TheRetroArcade
Veteran
Posts: 2,005
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
Samson has a great premise, but the new footage leaves me with concerns.
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For the last couple years, I've been desperately craving a good open-city game, the kind that arrived with such regularity in the Xbox 360 era that we foolishly took them for granted. Yes, I know that Grand Theft Auto 6 is due to launch later this year. But I'm after something more arcadey and knockabout, like Watch Dogs or Sleeping Dogs or something else about car chases with 'Dogs' in the title.
I'd hoped that MindsEye would be that game, and clung to that hope right up until release. Sadly, all the scepticism around it proved justified, and MindsEye was nowhere near ready when it released in May last year.
My eyes then turned to Samson, an open-city game developed by Liquid Swords, founded by Just Cause creator Cristofer Sundberg. It puts you in the role of the titular Samson, who returns to his home city of Tyndalston with a large debt hanging over his head, one he intends to settle by hook or by crook (mostly crook).
Samson is, I should point out, not aiming to be as grand a project as MindsEye, and definitely not as big as a modern Grand Theft Auto. While the city is (mostly) freely driveable, it's designed to have a much tighter loop than GTA, with its creators stating they are "trying to pursue fewer things" than Rockstar.
Said loop works like this: each in-game day, you have to meet a daily quota of cash earned, otherwise the interest on the debt you owe will go up. It couples this with an "action points" system limiting the number of missions you can take on. Combined, these systems are designed to push you into making quick decisions and living with the consequences, a pressure intended to push you into chaotic car chases and fistfights.
I also like Samson's general aesthetic, blending a dilapidated industrial cityscape with grunting muscle cars. It immediately has a much stronger, more grounded identity than MindsEye, which fell flat with its vague blend of Las Vegas and Silicon Valley.
Samson sounds great on paper. But the recently published gameplay trailer left me unconvinced. The cars look fun enough to drive, as you'd expect from the director of 2015's underrated Mad Max spinoff. But the brawling combat looks ropey as hell. Several scenes show enemies using the exact same attack in sequence, and it just doesn't look like it has a whole lot of style or ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
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Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
For the last couple years, I've been desperately craving a good open-city game, the kind that arrived with such regularity in the Xbox 360 era that we foolishly took them for granted. Yes, I know that Grand Theft Auto 6 is due to launch later this year. But I'm after something more arcadey and knockabout, like Watch Dogs or Sleeping Dogs or something else about car chases with 'Dogs' in the title.
I'd hoped that MindsEye would be that game, and clung to that hope right up until release. Sadly, all the scepticism around it proved justified, and MindsEye was nowhere near ready when it released in May last year.
My eyes then turned to Samson, an open-city game developed by Liquid Swords, founded by Just Cause creator Cristofer Sundberg. It puts you in the role of the titular Samson, who returns to his home city of Tyndalston with a large debt hanging over his head, one he intends to settle by hook or by crook (mostly crook).
Samson is, I should point out, not aiming to be as grand a project as MindsEye, and definitely not as big as a modern Grand Theft Auto. While the city is (mostly) freely driveable, it's designed to have a much tighter loop than GTA, with its creators stating they are "trying to pursue fewer things" than Rockstar.
Said loop works like this: each in-game day, you have to meet a daily quota of cash earned, otherwise the interest on the debt you owe will go up. It couples this with an "action points" system limiting the number of missions you can take on. Combined, these systems are designed to push you into making quick decisions and living with the consequences, a pressure intended to push you into chaotic car chases and fistfights.
I also like Samson's general aesthetic, blending a dilapidated industrial cityscape with grunting muscle cars. It immediately has a much stronger, more grounded identity than MindsEye, which fell flat with its vague blend of Las Vegas and Silicon Valley.
Samson sounds great on paper. But the recently published gameplay trailer left me unconvinced. The cars look fun enough to drive, as you'd expect from the director of 2015's underrated Mad Max spinoff. But the brawling combat looks ropey as hell. Several scenes show enemies using the exact same attack in sequence, and it just doesn't look like it has a whole lot of style or ...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?