When I saw BLACKWOOD pop up, I immediately thought: this looks like a cool and realistic action game! I checked out the Steam page and saw that during the day, you have to run a DVD store, while at night, you work as a hitman. And that combination immediately caught my attention. Cozy elements mixed with action-packed hitman gameplay!
I quickly realized that the game isn’t really like GTA, mainly because it isn’t an open-world game. Instead, it’s all about story missions, with lots of fighting and shooting. And of course, a single-player game doesn’t necessarily need an open world, but I had initially hoped it would have one. It’s more of a John Wick/Max Payne-style game. You carry out missions as a hitman and take out targets. During the day, however, you run your DVD store, and I think this element is really cool. You do a few chores, feed your cat, and make sure your inventory stays stocked. Meanwhile, you experience the story of Anton Blackwood and explore New York, just not in an open world!
Unfortunately, in my opinion, the game was released way too early. I get the whole Early Access thing, but this feels too early even for Early Access. You can see enemies in the distance running all over the place, seemingly unsure of which path to take. Their movements aren’t smooth either. Instead, they look very choppy and unnatural. And the game is just full of weird glitches and bugs. For example, when you pick up a gun, the entire body lying next to it sometimes just completely disappears. On top of that, the voice acting isn’t particularly good either. It feels incredibly emotionless, which makes the whole experience feel very static. The voice actor could really use a few acting classes…
What I found disappointing is that, in the end, managing the store was actually what appealed to me the most. Because of this, I kind of forgot about everything else and started losing interest in the rest of the game. Don’t get me wrong: managing the store, the tycoon-style element of the game, is very well done and genuinely fun. But the rest of the game definitely needs to be made more appealing. Because in the end, all I wanted to do was run errands around the store and keep managing my inventory. So don’t get me wrong. I think this game really has potential and could be a lot of fun. The concept of running a little shop during the day and then going around shooting everyone in the evening is just really cool. Thanks to that variety, the gameplay doesn’t start feeling repetitive too quickly.
Right now, though, the combat system just isn’t ready yet, so you end up avoiding pretty much everything related to the story or other battles. And that’s a shame, because some of the takedowns can be really brutal and cinematic. So I know a more polished version could be really cool! The shooting itself also feels good. Weapons feel powerful, which makes shooting a real pleasure. Plus, you can customize your weapons however you want. Ultimately, those elements form the foundation of a good action game. So it’s time to get back to the drawing board and fix things!
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