Table of Contents
Samson Channels Mad Max Energy With Brutal Melee and High-Speed Carnage
A Gritty New Project From the Co-Founder of Avalanche Studios
Have you ever wondered what Avalanche Studios’ Mad Max might look like if rebuilt today with a harsher tone and a stronger brawler focus?
That is essentially the pitch behind Samson: A Tyndalston Story, the upcoming title from Stockholm-based Liquid Swords, the studio founded by Christofer Sundberg. Sundberg is best known as the co-creator of Just Cause and a pivotal force behind 2015’s Mad Max, and Samson feels unmistakably shaped by his legacy: messy, physical, and unapologetically violent.
The announcement trailer sets the stage for a bleak, crime-ridden city called Tyndalston, where players embody Samson, a man driven by obligation and desperation. With a family to protect and growing debts strangling his future, our hero is forced into a daily cycle of dangerous missions.
Failure doesn’t simply mean missing payday: it compounds the debt, tightening the noose around his life. The setup gives the game a grounded, almost survival-inflected edge, framing every encounter as part of a larger fight to stay above water.
Visually and tonally, the game leans hard into grit. Grimy corridors, hostile streets, and an oppressive urban atmosphere define the world, setting it apart from the more explosive, sun-blasted vistas typical of Avalanche’s prior open-world work.
Brutal Melee-First Combat With Vehicular Chaos to Match
While Samson may evoke elements of Western open-world design, Liquid Swords is steering the combat toward close-quarters brutality. Instead of treating firearms as the default solution, the game prioritises bone-shattering melee attacks, takedowns, counters, and unlockable martial upgrades. All the fists, kicks, and grapples appear to form the backbone of the experience that is raw, weighty, and personal.
But the defining twist is how hand-to-hand combat blends with vehicular mayhem. Much like Mad Max, your car is an extension rather than a convenience. Chases, ramming, high-speed brawls, and tactical vehicular manoeuvres are woven into the core gameplay, turning the streets of Tyndalston into a battleground. The combination of fists and horsepower aims to create a kinetic rhythm that shifts constantly between foot and vehicle combat.
Liquid Swords also teases a city fractured by competing factions, each shaping the danger players will face. Their presence hints at a world where allegiances, hostility levels, and territory control could influence the chaos unfolding in Tyndalston.
Platforms, Release Plans, and What Comes Next
For now, Samson: A Tyndalston Story has no confirmed release window, and Liquid Swords has not detailed how far along development is. The studio has only announced a PC version, though additional platforms are expected to follow as the project approaches launch.
What the team has shown so far positions the game as an ambitious action title with a distinctive identity that is built on grit, desperation, and the tactile feel of hand-to-hand violence.
With Sundberg’s pedigree, the focused melee systems, and the fusion of brawling and vehicular combat, Samson already stands out as a project worth watching. Fans of Just Cause, Mad Max, and brutal action games will likely want to keep this one firmly on their radar.
