Following the unveiling of Samson: A Tyndalston Story at the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025 Showcase, developer Liquid Swords has now shared a detailed FAQ on what players can expect in the game.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Avalanche Studios founder Cristofer Sundberg established Liquid Swords, the studio confirmed that there will be elements inspired by two of that team's most renowned titles: Mad Max and Just Cause. When it comes to the latter, Just Cause players will recognize an emphasis on physicality, momentum, and emergent systems interaction, although Samson won't feature an exaggerated spectacle and chaos for its own sake, opting for a more grounded approach instead. As for Mad Max, this new game reminds it with its heavy, personal melee combat as well as the vehicle combat mechanics, although of course there are many differences due purely to the setting.
Beyond the comparisons with those games, Samson's combat, whether on foot or on a vehicle, rejects stylization in favor of functional, purposeful violence. Rather than accessing predetermined weapon loadouts, players will utilize environmental tools (wrenches, tires, brick piles, to name a few) and create opportunities through improvisation. There's a large variety of melee weapons and these can be stored in vehicle trunks for tactical preparation, but the surroundings always provide immediate alternatives. Damage carries visual and mechanical weight; impacts break environmental elements and visibly mark both the player character and enemies.
Driving is a key component of Samson. Liquid Swords stressed that vehicle handling emphasizes weight, impact, and physical sensation, with intentional differentiation between vehicle types. Players can drive any vehicle they find, although strangely, the developers explicitly mentioned that civilians won't be removed from the vehicles, unlike in Grand Theft Auto. That seems to suggest the player character would be effectively kidnapping them, too, although that is unconfirmed at the moment. Of course, stealing will elicit a response from law enforcement that escalates further based on the player's actions. But other NPCs react, too, responding differently to aggression (fighting back or fleeing).
Samson is priced at just $24.99, so it makes sense that the main narrative would be relatively short. While the game offers freedom to explore the open world, the experience won't be virtually endless, focusing instead on missions and the overarching story (Samson's attempt to pay off his debt as the clock goes against him). Indeed, Liquid Swords confirmed it should take around 10 hours, but side content can bump that to approximately 25 hours. These include vehicle-based jobs such as high-stakes hits, underground races, and daring getaways, as well as theft, hand-to-hand combat, and tailing missions to gather critical information. Completing these jobs will contribute to the player progression system, which includes skills and perks that support various playstyles.
There won't be any difficulty settings, so players will have to experience the game's level of challenge as it was intended by the creators. Finally, Liquid Swords acknowledged the challenges of optimizing an open world game, but claimed that they have been working on it since the beginning and also received the support of Epic Games (Samson is powered by Unreal Engine 5).
The objective is to launch in early 2026 on PC, with console versions following later due to the team's small size.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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