The first month of the year is almost over, and we’ve already seen many of the games that are launching this year and beyond. While many might be focusing on some of the big releases, a few remakes, and some revivals, the truth is that there are other games out there that deserve a place under the spotlight. One of those is Samson, an upcoming action-adventure title that brings back that urban crime vibe we haven’t seen since the Sleeping Dogs days.
Samson Showcases New Hand-to-Hand Combat Systems
At this point, it might seem surreal that some of you are too young to remember Sleeping Dogs, but when it released, it was one of the best urban crime games on the market. Also, GTA 5 came in, eclipsing every single game of that genre, and while it was enjoyable, it never really had that gritty or dark feel that Sleeping Dogs had. But now, that’s going to change because Samson might actually be the one who puts the urban crime genre back on the map, with superb driving mechanics and one of the most engaging hand-to-hand combat systems we’ve seen in recent years.
If you don’t believe us, you can take a look at the studio’s latest dev diary, which talks about how the team is approaching combat in Samson.
Liquid Swords, or more specifically, Strati Zerbinis, one of the game’s programmers, talked about the inspiration behind combat, mentioning how fighting was heavily inspired by 80s and 90s action movies, such as The Perfect Weapon, and after looking at the game’s trailer, they nailed it.
Other things that stand out from the dev diary is how they really focused on the hand-to-hand combat, and left guns on the side. The studio has put a lot of care in takedowns and how they are focusing more on tactical encounters, rather than just making the protagonist feel like a killing machine with fast combos, which leads to the other interesting aspect: the actual main character.
Liquid Swords is going for a more “down-to-earth” approach with Samson, as the main character won’t have any special skills, training, or secret fighting abilities. It’s all about embracing that street brawl feeling and making you feel as if you were fighting in a bar brawl.
Naturally, this has hyped a lot of people, ourselves included, because we really don’t have a lot of games like this, but Liquid Swords knows what it is doing. The only downside is that we don’t have a release date yet, which just makes the waiting even harder. Still, looking at these dev diaries showing everything from fighting to driving, we should just let the studio cook up calmly because we’re sure the final product will be amazing.
