| Samson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Overview
What is Samson?
Samson: A Tyndalston Story is a third-person action game set in the gritty city of Tyndalston, where crime, debt, and survival shape everyday life. Players follow Samson, a man forced to return to his past and face dangerous enemies while trying to settle a growing debt and fix his family. The world of Samson is available on Steam and Epic Games on April 8, 2026.
Samson features:
⚫︎ Gritty, Present Day Setting
⚫︎ Day-to-Day Event System
⚫︎ Mission Variety
⚫︎ Simple Level-Up Progression
⚫︎ Brawling Mechanics
⚫︎ Exploration and Driving
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Samson’s gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
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 Steam |
 Epic Games |
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| $24.99 | |||||
Samson Review: Inspiring Concept, Terrible Execution
Could’ve, Would’ve, Should’ve, But Never Did
Back when it was revealed, Samson was one of those games that intrigued me. Obviously, one of the big reasons was that GTA 6 wasn’t releasing anytime soon, but another is that there really aren’t many games with the same modern-day setting nowadays. On top of that, the reveal itself was really well-made, and it honestly looked good, maybe even a little too good.
Fast forward to today, when we finally have the full game, and I’m disappointed.
Disappointed, not because the game is absolutely horrible and unplayable, but because it could’ve been so much better than it is right now. It’s not like I expected the second coming of GTA or even another Max Payne, but I at least wanted something to really sink my teeth into while waiting for the eventual tsunami.
Frankly speaking, Samson has some concepts that you’ll want to see more of in the future, and even better so if they executed them better in their own game. But it just runs out of gas as the problems pile up, and it never hits the full mile. And it all starts with a narrative that ironically never pays off its debt.
Good Narrative Setup, But Never Pays Off
The game follows the titular Samson McCray, who was a well-known getaway driver in the city of Tyndalston. After taking a job that was supposed to be his big break from being a career criminal, it went sideways due to unskilled personnel. Samson was arrested, and the crimes were pinned against him, leaving him to be incarcerated for his whole sentence.
After serving his time, there was another problem: He still owed the same gang from St. Louis that contracted him for the job. His sister, Oonagh, made a deal with them to pay back everything owed with interest. The catch is that the gang wanted her as collateral, while Samson would work day and night to pay them back.
With the times changing, he has to re-establish his once-renowned name on the dirty streets of Tyndalston, not only to pay his dues but also to reclaim the city that was once his.
I won’t lie, it’s a strong start, and the stylized comic visuals and strong voice-acting performance by the protagonist definitely set the tone for what seems like a weak narrative. But it’s sad to say that it peaked in the intro and never hit the same heights again.
There are a couple of issues that plague its narrative, but one of them is that the stakes never really reflect the story it's trying to tell. For instance, Oonagh being the motivation for Samson’s return to Tyndalston and a life of crime is good. But that plot point never really affects the main story, and it felt like a sideshow more than the crux of the problem.
However, the biggest issue is that there’s no payoff to the overall narrative. While I won’t spoil everything outright, a lot of the game made me think, “Wow, that was it?” especially by the time you hit credits. I don’t think it’s bad to have a short game, but it has to at least feel satisfying when you finish it right?
And that’s what ultimately pulls the experience down, as the narrative just never really hits you at any point in time. The writing just doesn’t pan out, and it doesn’t amount to a payoff or even a climax that’s worth its salt. If anything, it was really just the visuals and audio design doing all the heavy lifting.
At Least It Looks and Sounds Great
In contrast to the weak narrative, the game's presentation is noteworthy. The washed-out color scheme, paired with the gritty atmosphere, really made the game feel different. Don’t get me wrong, it still has all that Unreal Engine jank, and you could clearly see it in the animations, but the overall aesthetic and design were the driving force behind the whole game.
For instance, Tyndalston looks completely different depending on the time: street lights flood the neighborhood with warm orange hues, while daytime shows just how bleak and rundown the city is under full lighting. In addition, the city also feels more alive than you’d expect. NPCs and traffic fill the ambiance during exploration, and it amplifies the city’s visuals when you see the random interactions that happen around you.
The voice acting in Samson is also remarkable. Aside from Samson himself, the voice actors of the other characters elevated the game’s narrative and tone. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was an extremely great or emotional performance, but it felt like everyone got the memo on how to deliver their lines. I honestly think it was their work that really made me keep playing the game, despite its shortcomings.
Simply put, it was the overall presentation in Samson that really made the game more palatable than it actually is. Sure, there's some jank in Unreal Engine, but you can’t deny its aesthetic and how well it portrays a city like Tyndalston. Now, if only the gameplay loop just followed through…
Interesting Ideas That Never Pan Out
Think Mafia-esque city exploration with randomized missions per day, and taking said missions spends time, meaning you can only do a set number of missions for that period to progress the story. That’s roughly what Samson’s day-to-day gameplay looks like.
Now, the concept of the loop is something I like. After all, no one has ever thought about making a GTA-like roguelite, and after playing Samson, you can feel that it might just work. At least, in theory. But of course, it isn’t that simple, as the gameplay itself has a lot of problems.
Mission design is straightforward, from a simple beatdown mission where you have to take down a set number of enemies, to a getaway mission where you’ll have to evade the cops and take someone to safety. But, one of its problems is that similar categorical missions are almost identical to each other.
Missions of the same category literally play out the same way, but they only start at a different point and may have a slight adjustment in between. But about 90-95% of the time, they all feel similar in how they play and how you solve them. This compounds the game’s next problem: the repetition.
For context, Samson starts off with a $100k debt to the St. Louis gang, and you’ll need a daily quota so that they won’t show up at your doorstep to beat the crap out of you (or them). You’ll need to complete a bunch of missions to meet this goal, as missions typically pay out around $500 to $1000 dollars, and more depending on the difficulty.
This, combined with the game’s action point (AP) system limiting the number of missions you can do per day, makes the game feel extremely repetitive. By Day 6, I was already bored with the repetition, and it felt as if I had already seen everything there is to see in the game’s missions.
This carries over to the main story missions, as these are pretty much just reskins of the contract missions that pay even less. Yes, there are a couple of key differences, like more dialogue and stuff like that, but when you’ve raced, beaten up, and even escaped more times than you can count, then you’ll start to ignore that type of stuff because there isn’t much else in it.
The worst part? We haven’t even covered the actual mechanics of the game, which are a different problem entirely.
Janky Combat Systems
Samson’s combat is weird. On one hand, I like that it focuses on melee combat with all the basic brawling mechanics you can find. On the other, it feels extremely lacking since you’ve come to expect some sort of shooting involved in games with crime-related settings. Not to mention that the mechanics themselves aren’t very well done.
You’ve got light attacks, heavy attacks, dodge, parry, a grab that they never even teach you how to use, and a finisher. It’s as simple as you might expect, but it’s in the details where it falls apart. As mentioned earlier with the visuals, the animations in the game are pretty janky, and this completely affects the combat as well.
For instance, I never found myself using the heavy attack button since the animation was extremely slow, and the enemies could just punch me out of it mid-swing. As a result, I just used light attacks the whole time, and it didn’t really affect me negatively that I didn’t use the “stronger” option.
As for the driving, it’s heavy and a little unwieldy, but it’s not the core of the problem; it's more of a contributing factor. Car durability is something that you have to pay attention to in this game, since there are missions where you have to take down rival cars by ramming their wheels. The problem is that the process of taking down a rival car doesn’t feel natural and it feels as if you’re always on the losing end of car fights.
An example of this is when I rear-ended an enemy vehicle, thinking that I was going to get some damage in, and I ended up getting damaged for 50% of my car. I get that my car was supposed to be damaged, but how come theirs didn’t? Another is when you try to run them off the road, and they hit a wall. Sometimes, it just doesn’t hurt their vehicles, while the car you’re using hits a box on the side of the road for 20% of its health.
The combat mechanics in both brawling and driving make Samson a frustrating experience, with the latter being a bigger pain in certain missions. While I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the first few times I engaged in it, it quickly became a source of frustration throughout the experience. It’s debatable whether they can still patch things up in time, but the issues feel more design-related than performance- or numbers-related.
Is Samson Worth It?
Wait For a Sale and For a Few Months
Plainly speaking, Samson is a game that you would expect to play out for $25. The janky systems, animations, and flawed gameplay designs result in frustrating mechanics that you’ll have to deal with on a repetitive basis. Additionally, the weak narrative doesn’t have that satisfying ending that you’re looking for, which also makes the experience feel a lot worse than it should.
But it’s not without its merits. The overall audiovisuals of the game are remarkable, which is the sole reason why I stuck with it in the first place. Tyndalston’s atmosphere and aesthetic are well portrayed, and it definitely showcases the city as both a dump and a place where you have to commit crime to survive and make ends meet.
Regardless, Samson is a game I would recommend for those who like games in a genre similar to GTA, Mafia, and most sandbox mission games. Ultimately, I would recommend waiting for a sale or buying it after a few months, once they’ve finished their patches. As of writing, Liquid Swords is still hard at work on improving the game, and they’ve already shared their roadmap for what players can expect in the coming months.
Game8 Reviews
