is probably gonna be what fallout 76 should have been

[@Yetersiz_Bakiye_Kulubu]

The game was half baked. Didn't give it a shot when it first came out, it was inferior to SoulsBorne games. But just finished it 30 min ago. Although I immidiately suspected Sally being an AI (yes, I am that kind of man) , I didn't notice the glitch in the train. Maybe it was an artistic license to just to make this kind of speculation, I don't know. But its cynical approach to work aside (I loved it by the way), I don't find the lore deep enough. I also didn't like the gameplay design and level design. Level design especially, going through hell and back to just open a new door to where you just started. Not everything can hit like Dark Souls - Fire Shrine moment when you realize the world is all connected there. Nice video, ok game.

[@DijaVlogsGames]

Sorry that nobody watches your video like this, but you‘re a Sonic KZbinr now. Sorry, bro. It‘s truly the worst timeline.

[@sheercold26]

I dont like how ugly the main character is

[@SnowWolf2150]

So what was the big revelation of the wheelchair at the end of the video? Cause I didn't quite understand that part.

[@MrRetroGeek]

Great Video Dave! From the two times I've watched this video (on Patreon and youtube), I've learnt so much about the story. I'll definetly play the sequel when it comes out. Great video!

[@williambaker4915]

Sally actually says that she is medical staff assigned to the executive form. This happens when you first come to the central production b.

[@EvelynLobell]

This was fascinating, some of it seemed like a stretch but you kept coming right back with the goods. Your conclusion about the train was half baked, for example. They're in the desert. The train runs underground but it projects a nice outdoorsy view because it's for people who live at their shitty dystopian factory job and Creo would rather keep suicides to a minimum. Take it from Don Hackett who said it bes- Oof. Okay bad example... Anyway, great job. I'm sure this took a lot of work, I've never watched a lore video or podcast before but I'm going to keep looking them up 'cause this was intriguing.

[@machomanalexyt5736]

The last few minutes of the video was too "*hits blunt*" for me. kinda makes this game seem like Matrix 3

[@marcomaureira]

this video was so good! i kinda want the game now (when i get money), tbh i think that just like when the industrial revolution happened, the human race will just go for different jobs and will get different capacitations on other work areas instead of being render useless (before the industrial revolution great part of countries were farmers yet they still were able to pick up other work forces like factories)

[@K4t4kis]

Great video, very interesting to watch! Looking really forward to the second game analysis!

[@Ebiru2387]

I really enjoy this game...but hate how much it crashes!

[@Cypeq]

This is short video on how to get subscriber with just one video. Good stuff man, well thought out.

[@mateusbarbosa9921]

Oh... i killed that bald scientist... shiiiii... i think i'll need to replay the entire canpain again...

[@aesiro1336]

This game broke me. Am I the only one who cried at the fates of Mallory Stark and Don? Please, I need someone to sympathize with.

[@Fr0stbite1801]

Dude when I got to the exec floor and saw what happened to Don I was shook so hard. And seeing that video message he left, what a depressing game. In the end Warren was the only one who escaped that walking nightmare.

[@aesiro1336]

@@Fr0stbite1801 Yeah...

[@travis51killer01]

about the final theorys of Warren being death and so.... how it ties in to the sequel? He appears hunting down the nanites

[@hinnelia23]

Funny thing I like souls-likes more then fromsoft made souls games at least the 4 I’ve played being The Surge 1&2,Code Vein and Ashen and I don’t normally like brutally hard games but these ones have something special that makes me love playing them over the fromsoft games

[@Shad0wmoses]

i was surprised by the presentation a bit. After having played other souls like games like Remnant i was expecting rough around the edges cutscenes and graphics. but this is solid through out. the cgi cutscenes were great, voice acting decent, setting atmospheric (altho a tad overkill with vents and unneeded shortcuts), and the story was creepy, sad, and ultimately very interesting. I'm particularly taken aback by the twist with Sally although i felt it could have had an additional final moment of conversation with her. It actually gave me a bit of system shock 2 vibes as well.

[@RobertSmith-mr2nk]

Nobody Badnik Mechanic: video game time

[@danielcordero4070]

What an awesome video, at first I didn't wanted to see it cuz "Not sonic lol" but This game looks really really interesting. This will easily enter in my "Favorite Videos" list

[@BadnikMechanic]

Glad you enjoyed it! Wish others would give it a chance!

[@Mestari1Gaming]

I still love the Surge 1 and 2! ❤⚡

[@oberstul1941]

Nice, good analysis. Sadly, it's mostly deconstructed in the sequel, which makes Warren pretty real, makes one ending canonical and invents a new exo rig that doesn't need to be surgically implanted - maybe they had a new creative director? Cheers!

[@TheKopfstand]

Great Review. TBH the best.

[@charaznable8072]

The first one was pretty good but the second one is my favorite soulslike.