IGN UK Podcast 844: Samson’s Gammon Shanks

·1 hr 5 min·5 clips

Samson forces you to pay off a $100k debt while your sister does the mob's bookkeeping in a basement.

The episode opens with casual banter about soft drinks like Coke Zero Cherry Float. The main segment focuses on Samson, a PC crime game initially perceived as a GTA clone. Hosts Jim and Matt explain it's actually a roguelike where you manage a $100k debt to save your sister, who is doing the mob's accounting. They describe repetitive missions, janky combat, and a development troubled by studio layoffs. Jim shares a bug where turning off car lights evoked Ryan Gosling in Drive. The hosts admire its bold stakes but note its many flaws. Next, Simon discusses revisiting Lego City Undercover, a Lego GTA clone from 2013, and argues GTA 6 could adopt its character ability progression. The conversation shifts to Starfield, with Jim praising its NASA-punk aesthetic but criticizing its empty planets and boring missions, though he's tempted by new updates. Matt briefly calls Baldur's Gate 3 a slog. Listener feedback includes a debate on Switch performance, with Jim defending his criticism of third-party games on the original Switch. Another email asks for 7th-gen game Platinum recommendations, leading to mentions of Binary Domain, Max Payne 3, and Kane & Lynch 2. A final email shares a nostalgic story about trading games for groceries at Asda.

As heard by us

A loose, funny review of why Samson's terrible car might be the whole point.

Simon Cardy, Matt Perslow, and Jim Trinker treat Samson less as a clean crime-game recommendation than as a stubborn oddity worth picking apart.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want crime-game chat with a terrible car, blunt writing, and a title that somehow drifts toward gammon shank?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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