Blackwood

30% of reviews discuss the melee, and complaints far outnumber praise. It comes up much more often in reviews written past the two-hour mark, probably because that is when the forced fist fights start. The problems are specific: the parry window feels random or late, the dodge barely moves you and does not avoid hits, there is no lock-on so punches go to whoever is nearest, enemies get hyper-armor and hit you from outside their reach, and fights with more than two enemies turn into getting mobbed. The boss fist fights, above all the Silas fight near the end of Act 1, became the flashpoint: unblockable pipe and kick attacks with late warnings, no way to use the gun on your hip, and a full mission restart on death. It produced rage quits and refunds, and some players simply button-mashed through it. A melee patch in the first week helped, but second-week reviews still say melee needs work.

34% of reviews call the game janky, clunky or unpolished, and dozens say it plays like an Early Access build. Players point to stiff movement and animation transitions, clipping, NPCs frozen in place, civilians holding invisible phones, and interaction prompts that only trigger from exact spots. Several quoted the store page's insistence that Act 1 is not Early Access, which made the rough state sting more. Fans generally agree about the jank; they rate the fun above it.

Players who got past the opening hours note that Act 1 has only about four main missions and can be finished in two to five hours. The remaining side contracts and arena or wave modes feel repetitive, and some missions are over in five minutes. With Act 2 slated for March 2027, some reviewers advise waiting and buying the complete game later.

Stutters, shader-compilation hitches, frame drops in combat and random crashes come up often, a little more in reviews from the first two hours, and some of those reviews end in quick refunds. Some are annoyed that dated-looking visuals run this poorly. The DX12 build draws specific complaints (freezes, green flashes), and several recommend switching to DX11. Experiences vary: some report smooth performance, including on Steam Deck and Linux.

The main-story car chase draws heavy complaints. Players describe the handling as "driving on soap," with oncoming cars swerving into you, instant failure from tapping a lamp post, cars launching into the air, and a restart from the beginning of the whole mission on every failure. A few refunded after repeated attempts, and one called it worse than Mafia's infamous race.

Players report enemies tracking them through walls and floors, firing during takedowns, landing near-aimbot SMG shots, and, in the survival wave mode, spawning directly behind them without footstep sounds. Other enemies stand still and do nothing, which makes firefights feel unfair and inconsistent at the same time.

The game saves only when Anton goes to bed, so a crash or failed mission can wipe out a whole in-game day of store work and contracts. Players who hit crashes describe replaying the same day over and over, and mission checkpoints are also called too sparse.

The lead voice performance is a sore point for some: players call it whispery, over-emotive or flat, and one noted his voice is mixed in loud mono while other characters are in stereo. Dialogue is called cringeworthy or robotic, and close-up faces and lip sync look dated, with several reviews comparing them to the PS3 era. A minority liked the story and found the acting charmingly cheesy.

The cover button often fails to register or leaves you stuck, pop-out aiming lands in the wrong spot, and there is no crouch. Controller players report that the D-pad and sticks do not work in menus, aim assist is far too strong even on minimal, running on L1 cannot be remapped, and the same button handles vault and dive. Mouse and keyboard players ask for separate aim and camera sensitivity sliders. Ultrawide players note missing aspect-ratio and FOV options.

Players describe compressed or muffled audio, takedowns with missing sound, weak gun sounds, and store music that stays loud after you walk away.

Some new players could not tell how to save, how to take contracts (only the basement computer works), how to raise the store rating, or how to finish chores, and a few soft-locked early on (for example unable to feed the cat or enter the store).

A small group objects that DVD covers, posters and some in-game photos look AI-generated, which bothers them because store stock is so central to the day loop. Some said they would change their vote if those assets were replaced with hand-made art.