Samson Stunned! Day-By-Day Battle: What's REALLY Going On?

Have you ever walked through a run-down part of town and imagined the potential that exists? For Samson, who grew up in the roughest part of his hometown of Tyndalston called The Ditch, that is his day-to-day life. As someone who got my hands on Liquid Swords' *Samson*, I fell completely into the enthralling gameplay loop for more than an hour, but was left to imagine how great the experience could be if it were a bit more polished.

Samson Stunned! Day-By-Day Battle: What's REALLY G...

As Samson, you return home to The Ditch with a mountain of debt to repay. To keep the debt collectors off his back, he hooks up with an old friend who happens to be a major player in the streets of Tyndalston, Carter, to take on some jobs around the city. These range from beating down the door of a local business and roughing up the owner who owes him money to chasing down some rival gang members who just robbed a gas station that Carter oversees. The gameplay is varied and kept me on my toes; one sequence had me brawling through a warehouse, while another had me engaging in vehicular combat, while another still tasked me with helping an ally escape the cops after robbing a pharmacy. It's safe to say you're not playing a hero in *Samson*, but each mission I played delivered excitement in spades.

The gameplay typically felt great as I tested out the various mission types on offer. My favorite missions involved heavy hand-to-hand combat; Samson squares up against various enemies with light and heavy attacks at his disposal, as well as the ability to parry and smash enemies with environmental objects. Though this is very much a brawler, you can't just swing for the fences. Instead, I approached each encounter with caution and intentionality. Light punches, heavy punches, parries, and grabs often sufficed in my early-game encounters, but using the Adrenaline Rush meter, I could wail on rivals with slowed-down time and increased damage. I got myself out of more than a couple of sticky situations thanks to effective managing of Samson's Adrenaline meter.

It's a brawler at heart, but it's far from the only style of gameplay players can expect. Several of the missions also involve Samson getting into the driver seat, whether to help an ally flee the scene of a crime or to take down rivals who just robbed your friends. Escaping from the police involves leaving their patrol circumference and laying low until they call off the search, while taking down enemies on the mean streets of Tyndalston requires you to ram them using some rudimentary vehicular combat mechanics. I was less sold on this part of the game, as Samson's vehicle is also highly susceptible to damage, and when I smashed my rivals into the rails or even oncoming traffic, the enemies often drove away after sustaining less damage than I expected, while Samson's car took on more than I thought he would. I assume this will be fine-tuned for the final release, but it led to some frustrating restarts.