Bangladeshi-made game Blackwood launches with mixed reviews

Bangladeshi indie studio AttritoM7 Productions, the team behind the tactical shooter Zero Hour, has launched its latest game Blackwood on Steam, bringing a John Wick-inspired take on action games to the platform.

Released on 16 September, Blackwood follows Anton Blackwood, a seemingly ordinary DVD shop owner living in New York in 2012. By day, he manages his small shop, handling stock and prices. By night, he enters the city's criminal underworld as a contract killer.

For AttritoM7, Blackwood marks a significant follow-up to Zero Hour, the tactical shooter that helped put the Bangladeshi developer on the international gaming map. Developed by the Dhaka-based team, Zero Hour built a following with its focus on close-quarters tactical combat and became one of Bangladesh's more visible indie game exports. Blackwood now sees the studio moving away from the slower, methodical pace of its previous title towards a more cinematic action experience.

The game's combat takes cues from the John Wick films, allowing players to combine gunplay with hand-to-hand combat and environmental takedowns. AttritoM7 has also worked with stunt performers to create its combat animations, with dives, rolls and slides adding a more fluid quality to encounters.

Blackwood also borrows from games such as Max Payne, featuring a Shootdodge-style dive and bullet-time sequences. Despite the cinematic presentation, however, the developers have attempted to keep combat grounded. Ammunition is limited, while health does not simply regenerate to full after every encounter, forcing players to be more careful about how they approach fights.

The game's biggest hook, however, may be what happens between those encounters. Anton's DVD shop is a functional part of the game rather than merely a backdrop. Players can manage the business during the day, creating a contrast with the violent work he carries out at night.

The 2012 setting reinforces that duality. The story takes place during the final years of the physical video rental era, when a small DVD shop could still plausibly serve as an ordinary business. Beneath that mundane façade, Anton uses his criminal connections to take on assassination contracts.

Blackwood launches with its first act, featuring more than six hours of content across four main story missions, alongside side quests and collectibles. The remaining two acts are scheduled for March and September 2027, with both planned as free updates for existing owners.

With Blackwood, the developers of Zero Hour are taking the experience gained from one of Bangladesh's most recognised indie shooters and applying it to a very different kind of game, putting a distinctly ambitious Bangladeshi studio behind a cinematic action thriller.