Christofer Sundberg, co-founder of Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, spent years building sprawling open worlds at scale. Now he is stepping back.
Sundberg founded Liquid Swords, which will release an open world crime brawler called Samson this April. The game is coming to PC via Steam and Epic Games Store in early 2026 for $24.99. It is a deliberate departure from the industrial approach that shaped his earlier career.
The premise is straightforward. Players step into the role of Samson McCray, an aging criminal who is facing a crushing debt. The debt keeps growing due to the daily interest rate applied, and you do not have the luxury of time on your side. Every choice carries weight. Samson has physical limits as to what he can pull off in a day, which are measured by action points.
Liquid Swords operates under a "Zero-Nonsense Video Game Development" motto: "we offer no filler features, no content for the sake of PowerPoint slides, and we don't chase trends. We create only what earns its place in the game." This philosophy reflects Sundberg's frustration with larger studios.
A non-compete contract meant Sundberg couldn't start making a new game for a year after leaving Avalanche, but creative restlessness won out. The studio laid off half the team to make sure they could get Samson out the door, making the tough decision to lay off half the team to buy a longer runway into 2026.
Liquid Swords brings together key developers whose experience shaped the Just Cause series and Mad Max. The team's background in physical action, systemic design, and character-focused worlds forms the backbone of Samson. The credentials are there.
Yet caution is warranted. Samson is scheduled to launch on April 8, less than a month away. The new footage leaves observers with concerns. A solid work-in-progress trailer if the game was a year out from release, the latest footage raises questions about polish and readiness just weeks before launch.
The ambition is genuine. The game's design is tight, focused, and pressure-driven, with no grind or checklist open world: "You wake up, you owe money, the clock is ticking, and the city does not care how you feel about it." This formula has worked before in games that prioritised consequence over exploration.
What matters now is execution. Sundberg has built his smaller studio around a philosophy that bigger does not mean better. If Samson delivers that promise, it could prove something important about how games get made. If it stumbles, the industry will write it off as a cautionary tale about ambition outpacing resources.