Samson, the open-world crime brawler being developed by Liquid Swords, looks to me like a Grand Theft Auto game leavened with a healthy dose of Condemned: Criminal Origins. It’s a much smaller-scale project than (relatively) recent GTA games, of course—because what isn’t?—but a tale of a low-level mook making his way in a city filled with crime and cars? Yeah, that sure sounds like GTA alright.
The studio has previously acknowledged those comparisons—in February, mission designer Donald Young told PC Gamer that the comparison to GTA “makes sense, just because it’s an open world city game”—but also pushed back on them, pointing out that both the game and the development team are much smaller than Rockstar and the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6.
In a new interview with PC Gamer, Liquid Swords co-founder Christofer Sundberg—also the co-founder of Avalanche Studios and creative director of the Just Cause games—went deeper on it, saying that Grand Theft Auto “has always been a phenomenon” that goes beyond just videogames: “It competes with everything in entertainment.”
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I would first note, because I’m that kind of guy, that both Ronin and Die Hard are over two hours long, but even so the point is valid: Even the most compelling epics can be a bit much at times, and it’s nice to have a smaller, simpler diversion when you need a break.
For me, that would be something more like Plants vs Zombies while I’m playing Elden Ring, and I do wonder if people who want a GTA 6 pause will immediately think that the best idea for respite is a smaller-scale GTA. But for folks who don’t have the space or the temperament to take a Grand Theft Auto game head-on (and yes, I’m talking about myself here), Samson might prove to be a cars-and-tough-guys game that fits.
It’s been something of a rough ride for Samson: It was originally intended to be a much bigger game, but Liquid Swords had to pare it back significantly midway through development because it laid off half its team in 2025. We’ll see the results of those changes soon: Samson is set to launch on April 8.