Despite the rocky start, the developer of Just Cause and his team are committed to fixing the bugs.

Liquid Swords has been open about the development challenges it faced with Samson. The recently released open-world crime game complements Grand Theft Auto’s driving-combat loop with a roguelike element. Led by Just Cause creator Christofer Sundberg, the studio laid off half of its employees last year. This forced them to transform Samson from its original, ambitious plan into a streamlined, hardcore run-and-gun experience. While these compromises may have helped Samson reach completion, they don’t seem to have resulted in a more polished product. The game currently holds a 54% “Mixed” rating on Steam, and the vast majority of negative reviews cite bugs and technical issues.

According to one review, the atmosphere is excellent and the player would love to spend more time in the game world, but the current gameplay ruins the entire experience. Another player who played for less than two hours has already compiled a long list of issues that shockingly slipped through quality assurance. Most negative reviews sound similar, suggesting that, at least for now, Samson does not offer a seamless experience. The good news is that Liquid Swords is fully aware of the issues and is working hard to fix them.

Sundberg wrote on Steam that the developers are delighted to see players enjoying the game and decided to release it despite the bugs for several reasons. First impressions are mixed; many are encountering game-breaking bugs and performance issues. This is unacceptable, but the developers are listening to everyone’s feedback. The first fix arrived a day after launch. Liquid Swords released a hotfix that addressed numerous performance issues and crashes. The hotfix also included several system tweaks, such as introducing fall damage for NPCs as a safety measure. However, it’s not entirely clear what this is for.

On Friday, Liquid Swords released a performance guide to help players optimize their experience with the game as it stands today. They also published a roadmap outlining the updates expected in the near future. The second update, which will focus on stability, gameplay, polish, and ongoing player feedback, is coming soon. Another, as-yet-undocumented patch is scheduled for April 22.

Despite its problems, Samson appears to have had a relatively successful debut, judging by the number of reviews the game has received. Players clearly crave the open-world experience largely missing from games since Grand Theft Auto V‘s release, and Samson‘s reduced price likely contributed to its success. Whether this will be enough to sustain the game in the long term remains to be seen. However, Sundberg firmly states that Samson is here to stay and isn’t going anywhere.

Source: PCGamer, Steam, Steam News 1, Steam News 2, Steam News 3, Steam News 4