BLACKWOOD drops you into one of the more demanding setups in recent action adventure games: you play Anton Blackwood, a Brooklyn DVD store owner in 2012 New York who moonlights as a contract killer. The catch is that both halves of that life demand your attention equally. Ignore the shop and you cannot make the 11,000 to 13,000 monthly payment. Ignore your loadout and the night jobs will punish you for it. Act 1 ships with four main story missions, a stack of optional contracts, and a repeating day loop that ties everything together.
How does the day loop work in BLACKWOOD?
Every day follows the same skeleton. Anton wakes at home, handles morning chores, opens the DVD store, completes the shop prompts for that day, then heads to the basement before a mission. Seven days form a week and four weeks form a month. At the end of each month, rent and hush money come due at somewhere between 11,000 and 13,000 total. Miss that payment once and pressure starts building. Miss it a second time and the run ends.
The basement is where the two halves of Anton's life connect. The DarkMail computer down there receives all job offers, and the weapon bench lets you modify firearms before heading out. Get comfortable with both before you take your first contract.
BLACKWOOD Act 1 Walkthrough
Escaping the sewers: how to solve the Gate 6 water puzzle
Act 1 opens underground. Anton is already in the tunnels when the game begins, and the sequence doubles as a movement tutorial. Follow the path, vault the steel gate when you reach it, and move the shelf blocking the wall to crawl through to the deeper section.
A strong water current will stop your progress. Head right and climb onto the raised platform, then go through the door into the control room. Before touching anything, pick up the folder on the table. It lists lever sequences for multiple gates. You need the row assigned to Gate 6.
At the control panel, set the five switches in this order:
- Down
- Up
- Up
- Down
- Down
That combination shuts off the flow and opens the blocked tunnel. Leave the control room, turn right into the newly accessible passage, take the left path past the crocodile-like creature in the water, continue upstairs, and climb the ladder to reach street level.
BLACKWOOD Act 1 Walkthrough
The plaza firefight and reaching Anton's car
The cutscene after emerging from the tunnels does not give Anton much breathing room. The plaza fight that follows introduces several combat mechanics at once.
Take cover behind the vehicle on the right immediately rather than pushing forward. Contextual takedowns restore some health when they connect, which rewards aggressive positioning once a group thins out. Diving triggers brief slow-motion that lets you line up shots mid-air, so use it when crossing open ground between cover points.
After clearing the first group, head north toward the archway. A second ambush waits there. Push through, complete the close-quarters tutorial fight, and continue to Anton's car. Reaching it ends the opening sequence and triggers the title card at roughly the 20-minute mark.
BLACKWOOD Act 1 Walkthrough
Week 1, Monday: the DVD store and Ernesto's request
The pace drops sharply once the story moves to the store. Monday morning starts with Anton's routine: change clothes in the closet, use the bathroom, and prepare breakfast at the stove. The computer in the apartment handles online shopping for both DVDs and equipment.
Before heading downstairs, a neighbor's kid named Ernesto will ask Anton for a copy of a movie called Fist and Flames. Order it from the DVD Planet store on the apartment computer, then head down to open the shop. After the opening story scene with Tom, the store management tutorial begins.
Store Popularity determines how much clean money the business generates each day. Keep the floor clean, organize DVDs by genre on the correct racks, and interact with Emily when the opportunity appears. Her relationship with Anton opens additional options later in the game.
BLACKWOOD Act 1 Walkthrough
The first set of mandatory chores covers the basics:
- Feed the store cat using the food bowl beside the counter
- Clean the poster near the front of the shop
- Organize the comic books nearby
- Pick up the mop and clean the dirty areas on the shop floor, including the mess in front of the T-shirt rack
- Dust the shelf directly ahead
Once the Fist and Flames DVD is ready, collect it from the basement computer's DVD Planet section and deliver it to Ernesto's door upstairs.
What are the four main story missions in Act 1?
All four main missions arrive via DarkMail labeled [MAIN]. The table below summarizes each one and the day it becomes available.
The first story job, Discreet Retrieval Required, is already in progress when the recorded opening begins. Good Work. Next Step. follows it on Monday. Cars all patched up runs on Tuesday. The Lantern message closes Act 1 on Thursday.
Monday: Good Work. Next Step.
Littleboy42 directs Anton to Chambers Street station at 20:15 and warns him to avoid a tail. The mission moves through station platforms, a train, another station section, and back to street level. A mid-mission prompt sends Anton back to the store to collect a package before the day ends. The WEEK 01 MONDAY overview screen is the clear completion marker.
A MetroStation notice visible on Tuesday confirms Chambers Street is temporarily closed following the Monday incident. That is continuity, not a second objective.
Tuesday: Cars all patched up
Eddie confirms the car is repaired and asks Anton to help test it. The Tuesday mission is an extended vehicle sequence with pursuit and shooting throughout. There is no on-foot detour or separate building section during this stretch. Stay with the vehicle objective until the day overview appears after the driving section ends.
Wednesday: Stunt Work I (optional)
On Wednesday, I got the info on Lantern is already visible at the top of DarkMail. The recorded route selects [CONTRACT] Stunt Work I ($1,250) [WIP] instead. Because it carries the contract label, players following only the main story can skip it entirely.
Stunt Work I loads Scene: Take 1 – The Toilet Fight, with objectives requiring a takedown using the mirror and another using the environment. Completing it does not change the main-mission order. Lantern remains the next story entry regardless.
Thursday: I got the info on Lantern
The final main mission opens after more apartment mail and store work. Lantern begins in neon club and service spaces before moving into guarded interiors. The route changes elevation, gives Anton a brief escape objective, then sends him into another interior section. Near the end, Anton reaches a room with several readable records: an assessment concerning Blackwood, hospital patient information, and a death certificate. Interact with all marked documents before following the next objective.
The ending alternates between fights and cinematics for an extended stretch. The Act One Complete Steam achievement and the developer credits confirm the run is finished.
Weapon setup: Clean Cash vs Dirty Cash loadouts
Weapons in BLACKWOOD are modular and exist as unique instances. You can keep multiple copies of the same firearm built for different roles, and compatible parts transfer between them. Before the Lantern mission, the recorded route equips a modified Spectre 34. That reflects one tested approach rather than a mandatory loadout.
The split between the two economies also applies to gear:
- Clean Cash covers civilian guns, standard outfits, and legitimate store stock
- Dirty Cash covers black-market weapons, illegal modifications, and untraceable ammunition
The Choreography menu lets you customize takedown slots before a mission. Lower difficulties display timing cues for parries and dodges. Higher difficulties remove those cues entirely, and on the hardest setting the ammo count disappears from the HUD, requiring Anton to physically check the weapon.
What does the Act 1 purchase actually include?
Buying BLACKWOOD at the $24.99 launch price locks in the full game. Act 2 (March 2027) and Act 3 (September 2027) both arrive as free updates for existing owners. The price increases to $29.99 at Act 2 and $34.99 at Act 3 for new buyers, so purchasing at launch is the most cost-efficient option.
Act 1 ships with 4 main story missions, multiple side missions with adjustable challenge settings, DVD store management, 29 achievements, and 4 leaderboards. Free side mission updates are also planned between the major acts.
Where to go from here
Act 1 is a focused, linear story that takes roughly six or more hours to complete on the main path. Side contracts, optional invitations, and shop management add time beyond that, and the monthly bill means you cannot ignore the store even if the night jobs feel more urgent.
For deeper coverage of every system, the BLACKWOOD guides collection covers store management, the dual economy, combat mechanics, controls, stealth, and weapon builds in dedicated pages. Start there once the credits roll and you want to optimize the second pass or prepare for Act 2 in March 2027.