'There are times when you want to put GTA down and pick up something else,' Samson studio founder says: 'I think there's a space for us there'

Samson, the open-world crime brawler being developed by Liquid Swords, looks to me like a Grand Theft Auto game leavened with a healthy dose of Condemned: Criminal Origins. It's a much smaller-scale project than (relatively) recent GTA games, of course—because what isn't?—but a tale of a low-level mook making his way in a city filled with crime and cars? Yeah, that sure sounds like GTA alright.

The studio has previously acknowledged those comparisons—in February, mission designer Donald...