Unfortunately, Swedish developer Liquid Swords has filed for bankruptcy six months after launching Samson.

Background: A studio founded in 2020 by an Avalanche Studios co-founder

Liquid Swords was established in 2020 and led by Christofer Sundberg, a former co-founder of Avalanche Studios. Avalanche Studios is known for the Just Cause series. Liquid Swords' first and only game is Samson, a Grand Theft Auto-like open-world beat-'em-up. Its premise centers on dealing with debt, driving sturdy but battered cars, and saving the protagonist's sister.

Development: Half the team was laid off before Samson reached release

The path to Samson's release was not smooth. During development, half of the team was laid off. The game launched earlier this year, and early reception was negative, including the review cited in the source, largely because it was quite broken.

Support after launch: patches arrived despite unpaid staff

Subsequent patches attempted to address those problems, but they did not seem to be enough. The game also received an update as recently as this month, adjusting combat responsiveness and providing a range of fixes. That update suggested continued effort, especially because the developers had been unpaid for a lengthy period.

Bankruptcy: Stockholm court order, employee petition, and state wage cover

On October 12th, the Stockholm District Court issued a bankruptcy order against Liquid Swords, according to Swedish outlet Breakit via Gametalk. Breakit reported that almost 30 employees are affected. Staff had gone at least two months without pay, and they themselves petitioned to file the company as bankrupt. The Swedish state is stepping in to cover all unpaid salaries.

The verdict: debt made Samson tense, bugs undermined that tension

Julian and Mark shared their verdict on Samson when it released. Mark said that, aside from scale, Samson stood apart from its inevitable pre-release comparisons, such as Grand Theft Auto and Sleeping Dogs, because its daily cycle of debt repayment put high stakes on all of the jobs. In that framing, the player literally pays for being an incompetent thug, which raises tension and keeps the player invested even when beating up the same bunch of goons for the second or third time.

The problem, as Mark described it, was that bugs could lead to key non-player characters not being summoned or missions failing randomly. Those technical failures undermined the debt-based stakes by making players fail jobs for reasons outside their control.

Current stage: buyer search remains possible, game future uncertain

The bankruptcy administrator for the filing is hopeful about finding a buyer, according to Breakit. For players, the immediate meaning is that Samson was made by a studio now in bankruptcy proceedings, and its future support is uncertain. Liquid Swords has released only one game, and if the process ends without a successful buyer or continued operation, Samson may remain its first and potentially last title.

The game received fixes as recently as this month, but the October 12th court order marks a shift from post-launch support to bankruptcy proceedings, state-covered unpaid wages, and an unresolved attempt to find a buyer.