Blackwood: Act 1
Developer: AttritoM7 Productions
Publishers: IZilla Games, AttritoM7 Productions
Platforms: Steam (Windows), with plans for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S at an undetermined date.
Price: Usually $25, with a 10% discount through September 23. Includes access to acts two and three, both of which are scheduled to arrive in 2027.
The beginnings of Black wood sneaked up on me in the middle of an extremely busy period for game releases. Still, I managed to play a round of the action-life simulation hybrid this week.
This game has an irresistible setup. It’s 2012 and by day you run a DVD store. At night, you become an ersatz John Wick. The first act, with around six hours of gameplay, is available now and two more will follow next year.
This game caught my attention when a trailer appeared last October. I thought gun fu looked cool and the DVD store was my happy place, so I was into that aspect too. It clearly wears its influences on its sleeve, not least because you can dive towards the ground to trigger a Max Payne-style Bullet Time and slow the action down for a moment. I also find that the game throws you into an action sequence to help ease you into combat from the start.
However, Black wood is difficult in the current state of affairs. The melee combat is clunky, the audio mix is often unbalanced, and the car handling is atrocious. The action just isn’t as smooth as it should be for a game like this. For example, it takes way too long to pick up a weapon, which is difficult when you’re low on ammo. On top of that, the DVD store aspect isn’t really up to par. Retro rewind.
It’s a shame because there is real potential here. There are some interesting ideas (like customizing weapons and trying to balance the protagonist’s double life) and some cool takedown moments. I wonder if taking an early access approach rather than episodic would have been a wiser strategy. A buggy launch is more forgivable for an early access title.
At least the developers respond quickly to comments. They released a day one patch that fixed a few issues. AttritoM7 plans to make further changes before releasing act two. Among other things, they add an autosave function, so you won’t have to wait until you sleep to save your progress. Other side missions are also on the way. I hope the studio can tweak things in the coming months, because I’d like to return to it when everything is in better shape.
Platform Riot
Developer/publisher: Sage Boatman
Platform: Steam (Windows; playable on Steam Deck). Demo available on Steam and Itch
Price: Usually $20, with a 10% discount through September 28
Sage Boatman did everything possible Armored Core 6: Fires of the Rubiconbut I wanted more. After failing to find another game that could fill the void, the developer decided to create their own mechanical action title that they (and perhaps others) could keep coming back to. As such, Platform Riot is a roguelike.
Boatman wanted to repeat the Armored Core formula and took feedback from AC6 players taken into account when designing Platform Riot. Among other things that make this third-person shooter distinctive, it has thousands of different parts that you can equip on your robot.
In a recent Dev Diary video, Boatman said they will soon be laid off from their day jobs. If Platform Riot sells well enough to allow the developer to work on the game full time, they plan to consider adding a cooperative mode. Console and GOG versions are also possibilities.
Lily’s world XD
Developer: SonderingEmily
Publisher: Kwalee
Platform: Steam (Windows)
Price: Usually $12, with 20% off until September 24
This psychological horror title reminds me a bit of Screenlife films like Without friends And Research. It’s a computer exploration game where you travel through a teenage girl’s laptop in the 2000s. As you learn more about Lily’s life, it will become clear that all is not well and she might be in serious danger.
I saw some positive buzz around Lily’s world XD, especially because it breaks the fourth wall in certain places. SonderingEmily (who is also a creator) used real photos of her and her friends when they were teenagers to help tell Lily’s story and add extra authenticity.
Open Front
Developer: OpenFront Inc, Evan Pellegrini
Publisher: OpenFront, Inc.
Platform: Steam Early Access (Windows, Mac, SteamOS/Linux). Also available on browsers
Price: Usually $7, with 29% off until October 1
Open Front is a fast-paced multiplayer real-time strategy game that landed on Steam after amassing over 2.5 million monthly players across the web. In each match, hundreds of players compete for control of a map. You can team up with others (there are hundreds of Open Front clans), betray your rivals, take control of the seas and launch game-changing nuclear weapons. There is said to be a thriving competitive scene, so if you’re feeling good enough you can enter tournaments that offer cash prizes.
You will be able to link your account so that when you play on Steam or in your browser (including mobile), you have access to all of your progress and purchases. Both versions of the game run on the same servers.
The Steam version is said to have improved performance – the ability to preload assets will help with this. There are also exclusive achievements and cosmetics. The three developers behind Open Front aim for the full version of the game to provide better offline support for matches against computer-controlled opponents. It’s not my usual kind of game, but the action seems fast-paced enough to convince me to give it a try.
