There is something immediately appealing about Samson: A Tyndalston Story. It is a compact, gritty crime adventure that combines hand-to-hand brawling, vehicle combat and a surprisingly interesting debt-management system into one unusual package. It also comes from Liquid Swords, a studio founded by developers with experience on games such as Just Cause and Mad Max, so the DNA of those titles is easy to spot. Unfortunately, Samson’s original PC launch in April was a rocky one, with technical problems and underdeveloped mechanics overshadowing some genuinely good ideas.
Thankfully, the September console release tells a considerably more positive story. Six months of updates have transformed Samson into a much more polished and enjoyable experience, making it clear that Liquid Swords listened to the criticism surrounding the original release. This isn’t a completely different game, but it is undoubtedly one that has improved a lot since that rough PC debut.
You play as Samson McCray, a criminal returning to Tyndalston after a job in St. Louis goes horribly wrong. His sister has been caught up in the aftermath, leaving Samson with a pile of debt that needs to be paid. The game’s central hook revolves around balancing that debt with the limited number of actions you can perform each day.
It’s an excellent idea. Every job costs Action Points, meaning you constantly have to consider whether a lucrative mission is worth spending valuable time on. Do you take the big payout? Repair your car? Chase down an optional objective? Or concentrate on the main story before the debt becomes unmanageable? The system gives the relatively small open world a welcome sense of pressure.
Tyndalston itself is arguably Samson’s biggest success. Rather than attempting to construct another enormous open-world playground, Liquid Swords has created a much more concentrated urban environment. The city feels run down, with battered streets, industrial eyesores and a persistent sense that you’re wandering around somewhere that has seen better days. Visually, it has a distinctive character that makes exploration worthwhile.
The same can’t always be said for its inhabitants. Character models are inconsistent, and some animations can look awkward. The game is intended to be played at a fast pace, and so these shortcomings often end up out of sight and out of mind. But it’s worth mentioning.
Driving is one of Samson’s strongest gameplay elements. The car feels weighty without being difficult to control. Chasing other vehicles, smashing into weak points and attempting to escape pursuing enemies gives these sequences a satisfying arcade quality. The September update also introduces clearer visual indicators for vehicle weak spots, making the system easier to understand than it was previously.
The hand-to-hand combat I found more of a mixed bag early on. Samson’s fists pack a punch, but inconsistent takedowns sometimes leave you looking for a more brutal finishing sequence. As the game progressed and I got the parry timing down, things started to flow better, but there are definitely moments of frustration here. Dodging incoming projectiles is hit and miss, and on certain occasions the game just throws too many enemies at you at once.
There was one particular story mission where I left a bar to be greeted with more than 10 enemies at once. Trying to attack, parry and dodge a projectile every 3 seconds became overwhelming. Eventually on the third try I realised that the best method was to try and run away, but not only does that feel against Samson’s nature, it is genuinely difficult to pull off because of the enemy soft lock. So I had to literally dodge my way down two alleys before it would allow me to turn and make my escape.
The console version benefits from improvements designed specifically to make combat easier to read. New visual indicators communicate incoming attacks, while the updated on-boarding and playable tutorial do a much better job of explaining the game’s mechanics. These may sound like small additions, but they make the opening hours considerably less frustrating.
Mission variety has also received attention. One of the biggest criticisms levelled at the original PC release was repetition, and the latest update adjusts how missions are populated so that players encounter a wider selection before activities begin repeating. New enforcement factions and dynamic encounters further help Tyndalston feel more active.
The story isn’t going to win any awards, but it does enough to tie together the roughly 10 hour run time. There are some intriguing characters and an enjoyable noir-inspired atmosphere, but the narrative doesn’t always know how to develop its ideas naturally. The pacing can be erratic, while some of the later developments feel considerably more dramatic than the groundwork laid earlier in the adventure.
Still, Samson has an undeniable charm. It isn’t trying to be the next gigantic open-world blockbuster and honestly I love that about it. Instead, it delivers a shorter, more focused crime adventure which we don’t get enough of these days. Its best moments come when all of its systems click together: you’re low on cash, your debt is increasing, your car is damaged, and you’ve got just enough Action Points left to take one more risky job.
That’s what makes the console version so much easier to appreciate than the game that arrived on PC in April. The original release felt like a promising concept that had been pushed out before it was ready. The September version feels considerably closer to the game Liquid Swords originally wanted to make. My hope is that the studio now moves onto a sequel and builds on what they’ve managed to achieve here. More cinematic combat and a greater emphasis on story.
-Craig 🧐
