BLACKWOOD Review: A Double Life That Shouldn’t Work This Well

By Justin D Williams

There are plenty of games about assassins, and there are plenty of games built around running a business, but BLACKWOOD combines those two ideas in a way I wasn’t expecting to become so invested in. The game follows Anton Blackwood, a man living in New York City in 2012 who spends his days helping run a DVD store and his nights taking on a far more violent line of work. That contrast immediately caught my attention, but the biggest surprise was discovering that neither side feels like filler. I became just as interested in whether my store had enough low-rated horror movies in stock as I was in figuring out how I wanted to approach Anton’s next contract. The story works largely because I like Anton. He isn’t presented as some unstoppable assassin who occasionally pretends to have a normal life; the ordinary parts of his existence actually matter. His relationship with Amelie, his responsibilities at the store and the decisions I make about how Anton spends his time all help sell the idea that these are genuinely two sides of the same person. Act 1 clearly isn’t giving me the complete picture of Anton’s past yet, and there are people and events surrounding him that still have plenty of unanswered questions attached to them, but I enjoyed the gradual approach. Rather than dumping everything about him into a long exposition scene, the game lets pieces of Anton’s life emerge through conversations, emails, missions and the world around him.

That unfinished nature of the story is important because BLACKWOOD is structured as a three-act experience. Act 1 is what I’m reviewing here, while Act 2 is currently planned for March 2027 and Act 3 for September 2027, with those later acts intended to complete Anton’s larger story. That means I can judge whether this opening chapter made me care about Anton, Amelie and the world around them, and on that front it absolutely worked for me. What I can’t judge yet is whether all of these threads ultimately pay off, and that is one of the main reasons I’m not pushing the game into a higher rating tier just yet. The biggest surprise for me was the DVD store itself. I expected the management side to be something I would tolerate between story missions, but I ended up getting strangely addicted to running the place. Anton orders movies online through DVD Planet, and the inventory is divided across genres such as action, adventure, horror and romance. Movies also fall into different rating levels, ranging from low-rated titles through mid-rated and high-rated films, with excellent sitting at the top.

What makes that system interesting is that customers don’t automatically want the highest-rated movie available. During my playthrough, I had a surprising number of customers walk in specifically looking for lower-rated titles, so stocking nothing but highly rated movies would actually be a bad business decision. If somebody tells me they want a low-rated action movie, I need to pay attention to that request and recommend something that actually fits it. Before long, I wasn’t simply buying random DVDs anymore; I was checking whether I had enough options across every genre and rating level because I knew somebody was eventually going to ask for something specific. Pricing adds another layer that made me pay even closer attention to the inventory. Anton can raise or lower DVD prices, and I learned pretty quickly that customers aren’t going to blindly accept whatever ridiculous number I decide to put on something. I had one lowerrated movie sitting on the shelf that simply wasn’t moving, and eventually I noticed its market value was around $12 while my store was trying to sell it for $19. Once I started paying more attention to market prices and adjusting what I charged, I could actually see the difference in how well certain movies sold.

Running the store goes beyond ordering inventory and changing prices. Anton has to clean the floors, keep newspapers and comics organized, maintain stock, interact with customers, make recommendations and make sure people are actually being rung up. Your service, upkeep and inventory all contribute to the store’s overall rating, and improving that rating brings more customers through the door. It creates a satisfying cycle where making the business more successful also gives me more responsibilities to keep up with. Amelie plays a major role in making that manageable. I can assign her to work the register while I handle customers and other jobs on the sales floor, or switch responsibilities depending on what needs attention. The part I like most is that spending time working in the store alongside her also improves Anton’s relationship with her, so the system doesn’t feel disconnected from the characters. Staying at the store isn’t just about making more money; it can also affect one of the most important relationships in Anton’s everyday life.

The in-game internet deserves a lot of credit because it ties almost all of these systems together. DVD Planet is where I browse movies and purchase stock for the shop, complete with individual covers, categories, prices and available copies. It becomes part of the normal routine because I’m constantly checking whether certain genres or rating levels need more inventory. I started treating it the same way I would treat a supplier in a traditional management game, except here I’m looking through fake DVD covers and wondering whether customers will actually pay for something like Beneath the Tide. AmazeOn expands that shopping system beyond the store. Anton can browse departments for clothing and accessories, electronics, entertainment and other products, and some of those purchases feed directly back into his life. Clothing can be bought and then worn through the wardrobe at his apartment, where Anton has multiple outfit sets ranging from casual jackets and jeans to suits and more specialized clothing. It isn’t a deep character creator, but I like that changing Anton’s appearance is connected to an actual store rather than simply existing as a disconnected customization menu. There are other things to browse and purchase as well, and that helps make the in-game computer feel like part of Anton’s world instead of a fancy menu screen. News sites, email, entertainment products and various storefronts give me reasons to click around even when I’m not immediately trying to accomplish a mission objective. I especially like how much effort has gone into creating fake products, advertisements, movie artwork and branding because it reinforces the 2012 setting and gives Anton’s everyday life more personality.

The shopping systems also make the game’s economy feel more meaningful. I have legitimate reasons to spend money on Anton, the DVD store and his equipment instead of simply watching a cash total increase forever. The interface separates Anton’s finances into Clean Cash and Dirty Cash, which is one of those small details that perfectly summarizes the entire concept of BLACKWOOD. One side of his life is worried about whether a customer will spend $15 on a mediocre DVD, while the other side is preparing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on weapons and equipment for a violent job. That darker shopping happens through the Clean Road Open Market, and this is where Anton starts preparing for his nighttime work. The black market is much more extensive than I initially expected, with separate categories for ammunition, gear, weapons, mods, tactical equipment and optics. There are handguns, revolvers, rifles and other firearms alongside different ammunition types, suppressors, flash hiders, muzzle brakes, flashlights, laser sights, stocks, magazines, foregrips, red-dot sights, holographic sights and scopes. I enjoyed browsing it because it gives the weapons side of the game its own economy and progression instead of simply handing Anton a new gun after every major mission.

What makes this even better is that buying the weapon is really only the beginning. BLACKWOOD has a proper gun customization system where Anton can place a firearm on his workbench and modify compatible parts. Depending on the weapon, there are attachment points for things such as the muzzle, front rail, rear rail, magazine and other components. The modification screen also gives me information such as damage, recoil, spray and weapon weight, so I’m not just attaching parts because they look good; I can actually think about how I want the weapon to perform. The amount of customization is deeper than I expected. The Mods section includes stocks, magazines, foregrips, barrels and other weapon-specific components, while the Tactical section carries things such as muzzle brakes, flash hiders, flashlights, laser sights and suppressors. Optics are handled separately, with everything from basic iron sights to holographic sights, red dots and larger scopes. Not every part fits every firearm either, so I actually had to pay attention to compatibility rather than buying every attachment I could afford and assuming it would work. I especially liked being able to take something like the Spectre 34 back to the workbench and actually see the parts I had installed. The weapon can gradually become my version of that firearm depending on what I add to it, and that made the shooting side feel more personal. This isn’t a military simulator with an overwhelmingly complex gunsmith system, but there is enough depth here that I started thinking about loadouts and purpose rather than simply chasing whichever weapon had the biggest damage number.

The customization also gives Dirty Cash more purpose. Completing Anton’s nighttime work earns money that can disappear quickly into ammunition, weapons, optics and upgrades, which keeps that side of the economy moving. One night I might decide that a new rifle is worth saving for, while another time I might keep the weapon I already own and instead spend my money on a better optic, larger magazine or suppressor. The game constantly gives me something useful to work toward, which makes earning money feel meaningful on both sides of Anton’s life. Anton accesses his missions through the basement, where the available work is separated into Main missions, Contracts and Invites. Main missions push the central story forward, while the other categories can offer different kinds of jobs such as fights, shooting challenges, stunt work and other assignments. Each job offers its own reward, which gives me a reason to look beyond the main story whenever I want extra money or simply feel like doing something different. I also like how the mission system interacts with the store. Anton can take jobs during the day, but doing so means walking away from the business and potentially hurting both the store and his relationship with Amelie. Since I can only complete one mission per day anyway, I quickly settled into what felt like the natural rhythm of the game: work the DVD store during the day and handle Anton’s other occupation at night. That routine makes both halves of the game feel connected instead of turning the shop and the action into two completely separate modes.

Combat is where BLACKWOOD really shines, although it is also one of the areas that still needs some refinement. Anton has an impressive amount of hand-to-hand ability, and at its best there is an almost free-flow quality to moving between opponents, striking, blocking and finishing enemies off. I say almost because it isn’t always as smooth as it wants to be. Blocking occasionally failed to register when I felt like I had timed it properly, and the camera could become a problem when several enemies were crowding around Anton at once. When everything works, though, the melee combat is brutal and satisfying. Hits have weight, enemies react well to Anton’s attacks and the takedowns are easily one of my favorite parts of the game. The Choreography system makes them even better because I can assign different takedowns to multiple slots and essentially build the sequence Anton uses during combat. Each successful takedown moves through the order I have created, allowing me to shape how his finishing sequences play out rather than relying on a single repeated animation. Some takedowns also have specific requirements, which gives the system more depth than I initially expected. One example is Slide Sweep Turnover, where Anton slides underneath an opponent, sweeps the legs, rolls the enemy onto the ground and finishes the sequence with controlled shots. That particular move requires Anton to be using a one-handed weapon and fighting on a plane surface, so I can’t simply trigger every takedown under any circumstance. Those requirements make the Choreography menu feel like an actual combat customization system instead of just a gallery of cool animations.

I really enjoyed being able to decide what kind of brawler I wanted Anton to be. Instead of repeatedly seeing the same finisher, I could build a sequence of takedowns that gave his fighting style more personality. Some are relatively straightforward while others are far more elaborate, and experimenting with the order became something I regularly went back to. Combined with the brutality of the melee combat, it helps give BLACKWOOD an identity beyond simply being another third-person action game. Gunplay is much more familiar, but I still had a blast with it. Anton uses a traditional thirdperson shooting setup built around cover, movement and positioning, and trying to rush through encounters carelessly usually ended badly for me. I had to pay attention to where enemies were positioned, decide when to move, figure out which targets were the biggest threat and use cover intelligently. It isn’t reinventing third-person shooting, but it works well enough that I genuinely enjoyed the combat encounters. The weapon customization makes those firefights more interesting because I can prepare differently depending on what I expect to face. A close-range setup doesn’t necessarily need the same attachments I would want for a longer firefight, and I liked being able to make those decisions before going out. Between the black market, the workbench and the amount of available attachments, there is a nice preparation loop where finishing one job can immediately make me think about how I want to build Anton for the next one.

Enemy A.I. can be inconsistent, and I saw moments where opponents made questionable decisions, but there were also behaviors that genuinely impressed me. One of my favorite details was seeing an enemy run out of ammunition and then reach for the weapon of a fallen ally so he could continue attacking me. That little moment immediately stood out because it made the enemy feel like he was responding to the situation rather than simply following a fixed animation. I just wish the A.I. operated at that level consistently because the weaker moments become more noticeable once I have seen what it is capable of doing. I do strongly recommend changing a few settings before getting too far into the game. I turned off the assists and adjusted the sensitivity until aiming and movement felt comfortable for me, and that made a noticeable difference. The defaults didn’t feel quite right, especially during shooting, so spending a few minutes tuning those options made the entire experience feel better. Considering how much BLACKWOOD relies on quick reactions during both melee combat and gunfights, getting those controls where you want them is worth doing immediately.

Visually, BLACKWOOD isn’t going to be the game I use to show somebody the absolute best graphics available on PC, but I don’t think that hurts it much. What I appreciate far more is the amount of attention given to smaller details. The DVD covers are individually designed, posters fill the store and apartment, fictional websites have their own branding, advertisements appear throughout the online stores, Anton has multiple outfits and even his facial expressions help give him personality during quieter scenes. The individual assets may not always be technically impressive, but together they make the world feel much more carefully constructed. The amount of visual work put into the fake internet is particularly impressive. DVD Planet has its own movie posters and categories, AmazeOn has product pages and departments, news sites have their own layouts and advertisements, and the Clean Road Open Market looks appropriately different from the legitimate sites Anton visits during the day. Even when I’m staring at what is essentially an interface, the presentation is still reinforcing the difference between Anton’s two lives. I did notice some clipping, particularly inside the DVD store where characters and objects occasionally don’t behave perfectly around each other. Nothing I encountered was severe enough to interfere with the game, but it is something that could use additional polish. There are also moments where the character models or environments don’t look especially high-end, but that rarely bothered me because the amount of detail around them gives the world enough personality to compensate.

For context, I played BLACKWOOD on my Dell G16 laptop with an Intel Core i9 processor, an RTX 4060 laptop GPU, 16GB of RAM and an NVMe SSD. My system sits comfortably above the recommended requirements, and for most of my time with the game, performance was smooth. Running the store, browsing the websites, moving around Anton’s apartment and handling smaller encounters generally gave me no major problems. The most noticeable frame-rate drops happened during heavier combat sequences. When several enemies were shooting at Anton simultaneously, or when a large group crowded around him during melee combat and everybody seemed determined to attack at once, I could feel the performance dip. Those moments were noticeable but generally brief, and I never experienced anything that I would consider game-breaking. There is definitely room for further optimization during the busiest fights, but overall I was satisfied with how BLACKWOOD performed on my machine.

What sticks with me most is how successfully BLACKWOOD makes all these systems feel like parts of the same life. I can start a day checking inventory, order some horror DVDs, lower the price of a movie that isn’t selling, clean the floor, help customers, work alongside Amelie and maybe buy Anton a new outfit online. Then the store closes, I head downstairs, check the available jobs, browse the black market, buy ammunition, modify a weapon, adjust Anton’s Choreography setup and prepare to spend the night doing something considerably less legal. That transition shouldn’t feel as natural as it does, but somehow the game makes it work. That is ultimately what makes BLACKWOOD stand out for me. It would have been easy for the DVD store to feel like a gimmick or for the assassin half to completely overshadow everything else, but I genuinely cared about both. I wanted the business to succeed, I wanted to improve Anton’s relationship with Amelie and I wanted to make smarter decisions about stock and pricing. At the same time, I wanted to experiment with takedowns, upgrade my firearms, browse new attachments and see what kind of mission was waiting for me that night.

There are still areas that need improvement. Blocking needs to become more consistent, the camera can make crowded fights more frustrating than they should be, the A.I. varies in quality, clipping occasionally shows up and performance can dip during heavier encounters. The larger story also isn’t finished yet, and with Act 2 planned for March 2027 and Act 3 planned for September 2027, there is still a lot about Anton’s journey that I simply can’t judge yet. At the same time, Act 1 has already done something important: it made me want to keep playing because I care about both sides of Anton’s life. That is why I’m stopping at Checkpoint Reached on the Power-Up Bar. BLACKWOOD is good, fun and ambitious, and there are moments where I can absolutely see it eventually reaching Level Up territory. I became far more invested in managing the DVD store than I ever expected, while the brutal melee combat, satisfying gunplay, Choreography system, extensive weapon customization, black-market economy and strange double-life structure give the game an identity of its own. There are noticeable flaws and two more acts still need to complete Anton’s story, but what is here already has a strong foundation and, more importantly, I had a very hard time putting it down.

FINAL RATING