Samson Reviews
Samson reminds me of the days when games didn’t need a hundred map icons to be worth playing. It’s a punchy AA brawler that swaps out massive maps for a focused story about paying back a gang before your sister pays the price. The bugs are a headache right now, but the heavy-hitting action and the vibe of Tyndalston kept me interested. It’s an honest, short-distance run for anyone tired of bloated blockbusters.
Samson is ultimately a janky but endearing experience, with the foundation of something genuinely compelling. Beneath the rough edges lies a strong core and a likeable cast, but the lack of polish and unreliable combat hold it back at every turn. It’s easy to see what the developers were going for, but in its current state, it’s hard to fully recommend.
Samson is an awful game packed with poor gameplay at every avenue. There is almost no fun to be had here unless you just want to gawk at how miserable everything is. It’s honestly impressive to me just how badly nearly every aspect of this game was flubbed, and I deeply regret the time I spent with it. If you enjoy absolute trainwrecks, you may get some laughs out of it, but anyone with any standard for game quality will want to steer very clear of it. Hopefully, your steering is more functional than the game’s.
Samson has a solid foundation and several interesting ideas, but an uninspiring combat system and several glitches quickly drag this adventure down.
At $24.99 (which is a great price to be fair), it's a solid deal if you're desperate for something GTA-lite. Just go in knowing that Samson never fully delivers on its own potential, and given how promising that potential is, that's the most frustrating thing about it.
Samson: A Tyndalston Story harkens back to the late-'90s and early-'00s in terms of atmosphere and story beats. Which is great, aside from feeling a little overly grimdark. I just wish it played a little more like something from 2026.
Samson: A Tyndalston Story fails to make the most of its setup. A mix of poor combat and repetition pulls down what could have been an interesting tale of redemption and revenge.