In a lot of ways The Surge 2 reminds me a lot of Borderlands 2 and how I feel about that game.
They did a good job removing some of the most annoying parts of the first game, but losing something along the way.
There is just something about this game that didn't make it anywhere near as good as the first game.

The world is simultaneously more colorful but also more drab then Surge 1, you see graffiti everywhere and the commercial signs are super colorful, there is even a whole forest area. But look through the cracks of color and it's just grey concrete everywhere else. The lighting, bloom and gamma are beyond messed up and I had to resort to using Nvidias built in reshaders to try and tone down the overly bright bloom literally everywhere.
Even with trying to make the game a little more easy on the eyes the game from a graphical standpoint is a major step below the original overall.

There are fewer unique bosses compared to Surge 1 and of the few new types that isn't just a human variant; only the first boss comes close to anything Surge 1 did.

I might be remembering wrong but the size of the average area in Surge 1 felt way larger then any given area in Surge 2.
The world here just feels super small and it get's even smaller the further you get despite taking place in a whole city. (compared to the single facility in Surge 1)

While Surge 1 had a very small selection of npc's, the few that was there where pretty memorable and often a big driving force in the story.
Surge 2 has so many new npc's but not a single one feels anywhere near as impactful compared to a single other person in 1.

On that note the worldbuilding sucks in Surge 2.
Surge 1's story was played very seriously and the npc's where also very serious (not counting the dlc which where as silly as 2) which made the world feel very real and believable. Surge 1's world in essence is a very depressing sci-fi world not too far in the future which made it stand out and I still remember it years later very well.

Surge 2's world is filled with nothing but jokesters who don't act like real people or seem to have any sense of self preservation. Seriously everyone acts like a complete psychopath and it is very hard to get invested or take anything serious.
The story aswell just pales in comparison to Surge 1.

Lastly just wanted to say the build variety is just awful, there is way fewer implants and implant slots. (it's seriously like less then half of what Surge 1 had)
The armor bonuses are also so much worse then Surge 1 and you'd be very hard-pressed to find a set that matches your preferred playstyle with bonuses that have any meaningful impact on gameplay.
The only improvement is more weapons and weapon types (double duty is super fun)

Overall it being near identical in gameplay to Surge 1 means it is still fun to play and all.
But it just feels like a soul-less version of Surge 1 every step of the way sadly.

no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ map that u can open anytime and show u where u are, got trap in the AID, the second denver did not show up. the game did not tell u what u should do. run around getting nothing, my game stuck at AID, eventhou I like the mechanics of this game, but for me this game is fckg unplayable.

Well mad soulslike