No. BLACKWOOD is not an open-world game, and that is not our reading of the marketing — the developer has said it outright, twice, in two different places, a year apart. What it is built around instead is a three-act structure with a fixed count of main missions in each act, set in Brooklyn in 2012.
This page answers the structure question and stops there. Beyond "not open world" and "Brooklyn, 2012", the developer has published nothing about the map, and we have not played the game, so there is nothing further here that is worth your time.
What the developer has actually said
Two official statements, both first-hand, quoted in full.
The Steam release date announcement of 26 August 2026:
"It is NOT an open-world game."
And the FAQ thread posted on the Steam Community forums by the developer account Shabib on 6 October 2025:
Q: "Is Blackwood an open world game?" A: "No. Blackwood is not designed as an open world experience."
Different channels, more than ten months apart, same answer. The same FAQ also gives the developer's own genre label, which is worth having in the same breath:
"Blackwood is a story-driven, cinematic action game with a strong emphasis on atmosphere, narrative, and immersive gameplay mechanics."
How the game is structured instead
The release date announcement replaces the open-world question with a count. Official, verbatim:
"The current structure is: Act 1: 4 main missions / Act 2: 4 main missions / Act 3: 5 main missions. These numbers refer to the main story missions only. Each act also includes multiple side missions and additional content."
| Act | Main story missions | Also contains |
|---|---|---|
| Act 1 | 4 | Side missions and additional content, count not published |
| Act 2 | 4 | Side missions and additional content, count not published |
| Act 3 | 5 | Side missions and additional content, count not published |
| Total | 13 | — |
Two caveats on that table, both from the wording of the quote itself. The total of 13 is us adding the developer's three numbers together, not a figure the developer published. And "the current structure" is the announcement's own phrasing, written before release — it reads as a snapshot of a design still in motion, not a locked-in contents page.
Where it is set
The FAQ answers the location question at its broadest: "The game is set in New York City." A later official announcement, Inside BLACKWOOD, is more precise and places the game in Brooklyn, 2012. Those are two official statements at two levels of precision rather than a contradiction, so this site uses Brooklyn and treats New York City as the wider term.
That is also where the store you run is: the shop's money, bills and hush money are the subject of The DVD Store, and none of that depends on where the building sits.
As for how the city is presented, the official store description leans on exploration language and calls the setting "a violent city full of secrets". That is a mood line, not a design statement, and we are not stretching it into one.
What the Steam listing shows
Our own check of the store data, 15 September 2026 snapshot of the appdetails API: no Open World tag anywhere in the category fields, genres listed as Action, Adventure, RPG and Strategy, and the string "open world" absent from the store description. That is not a third statement from the developer — it is the absence of one, which we are treating as corroboration and nothing stronger.
How certain is this answer?
Most pre-launch pages on this site hedge, because most of what is being asked about BLACKWOOD has one weak source or none. This question is the exception, and the reasoning is ours rather than official: two first-hand official statements from different channels at different times, agreeing word for word in substance, with the store metadata contradicting neither. That is why the badge at the top of this page says verified and why the answer is "no" rather than "probably not".
What has not been published
Everything about the map beyond the two facts above. The developer has described the game's structure and its setting, and has not described its geography. The published detail runs to three acts of main missions, side missions that have never been counted, and a city named as Brooklyn in 2012. There is no official map, no list of locations, and no official account of how the city is laid out.
We will update this page when the official materials go further, and again once the game is out and the map can be checked in play.
FAQ
Is BLACKWOOD set in New York or Brooklyn?
Both, at different levels of precision. The developer FAQ answers the location question with "The game is set in New York City." A later official announcement is more specific and places the game in Brooklyn in 2012. Brooklyn is the precise official figure; New York City is the wider term for the same setting.
How many missions does BLACKWOOD have?
Thirteen main story missions across the three acts, by the announcement's own numbers: 4 in Act 1, 4 in Act 2 and 5 in Act 3. The developer calls that the "current structure" and notes each act also contains side missions and additional content, which are not counted anywhere.
Does Steam tag BLACKWOOD as open world?
No. In the store data we pulled on 15 September 2026 there is no Open World tag, the genres listed are Action, Adventure, RPG and Strategy, and the phrase "open world" does not appear in the store description at all.
Why do I keep finding an open-world map called Blackwood?
Because of a name collision. ATLAS, the pirate survival MMO, has a map DLC called Blackwood, and it dominates video search results for terms like "Blackwood open world map". It has nothing to do with this game, which is Steam app 3639070 by AttritoM7 Productions.