Samson Reviews
Samson is built with some excellent bones; its gameplay loop is fun and engaging and its gritty story is good and can be knocked out in 10-12 hours.
Samson may come stocked with an impressively detailed sandbox, but it’s totally impossible to recommend in its current state.
Samson: A Tyndalson Story is a broken, boring, charmless mess of a game that needed either more time in the oven or a stronger vision.
Samson: A Tyndalston Story was clearly pushed to release in a raw state. We rather got a stub that resembles a piece of the first island from GTA IV.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Liquid Swords' debut title, Samson: A Tyndalston Story, has the potential to one day be an incredibly strong double-A experience. At a bargain price of $25 and with strong foundations, even in its broken state, I can see through to the vision of what the game could be and how much fun it is when it's all running smoothly. But at launch, that's simply not the case, and $25 for anything is still a rip-off if you're just buying something that's broken to begin with. One day, there will be more than a few good reasons to recommend you go out and buy Samson: A Tyndalston Story for yourself. But not on launch day.
It's truly difficult to find any merits in Samson, given the roughly 20 hours it takes to complete it in its entirety (beyond the 8 hours of main missions, that is).
Review in Italian | Read full review
Samson: A Tyndalston Story has a good idea behind it, but at present, it doesn't flow together with the gameplay. Combined with a story that only makes the vaguest of sense, I struggled to enjoy myself outside of breaking noses and forcing drivers off the road. There's something here, but more digging will be necessary to uncover it.
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Review in Russian | Read full review
Samson is a game about how different things are. It has strong ideas, an interesting atmosphere, and a clear goal. But it doesn't work because of poor technique, excessive repetition, and a lack of an ending. It looks like this project needed more time to reach its full potential.
Despite the lack of optimization and official Brazilian Portuguese localization, and the fact that the game feels like it should have been released in Early Access, we must acknowledge — just as the studio admitted its mistakes — that they are being quick with fixes and actively listening to community feedback.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Samson is, quite frankly, a missed opportunity, especially since there aren’t a lot of titles tackling similar settings and genres recently. The overall presentation is thematic and appropriate, and also has a core gameplay loop that you can see develop into something better in the near future. However, its numerous bugs, gameplay design flaws, and weak narrative anchor it hard, keeping it from becoming a great experience.
In my review of Samson: A Tyndalston Story, I discuss how technical issues and repetitive gameplay mechanics undermine the game, despite its strong atmosphere and interesting concepts.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
The city and premise have real potential, but I cannot ignore how often the game fights you in the wrong ways. If you are curious, I would wait for major updates and then revisit. Samson: A Tyndalston Story is not hopeless. It is just not finished enough yet.
While it could have much higher potential, Samson is at times tedious due to certain technical and design choices. Nevertheless, it offers a worthwhile and enjoyable experience.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Samson is in a weird place as far as recommendations go. Is it a buggy, unfocused, tedious mess? Yes. But is it fun? Also yes. If you get a lot of satisfaction out of completing side content, Samson could very well be a good time, should you accept that it’s packed into a glitchy, “every day is the same” experience. Perhaps with some bug fixes and the right price, this is one worth pulling the trigger on.
SAMSON is an exciting and unique take on its genre, standing out from Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row and delivering a gritty experience inspired by crime-action dramas. While fun to play, some systems could have been handled better, small bugs and performance issues are present, and I found myself wanting more story baked into the side-mission content, where small dialogue or contextual additions or extra environmental storytelling could have gone a long way. However, at the incredibly generous asking price, SAMSON overdelivers, providing a Triple-A experience for a fraction of the cost.
Samson tells the story of a down-on-his-luck man burdened with debt, whose sister has been taken hostage. It aims to be an open-world action-driving noir, but the world is too small, the action feels clumsy, the driving is awkward—leaving only the noir behind.
Review in Korean | Read full review
This title’s biggest strengths are probably the city’s atmosphere and the interesting day-management system. But, to be fair overall, Samson didn’t turn out very well. The combat, which constitutes the main core of gameplay, is undermined by repetitive animations and really strange enemy behaviour. Driving may actually be fun… if, of course, you are actually able to find any car nearby. A lot of technical issues drag the game down. It was simply released far too early. If the reviews haven’t discouraged you and you still want to try Samson out, at least wait for some patches. At the moment, it’s not really worth your time.