As we get closer to the April 8th release date for Liquid Swords’ debut game Samson: A Tyndalston Story, senior game designer Donald Young has revealed more information about the title. In an interview with WCCFTech, he went into detail about a variety of game aspects, from mission types to general gameplay, and even the “intensity over scale” philosophy adopted by the studio.
When asked about the gameplay variety in Samson: A Tyndalston Story, Young spoke about how many of them will revolve around protagonist Samson’s own vehicle – a unique car dubbed the Magnum Opus. He also confirmed that the game will only feature cars, and players will have to actively maintain the Magnum Opus by “repairing it after car combat and refuelling the nitrous at the various gas stations around the city.”
“The Magnum Opus also has a few unique mechanics that will help Samson in his escapades,” explained Young. “There’s a Kickdown action where the player can lower the current gear of the car, giving you more pull and higher rpm, which is useful in side-ramming other cars and while drifting. You can also kill the engine, which is useful when hiding from the cops. Samson can also store a weapon in the trunk of the car, useful when you’re paying someone a visit.”
Samson: A Tyndalston Story will feature eight types of Jobs, evenly split between on-foot and vehicle missions. Chapters will also see some of their own unique mechanics and scenarios, and, according to Young, the studio has tried to introduce variety in how these Job types are spaced out. Beatdown Jobs, for instance, can take place in one of over 30 different combat arenas throughout the cities. Along with this, there is also a Story Deck system that will spawn small story events all over Tyndalston.
“So, for example, you may be tailing a target through an alley and come across a civilian being harassed. Do you stop and help this person, potentially losing your target as well as the cash and time from failing the Job, or do you look the other way so that you can make sure you make your daily debt payment? These are the kinds of choices and actions we want the player to encounter when playing the missions,” he said.
As for a focus on “intensity over scale”, Young spoke about how one of the core themes of the game is the pressure felt by Samson, and how this means that players will have to focus on “making the best of what you can minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, and day-to-day.” Where minute-to-minute pressure comes from partaking in intense combat, hour-to-hour pressure will be about juggling high-risk-high-reward Jobs, and day-to-day pressure will revolve around the central debt. “If things are going poorly, debt collectors will start showing up, as well as other harsher consequences. Samson has to juggle a lot of problems, and that’s just life in Tyndalston.”
Progressing through the game also means seeing different sides of the main setting of Tyndalston. Players will explore more of the city over time, which in turn will give them different perspectives on the problems faced by citizens and the root cause of these problems. Liquid Swords also wants to ensure that players get familiar enough with Tyndalston to start remembering street names.
Samson: A Tyndalston Story is being developed for PC. For more details, check out studio co-founder Christofer Sundberg’s thoughts on inevitable comparisons with the Grand Theft Auto franchise, as well as what he thinks about the current state of the gaming industry.
