8 Overlooked Video Games With Groundbreaking Mechanics

8. Experience Multiplies When You Don't Save - The Surge 1 & 2

When it comes to being a Dark Souls clone, you need to make sure that you have at least one gimmick that sets you apart enough that you can lean heavily on it across the marketing and that your fans can point to it when others critique your experience as aping the original.

For The Surge, many thought that its gimmick was that it was a Sci-fi take on Souls, pushing the hard-as-nails combat, but doing so through a kaleidoscope of robotic enemies, exoskeleton upgrades, and big beefy tech weapons. However in reality, the true star of the show, and a mechanic that really deserved more love was how it approached the concept of gaining experience.

In most games of this ilk, you get a set number of XP per enemy you kill, but in The Surge and its sequel, the longer you stay in the field, the more experience points, resources and loot the enemies drop, meaning you're rewarded for staying in the danger zone as long as possible.

This risk/reward system is then bolstered by the fact that if you die, you're still able to get back your treasure, but only have a finite amount of time to do so, meaning that you're going to be rushing in order to get back to your shallow grave.

All of this combined into a frantic and thoroughly tense affair that really did set it apart from its peers.