Samson's Many Flaws Explained, and What Went Wrong

Samson is a cheap, open-world crime simulator in the same vein as its obvious inspiration, Grand Theft Auto. It features a stunning, lifelike city to explore, fast cars to race down the dilapidated streets in, and brutal hand-to-hand combat. There’s a roguelike structure to its narrative, a number of different missions to complete, and, at the heart of it all, a tense narrative about debt, redemption, and family. Frankly, that sounds like a recipe for success, one that is surely guaranteed to at least develop a devoted fanbase and lead to a far more ambitious sequel.

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So, what exactly went wrong? When all the pieces fall into place, when it feels like it is doing everything right, when the marketing is doing a game nothing but favors, how could it all come tumbling down? Well, there are a few key reasons, namely surrounding Samson’s technical state and a plethora of underbaked features that came as a result of unfortunate steps in the development process. More importantly, however, is whether Samson’s developers will do anything to fix these issues, and, luckily, it seems like there may be hope on the horizon.

Samson’s Bugs Make An Underbaked Experience Worse

The protagonist beating up enemies in Samson — Image Courtesy of Liquid Swords

Samson was very much on its way to be the perfect open-world game like GTA and would likely have achieved such a lofty feat were it not for its myriad of glaring flaws. Sure, the game looks stunning, and that aspect should not be overlooked. Samson’s open-world, as small as it may seem, is absolutely not one of its major problems and may indeed be one of the few things making it still worth playing, despite the issues. Rather, Samson’s biggest weakness right now is its underbaked gameplay systems.

Samson’s development was drastically altered roughly halfway through the process as developer Liquid Swords had to lay off half of its staff and cut several core features. Key among them were RPG mechanics and guns, both of which are fairly prevalent in the games that inspired its overall design. These cutbacks, as well as the smaller development team and budget, can be felt rather unfortunately in the final product. No one aspect of Samson is dreadful, but none particularly shines either.

The melee combat is janky, to say the least. While some encounters do come close to vaguely resembling the excellence of the Arkham games, the majority are stiff, poorly animated, and often frustrating to contend with. Enemies won’t spawn near you and will often just stand still, animations will be delayed and happen long after you’ve actually swung a punch, and combat gets repetitive very quickly as there is understandably little variety to punching a bunch of bad guys over and over again. On top of this, mission design is severely lacking, especially for a game with this roguelike-esque structure that sees you repeating the same handful of mission types ad nauseam. While some are undoubtedly fun the first few times you do them, you’ll have seen everything Samson has to offer by hour 6, and still have another half of the game left to play.

The plethora of bugs and glitches compounds these issues and makes the experience all the more frustrating. At launch, players were clipping through cars, enemies wouldn’t spawn or would stop attacking you, quests wouldn’t work properly, or win conditions wouldn’t register even when met, driving is inconsistent at best, and enemies and cops will chase you endlessly. These are just a handful of issues players have experienced at launch, and while Samson’s surprising price point is certainly enough to assuage some of these annoyances, they ultimately coalesce to create an uneven and often unenjoyable experience that quickly grows wearisome.

Samson’s Developer Is Actively Fixing The Game

The protagonist exploring the streets in Samson. — Image Courtesy of Liquid Swords

Fortunately, there is still hope for Samson. Its developer, Liquid Swords, has already rolled out a patch addressing some of the more immediate issues and has a short-term roadmap to fix more. The game is certainly getting some post-launch support to at least ensure it remains in a playable state, and Liquid Swords is remaining transparent about its efforts to get Samson to a good place, which is always reassuring. Of course, it is unlikely that a Cyberpunk 2077-style revival is on the cards, but Samson doesn’t necessarily need one.

Everything that is on offer is fairly enjoyable and will only be elevated further once the bugs and glitches are ironed out. It is important to remember that Samson is a budget title, one that only costs $24.99, and so expectations must be lowered. It was never going to be as robust an experience as GTA or even the likes of Saints Row. It is modestly sized, truncated in its ambitions, but delivers a fun twist on a familiar formula. Much like Mafia: The Old Country before it, Samson isn’t aiming to be just like GTA, even if that was the original intention before the layoffs and change in direction. It is very much a budget experience, and I mean that in the best possible way. We simply don’t get enough games like this, with this setting and structure, so cheap alternatives that fill the gap between major GTA releases are greatly appreciated.