Watch 15 minutes of sci-fi zombie beatdowns in a new trailer for The Surge

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Focus Home Interactive has released a new 15-minute gameplay trailer for The Surge, "a hardcore action-RPG with a focus on tactical melee combat." The video showcases plenty of bone-breaking brawls, but also gets into the game's conversation and scavenging systems.

"Combat in The Surge doesn't use 'light' and 'heavy' attacks, but rather horizontal and vertical attacks. The reason for that is because we can target specific body parts of our enemies," Adam Hetenyi, the head of game design at developer Deck 13 Interactive, explains in the video. He then demonstrates the principle—or rather, has his underlying do so—by hammering an unarmored part of an enemy (his head, I think) and then connecting much less effectively with an armored bit.

But it's not all about the fighting. "In The Surge you'll be able to find and interact with a number of NPCs. Some of them you'll be able to help, others will be able to help you," Hetenyi says. "In either case you'll be able to speak with them to find out more about what's going on at CREO." That's the shadowy company whose industrial/RND complex you'll be tromping through as you work to figure out what's gone wrong.

Still, fighting is clearly the name of the game here. The demo may be meant to show off The Surge's narrative elements, but that basically amounts to a suspiciously Janice Polito-sounding disembodied voice copping an attitude and then serving up a fetch quest: Not exactly the height of storytelling nuance. On the other hand, that's not really what we're here for, is it?

The Surge is expected to be out later this year. Find out more at thesurge-game.com.

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.