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Liquid Swords, a game studio made up of several former Just Cause developers, is hard at work on a new game, Samson, which is described as a mix between Mad Max and the Max Payne franchise.
Announced via a short teaser on its social media pages back in October, the game piqued the interest of gamers when game director Christofer Sundberg posted a follow-up, describing it as “more like Mad Max… Payne”. Sundberg was the founder of Avalanche Studios, who made the extremely underrated 2015 Mad Max game, and hearing that he will be bringing his expertise from the title into the upcoming game certainly served to garner excitement.
Cut to early December, and Samson received its first official announcement trailer, and boy, does it scream Mad Max. Players will take on the role of the titular Samson McCray, who ends up in the city of Tyndalston after a job went awry, thus beginning an anti-hero story where he has to work for the St. Louis crew gang to pay back what was lost in the failed job.
Much like Mad Max, Samson will be divided into two major aspects, brutal close-combat melee brawls, which will operate on an adrenaline meter similar to the former’s Rage meter, where filling it up will lead to harder-hitting attacks for a set time, and vehicular traversal or combat, utilising collisions, traps, and close-quarters destruction to evade or take out opposing vehicles.
Additionally, the game is also tonally inspired by films like Heat (1995) and Ronin (1998). “We played around with the identity era crisis that the ’90s were. Cell phones didn’t really exist, but they were still around. Cash was still king, and people were still smoking,” explained Sundberg in an interview with IGN, adding that it’s a story “violence is fast and decisive.”
“[Some of] the team that worked on Mad Max is working on Samson, and we’re taking that [experience] ten years in the future,” he added, “The tone is equally dark as Mad Max. It’s not a post-apocalyptic world. One of the greatest urban game stories ever told is Max Payne. I guess it’s the tone that I’m after.”
Set in the bustling city of Tyndalston, Samson was initially meant to be much larger in scope, although the team had to tone things down following layoffs in early 2025. Still, they are now aiming for a deep gameplay experience, albeit on a narrower scale. “It was originally a 100-hour experience. Now it’s more of a quick-and-dirty session-based experience. Completionists will get to spend at least 25 hours. But we are very respectful of people’s time,” Sundberg added, explaining that this is the reason why the game will be priced at a lower US$25 instead of the usual US$70.
Those interested in Avalanche Studios’ past games can check out Samson’s store page on Steam for more info on the upcoming title, with the game set for release on PC in early 2026, followed by console versions later down the line.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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