With hype around Grand Theft Auto 6 reaching fever pitch, it seems any game where you run around a city smacking strangers will draw comparisons with Rockstar’s open-world crime simulator. The latest is Samson: A Tyndalston Story, a brand new title from the makers of Just Cause launching 8 April on PC.
To be clear, Samson bears only a passing resemblance to GTA 6. The vibe looks closer to gritty mid-2000s action shooters like Max Payne, mixed with a whole lot of weighty, Arkham Asylum style punching. Rather than setting you loose in a sprawling open-world sandbox, early previews suggest Samson is a more tightly wound, narrative-driven brawler.
The game leans heavily into a dark, noir aesthetic that owes a debt to the graphic-novel gloom of Max Payne, with a sharp focus on gritty, close-quarters combat rather than gunplay and chaos. It’s a street-level story that restricts your armoury to the bloodied knuckles of its protagonist, fighting and speeding around districts inspired by ‘90s New York. Keep reading to find out more.
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Samson: A Tyndalston Story: Steampowered.com
The first game from Liquid Swords (a new studio founded by Just Cause creator Christofer Sundberg), Samson: A Tyndalson Story sees you take on the role of the titular Samson as he works to pay down his mounting crime debts.
He does this mainly by punching other men in the jaw and mowing down crooks in his classic muscle car, all while monologuing with the voice of someone who gets through a pack of Marlboro Gold a day.
To its credit, Samson looks like it doesn’t take itself very seriously. Leaning hard into a gritty noir atmosphere, the game promises a mixture of brawling and “weaponised driving”, skill trees to develop Samson’s abilities, police confrontations and daily contract quotas to pay down your spiralling bills.
“He owes dangerous people more than he can pay, and they’re using his sister to force his hand,” reads the blurb. “The clock is ticking.” All of this is set in Tyndalston, which sounds more like a quaint English village than the venue for bare-knuckle vengeance.
Samson: A Tyndalston Story launches 8 April on PC.
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