The best open-world games

The Surge featured a novel limb-targeting system and interesting streamlined take on a Souls-like experience, but its world was drab, and areas blended together because of the large industrial complex setting. For The Surge 2, Deck13 took the action into a nearby city with much more variety. Giant forests, museums, corporate facilities, shopping centers, and even waterside depots are all included in the world, and it still manages to fold in on itself — sections you reach hours into the game will reveal themselves to be right next to much earlier areas. What didn’t need to change was the combat, and it remains as tight and intense as ever. Players can choose from even more weapons, many found by defeating powerful bosses, and the game’s later stages kick up the difficulty considerably and test every move at players’ disposal.