The more I read about/see this game the harder it is not to pick it up now (have too big of a backlog including Shadow of the Erd Tree and Lords of the Fallen). I'm fine with a linear experience, sometimes it's a nice change of pace from the sprawling open worlds (that are often bloated).

I agree on the Surge - both 1&2 were a nice sci-fi take on the Souls combat system. With the futuristic environments, certain traversal methods (ziplines, etc) made sense thematically and added a good amount of verticality to the levels. The loot system where you had to target/slice off specific parts to make them drop was a fun challenge, how to secure the item that I wanted without getting killed in the process.

Back to Lies of P - when I first heard the Pinochio story idea, I wasn't sure how it'd play out, but the overall vibe and atmosphere looks fantastic. I'll eventually pick this up and play it.