BLACKWOOD Reviews
BLACKWOOD is one of those games where I kept asking myself if I was being too harsh, only to play another twenty or so minutes and realize I was actually being pretty generous.
BLACKWOOD is at its most compelling when its different systems overlap. Running the store gives you clean money, contracts give you dirty money, cash gives you access to equipment, weapons become possessions you can modify, and combat rewards you for understanding movement and aggression.
Short and with an almost non-existent story to engage the player, poorly polished mechanics and archaic AI, the final product feels more like an advanced prototype than a complete commercial game. It clearly needs much more development time or should have been released in early access.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
BLACKWOOD has a compelling experience buried inside. The double-life structure works as a concept, and the dual economy gives that concept real mechanical potential. But until the technical problems and weaker systems are addressed, the potential remains more impressive than the finished experience.
he game has a great base for what could be a glorious action-adventure and sim hybrid, but the visuals and some clunky gameplay elements felt too trapped in the past. With some modern gameplay improvements, BLACKWOOD has a strong foundation to become a memorable cinematic action experience that could stand the test of time.
Blackwood stands out with an intriguing concept in which you run a shop by day and work as an assassin by night, backed by solid gunplay mechanics, yet it never fully capitalises on that potential. Its repetitive simulation structure, weak melee combat system and unpolished, unfinished feel leave it falling short of the cinematic action it promises.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
I can see the vision, and the phenomenal takedowns prove the developers have talent. But until the camera is fixed, melee is tightened up, overall jank is fixed and the rest of the campaign arrives, Blackwood remains an unpolished prototype of the John Wick shooter we are all waiting for and it should have been labeled as Early Access.
BLACKWOOD is a game that works in concept but doesn’t translate well to good gameplay. Even for a purveyor of all that is jank, it’s a tough sell. There are janky games that are fun to play, and there are ones that are not. For now, BLACKWOOD falls into the latter category.
BLACKWOOD has a strong personality of its own and fully embraces its John Wick inspiration, with satisfying gunplay, an original double-life concept, and a compelling atmosphere. Unfortunately, difficult-to-master melee combat, a lack of tutorials, no French localization, and several technical limitations hold back an experience that otherwise looks very promising on paper..
Review in French | Read full review