Blackwood is What John Wick Could Have Been if He Had a Hobby

Ever since John Wick released all the way back in 2015, with multiple sequels and spin-offs since, gamers, myself included, have wanted some sort of video game version to enact our own martial art revenge. We’ve had games in a similar vein, the excellent Sifu, for example, but nothing where you’re suit-wearing, floppy-haired assassin attempting to right the wrongs. That’s exactly what Blackwood is, albeit, with a bit of a twist.

If you’re unaware, Blackwood tells the story of an assassin by night, and a Blockbuster-esque store owner by day. And you get to partake in both sides of this man’s life. One side a properly in-depth store sim, the other an all out attack to the senses hitman story. That’s right, if you don’t want to be an assassin for a while, you can just spend your time running and improving the store, increasing sales, changing whatever you think of in the store itself, and making it the perfect cash-laundering-front for your nightly activities. And your nightly activities? Well, that’s where the game really shines.

During my time with it at Gamescom 2026, a representative of AttritoM7 Productions said that they took influence from a number of different areas, including John Wick, but also the cinema of John Woo, and more. The latter is as evident as the former, with big cinematic moments being the order of the day, and a hand-to-hand combat system that’d make light work of both Wick and any of Woo’s protagonists. If I took anything away from the preview that day, it was the depth of the combat system, and the impressive feel of the shooting.

The representative was open and up front to the questions I asked, one of which was how many unique kill animations were currently in the game. I asked this as during my time with it, I’d dispatched a considerable amount of people and not once had I seen the same animation. The answer to my question was over fifty, with each one dependent on your environment, items around you (meaning contextual assassinations are back on the menu), and the weapons you, or our enemy, has in hand. This is not only impressive from a development point of view, but also from a gameplay point of view, staving off any semblance of boredom or routine, and putting further onus on the protagonist’s abilities.

Games like Blackwood live and die on the gunplay and fighting, and as mentioned, the hand-to-hand combat is definitely top quality. Every punch feels like it hits, every kick breaks ribs. The shooting side of things also feels nicely weighted, with each gun feeling uniquely different in terms of power, recoil and ease-of-use. That said, it was all very intuitive. By the end of my time with it, I was cracking off headshots like I was actually John Wick. It doesn’t hold hands in any way, from a lack of yellow paint (at the time), to the difficulty being unforgiving, not allowing mistakes or our protagonist to tank any amount of bullets, it’s a riotous good time, and feels like the mashup of John Wick and all manner of martial arts films we’ve all seen, and pulls everything off well.

There’s also a surprisingly deep gun customisation system in place, where you’re able to unlock and purchase a huge number of attachments that’ll change the way the gun handles and fires, but there wasn’t enough time to really put this to the test to see how different these attachments made my guns, if I’m honest.

Now, AttritoM7 Productions is a small studio, so the above in Blackwood is impressive enough, but there are some shortcomings. The graphics on the character models, which I will always say are the least important part of any video game, are rough when in motion, and lipsync is awful, but thankfully the cutscenes are minimal, and I was assured the lipsync especially would be improved prior to release.

Plus, if you don’t want to do any of the above, ignore all the contracts, don’t bother gunning anyone down, and just sit in blissful, peaceful ignorance and run your store. Other than Blackwood, what other games allow you to do that?

For your next read, check out the latest trailer for The 7th Shift, or our interview with The Eventide devs, the former Mass Effect team that’s striking out on their own.

Luke Addison

Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!