00:00There he is.
00:02Man of the hour.
00:03I can't believe you made it out of that shithole.
00:06Alright. Nate, Carter, Tommy.
00:09Fucking great to see you guys.
00:11Hey, I'm Ronan Summers. I play Samson McRae in Samson, A Tindleston Story.
00:15And I'm Kate Saxon. I'm the voice director.
00:18And we've just lost Ronan's voice, as you can hear,
00:21because we've been getting him to do fight efforts for the last recording session.
00:31Yes, it is entirely Kate's fault.
00:33No, it's not. It's the fault of the incredible efforts
00:37that we've been putting through to make this game sound super awesome
00:40and crunchy and hard-hitting with all the fighting.
00:44So I've been really throwing myself into all of it.
00:51We find Samson having just gone through a pretty shitty time.
00:56He's been a little bit out of his depth, and this heist has gone wrong,
00:59and the gang are blaming Samson for it.
01:02He's a guy who is down on his luck in a city that he feels like he knows,
01:07but, you know, has changed since he's been gone,
01:11so he's sort of a fish out of water.
01:13Samson McRae. Can't believe you're back. You're still racing?
01:17In better days. Look, I need your help.
01:20And the city that he's from is down on its luck city, isn't it?
01:24It's not a happy place to go back to.
01:25It's got worse since he's been away, so he's been in prison.
01:29His sister is now kind of not kept captive as such,
01:34but she's still with the bad guys until that debt's paid off.
01:38Listen, Carter, you need to keep the work coming. I'm serious.
01:40I know. Don't worry. I got you, Samson.
01:44What about Samson's motivation? Do you think it's those two things?
01:47Una, his sister, getting her free, and the debt he's in?
01:50I think it is. I mean, I think Una is the driving force behind everything.
01:53He is a man who is kind of at peace in a funny way with his own shitty place in
02:00life.
02:00Well, also, she's the brains, you're the brawl.
02:02Exactly. So he needs her to survive.
02:08But then also, as well as the debt and as well as Una,
02:11I think that Samson, in his own funny way,
02:15has a real sense of debt to Tindalston itself.
02:19You know, it's a town that, for good or evil, raised him.
02:24And he's a big boy, but he doesn't have all the tools necessarily
02:28that he needs to pick up the pieces on his own.
02:30And that's where he then falls back into the family that he chose,
02:35which is Carter and the boys.
02:37Hey, how about we raise a glass or two to your return?
02:39Swing by the double tap tonight. I'm buying.
02:42And the small-time gang he works for are kind of loyal old-school, aren't they?
02:46I guess they still abide by that kind of old-school gangster mentality
02:50of honour amongst thieves.
02:51Yeah, exactly.
02:52All right, where could they be?
02:54And there's no respite for him in the game, is there?
02:56It's not one of those stories where we can kind of go on a side mission
02:59where you go and flirt with some women for a moment.
03:02There's none of that.
03:03Oh, God, it's so relentless. It's just like...
03:05It's intense.
03:06Yeah. One thing after another, isn't it?
03:09Yeah.
03:09I'll make it quick for you.
03:10He is a criminal. He's, you know, he goes, he can kill people,
03:14but he's also the person that, if you're in a bar late at night
03:18and there's some sleazy men hitting on you,
03:19Samson's the person you trust to walk you home safely.
03:22Hey! Back off, motherfucker.
03:25Oh, looky, yeah, a saviour.
03:27And in South End of all places.
03:30He delivers street justice when he knows Kate.
03:32I'll have you know. That's how he thinks of it.
03:37Anton.
03:38Yo, open up.
03:40You know the thing I think about Samson that's so interesting is that, like...
03:44It's Antoine.
03:45It's all actually just about family.
03:46Yeah.
03:47Isn't it? Because, you know, Una is obviously this big driving force,
03:51not just emotionally, but financially with the debt.
03:55But then, of course, Carter and Tommy and Nate and the boys,
03:58they're the family that he chose.
04:01Yeah, and there's that moment early on in the game, isn't there,
04:03where...
04:03Una?
04:04Samson says to Una on a phone call,
04:06I never should have left, sis.
04:08Carter, Tommy, they're family, I know.
04:11I...
04:12I understand.
04:14Carter's more than his gang boss in that sense.
04:17He is a kind of father figure, isn't he?
04:20Yeah.
04:20He took you back.
04:21Yeah.
04:21He's making sure you've got enough jobs to make the money that you need.
04:25He's gonna kind of look after you in that slightly old-fashioned mobster way.
04:28I need you two out there earning. The old way.
04:31Show these punks we still got the goods.
04:33Oh, fuck yeah. Can't wait to get back on the street.
04:36I'll take that whiskey now, Nate.
04:37Also, of course, you've got Tommy, the adoptive half-brother.
04:40Hey, Tommy, brother. Take it easy. We'll take care of this shit.
04:43And his family took Samson and Una in.
04:46And there's a lovely dynamic between Samson and Tommy
04:49in terms of literally growing up as adoptive brothers.
04:52Like, I really like the lines when you tease each other and rib each other a bit.
04:55Tommy, the fuck are you doing here?
04:58Oh, hey, Samson.
04:59There's that nice family spirit there, brotherly rivalry and love there.
05:04Leave it to me, brother.
05:07Well, I think the people who live in Templeston are really a product of their environment
05:11and the fact that they are from a blue-collar working-class town
05:15that has been exploited by, you know, some wealthy and powerful people for a long time.
05:22People's lives don't mean shit to those bastards.
05:24I mean, it's just legal. It can't be legal.
05:26It's a place that has found itself so far along the slope of decline now at this point,
05:33when Samson arrives, that it's in free fall.
05:36You know, and it's going to take a seismic change in that community to stop it.
05:41When he goes back to that community, it's also changed because of the drug addiction.
05:45Right, the Rapplers.
05:46Yeah. So there's this drug called White Whisper, which is kind of fentanyl equivalent in the game.
05:51I found a big stash of White Whisper and a bunch of zonked out rattlers that get captive.
05:57Whisper. I swear the fucking drug is everywhere.
06:00Samson, he's thinking, finally I get to go home. And then of course home's not what it was.
06:05Exactly. Not what he was expecting.
06:07Poor bastard's gone. Never stood a chance. What the fuck happened to this city?
06:12And the design of the game represents that as well.
06:16You know, we're in this kind of lovely, evocative, grimy city, even though it's not all set at night.
06:21It's almost got that kind of nighttime vibe to it, hasn't it?
06:25And graffiti sprayed corners and sort of tatty stuff on the streets and buildings that have seen better days.
06:32You know, we hear comments from other characters as well about they just don't know how to get out of
06:37here anymore.
06:38Yeah. They don't see hope.
06:40Yeah. And I mean, so that's, it's a 90s noir.
06:44Don't get up.
06:45It's a place where to survive is hard and most people are down on their luck, so it must be
06:51rough.
06:51There's, of all the games of the places to be an NPC, I would say that Tindleston is probably not
06:56the place you'd want to move.
06:57This has been my home for 20 years.
06:59So I think it was our job to bring that to the voice performances as well.
07:05You know, to add that weight and that grit and that realism where you feel like you're right in the
07:10room with Samson while he is doing all the things that Samson has to do to get to the end
07:17of his story.
07:19See that car over there? It belongs to me. I need you to kill me with it. Hit and run.
07:26Are you fucking serious?
07:27And Samson's not a martial artist, right?
07:30You know, there's nothing polished about the characters in this game.
07:35Another round, huh? Fine.
07:38Clean fights are for losers.
07:40Yeah.
07:40You know what I mean? Samson is not the guy who is going to bow to you after the fight
07:45is finished.
07:45He's going to smash you in the head with a toaster and move on with his day, you know?
07:51If you're going to ruin Samson's day, you better be ready for the consequences because he's had too many days
07:57ruined.
07:57He's not got enough left. I think that's the thing.
08:00Yeah.
08:02He made his choice. I'm going to make sure you respect it.
08:06Fuck this. Come on then.
08:11And pretend to be quick
08:13Go good back to him.
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