A few months before the arrival of GTA 6each new GTA-like is scrutinized as the possible antidote to waiting. Latest candidate, Samson: A Tyndalston Storythe studio’s first game Liquid Swords founded by Christofer Sundbergpresented itself as a dark crime thriller set in a city reminiscent of GTA 4’s Liberty City.
After the sinking of MindsEye in 2025, many hoped that this “small” competitor GTA 6 would finally hold up. But the first tests have fallen, the comparisons with the “worst game of 2025” are multiplying, and the wait around Jason, Lucia and Leonida has never seemed so feverish.
Samson: the GTA 6 competitor who had to keep players waiting?
Samson focuses on a more modest format than Grand Theft Auto : a compact industrial city, Tyndalstona linear story and gameplay loop focused on driving and melee. We play Samson McCray, a broke guy forced to repay an exploding debt every day, under penalty of losing everything. The game was released on April 8, 2026 on PC, at a “respectful” price of around €24.99.
On paper, everything was in place for a good “boutique” while waiting Rockstar Games. In practice, the reviews are very mixed: repetitive missions, heavy fist fights, frequent bugs and characters considered flat. In his review, GameRant asserts thus: “It’s a passionless, joyless, derivative chore, and I wouldn’t suggest playing it unless you’re being paid to do so.” Liquid Swords already promises fixes, but the patches will not be able to rewrite the scenario or give relief to the hero.
Ironically, the most praised point remains precisely the town of Tyndalston, its grimy atmosphere and its credible level design, responsible for the initial comparisons with GTA 4. A solid setting for a game that many players are already returning to stores, calling it “Mindseye 2.0”.
MindsEye, Samson… why no GTA-like can compete with GTA 6?
A year earlier, MindsEye dreamed of: project of Build a Rocket Boydirected by the ex-producer of GTA Leslie Benziesfuturistic city of Redrockmarketing of “GTA 6 competitor”. On June 10, 2025, the release turned into a fiasco: massive bugs, hollow open world, ridiculous enemy behavior, refunds granted and layoffs in the studio. The French press quickly baptized it “worst game of 2025”.
These two failures illustrate above all to what extent “making a GTA” is extraordinary. Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar have been working for years on an in-house engine, a sprawling city, dense writing and a crazy amount of activities. Reproducing this formula with a classic AA or even AAA budget is a headache: either marketing oversells an unready product like MindsEye, or players transform a more modest project like Samson into a “messiah” that it cannot be.
GTA 6: what release date, what potential price and what expectations after these failures?
Officially, Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected on November 19, 2026 on PS5 And Xbox Seriesafter two successive postponements. Two cinematic trailers have already broken the Internet, featuring Jason, Lucia and the State of Leonida. According to the latest earnings conference of Take-Two Interactivethe real marketing campaign should start this summer, with a highly anticipated third trailer.
The price remains one of the big unknowns. If Rockstar decides to exceed the current standard of large AAA, this price could well serve as a new ceiling for the entire industry. Hence the paradox: each “GTA 6 competitor” that crashes, from MindsEye to Samson, reinforces the idea that only Rockstar truly masters this kind of criminal open world. As a result, the pressure on GTA 6 is increasing again, and eyes are turning a little more towards Leonida, hoping that this time, the excessive wait will finally be rewarded.