At the end of every in-game month BLACKWOOD asks for bills and hush money totalling around 11-13k. You can settle it in one go or chip away at it during the month. Miss it once and the game sends someone to ask why; miss it twice and the run is over.
All of it comes from one place: the official Everything You Need to Know About BLACKWOOD announcement on Steam. The developer's own Gameplay Deep Dive video, on the AttritoM7 Productions channel, does not mention bills, rent or monthly expenses at all — the system is only described in writing. We have not played the game, so nothing below is a measured figure.
When the bill comes due
The announcement sets out the calendar first:
"Seven days make up a week, and four weeks form a month. The name of the month is never stated."
Four weeks of seven days is a 28-day month, and the bill arrives at the end of it. The months are unnamed in game, so there is no in-fiction date to anchor to — you are counting days, not watching for a calendar month to roll over.
What is published and what is not
The reason this page is short is that the developer published a range and a rule set, and nothing finer. Here is the whole of it, separated from what remains blank:
| Detail | What is published | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Billing period | End of every in-game month; a month is four weeks of seven days | Developer announcement |
| Total due | Around 11-13k, bills and hush money combined | Developer announcement |
| Payment options | All at once, or gradually through the month | Developer announcement |
| First missed payment | Warning sequence, with police attention or loan sharks investigating | Developer announcement |
| Second missed payment | Game over | Developer announcement |
| Split between rent and hush money | Not published | — |
| Which in-game day the first bill lands | Not published | — |
| Whether the total grows with story or store progress | Not published | — |
The wording behind row two matters, because it is routinely quoted as a rent figure:
"At the end of each month, you're required to pay your bills and hush money, which can total around 11-13k. You can pay this amount all at once or gradually throughout the month, but failing to cover it comes with consequences."
Bills and hush money, together, around 11-13k. Not a rent figure, and not an exact one. Other pre-launch pages carrying the same range are repeating this announcement rather than confirming it independently, so the range has one source, not several.
What you pay it with
Bills are a Clean Cash problem. The developer's list of what Clean Cash covers opens with "monthly rent and recurring expenses", which puts the month-end payment squarely on the store's side of the ledger. What the announcement never says is whether Dirty Cash is actually blocked from covering it — the currency split is set out on Clean Cash and Dirty Cash, including that open question.
Whether a store left on autopilot can generate enough to cover a month is worked through on The DVD Store, and we are not repeating the arithmetic here.
What happens when you miss it
The consequences are staged, and the second stage is terminal:
"Missing a monthly payment triggers a warning sequence involving police attention or loan sharks showing up to investigate why you couldn't pay. Failing to pay a second time results in a game over."
So a first miss is survivable and comes with a scripted response rather than an instant fail state. A second miss is not survivable. The developer's own summary of the system is that "planning ahead and managing your finances is not optional, it's survival", which is unusually blunt for a mechanic that in most management games would just be a nagging debt meter.
What the announcement does not describe is what that warning sequence actually consists of — whether police attention means a wanted state, patrols, or a scene, and whether loan sharks are a combat encounter or a conversation. We are not guessing between those.
What is still unverified about the bill
- The exact total. Only a range has been published, with no breakdown between rent, utilities and hush money.
- The first bill's timing. No stated day, and no confirmation of whether month one is billed at all.
- Whether missed payments reset. It is unclear whether the counter tracks two misses in a row or two misses across the whole run.
- Whether Dirty Cash can be used directly. Never addressed either way.
- Whether sleeping or resting advances the bill clock. Pre-launch pages elsewhere assert it does. The announcement does not say so, and we are not repeating it as fact.
Every one of these is answerable by playing, and that is how we will answer them.
FAQ
How much are the monthly bills in BLACKWOOD?
Around 11-13k, and that total is bills and hush money combined rather than rent by itself. The developer has published the range but never a fixed number or a breakdown, so treat anything more precise as invented.
What happens if I cannot pay the bill?
The first missed payment triggers a warning sequence, described by the developer as police attention or loan sharks showing up to investigate why you could not pay. Failing to pay a second time is a game over.
Can I pay the bill in instalments?
Yes. The developer states you can pay the amount all at once or gradually throughout the month. What is not stated is whether there is a minimum instalment or a schedule you have to keep to.