The Surge is getting a demo next week

The future-apocalypse action-RPG The Surge is a flawed but interesting game: "Dark Souls in a junkyard," as we called it in our review, although lacking in some of the touches and polish that make Dark Souls stand out. A solid 60/100 review score is a tough place for a game to be, especially one that costs $50. It's too good to easily ignore, but a hard buy at the price without trying it first. So Deck13 and Focus Home Interactive have come up with a plan. A demo!

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Focus Home said the demo will be "the same" as the full game and confirmed that it's based on "a pretty new build," and although that was in reference to the PS4 Pro version I think it's fair to assume that it applies to the PC demo as well. That means it should include post-launch updates including an FOV slider, an increased number of save slots, personalized music, an improved evade mechanic (that one just came around yesterday), and a slew of bug fixes. And as I often like to point out when these things up come, hey, it's free. 

A solid release date hasn't been announced, so keep your eyes open if you want to give it a try. (Hey, it's free.) And for those of you already into The Surge, Focus Home also confirmed that DLC is in the works and is expected to be ready for the end of the year.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.