BLACKOUT is Smash & Grab's real-time heist mode. You control one runner on the streets of Sable City, following a moving series of vault jobs during a three-minute night. Other runners want the same boxes. Police react to the district's heat. Your collection supplies the character you wear; it doesn't give that character stronger legs or a better shove.
If you know extraction games, the useful habit is to think about the return journey before grabbing the prize. Hunt's official manual makes reaching an exit part of securing its bounty. BLACKOUT uses repeated deposits instead: banking at the car keeps you in the night, ready for another job.
Pick a face, then learn one clean trip
You need a collected card in your Stash to select a BLACKOUT runner. The playable Roster used in The Job is separate. If the street is not available yet, finish the opening lessons and collect your first card rather than looking for a stronger character.
Your first goal should be a complete loop: reach a box, crack it, find your car and bank. House Night gives you house-controlled opponents; the guided first night introduces the controls and temporarily protects you while Dot explains them. That protection ends with the lesson. Don't use a tutorial escape as proof that you can ignore the police in an ordinary night.
Playing with a friend? The BLACKOUT teamwork guide walks through joining a private room, watching each other's exits and covering a deposit while keeping your individual scores in mind.
On desktop, move with WASD or the arrow keys. Clicking the street also sets a destination; a movement key takes over if you need to steer yourself. Hold E or F for the nearby action. Shift sprints, Space shoves, and Q and R use your two item slots. The action prompt tells you what holding the button will do where you are standing.
On touch devices, use the stick and labeled on-screen buttons. The BLACKOUT controls guide covers the equivalent inputs.
Follow the job, not a favorite building
The Job Board opens one vault at a time. Look for the current job on the map, and notice when the next location is called. A familiar district is no use if its job has finished. The old district closes behind the move, and remaining inside after the grace period gets you cuffed.
Before entering, find the doorway and your car marker. That small glance saves the panicked search after your bag fills. The car moves with the next job, so its last position is not a promise about its current position.
Open an ordinary box first
Walk close enough to a box to see the crack prompt, then hold the action button. An ordinary crack takes three seconds in the current alpha. Moving away or releasing the hold interrupts the work. A safe needs a lockpick and a crate needs a crowbar, so start with an unlocked box while you learn the interaction.
Read the box's haul and heat together. The payout goes into your bag; the heat goes onto the district meter. Other runners add heat too. A room can become dangerous while you are doing nothing loud yourself. Don't stare only at the progress indicator.
Banking is an action, not a parking spot
Find your own car, get within banking range and hold the action button until the deposit completes. Being near the trunk isn't enough. Watch the bag empty and Take rise. That is the confirmation that the money has moved.
Banked Take survives an arrest and cannot spill from a shove. There is still a sabotage exception: a rival's crowbar can start a trunk job that steals part of it. For now, learn the big distinction—money in your bag is vulnerable to the police, and money already banked is protected from that particular loss.
Leave while the exit still looks boring
When the next job is announced, check the route before opening another box. You need time to finish the interaction, move, deposit if appropriate and clear the old district. Sprint helps, but it has stamina and makes noise. Saving it for a necessary crossing is often more useful than holding it throughout the run.
At dawn, unbanked bags disappear. Surviving runners place ahead of arrested runners, with survivors ordered by their banked Take. A huge bag and an arrest are therefore a poor trade for a modest deposit and a clean finish. Once you can complete that first loop, the interesting question becomes whether another box is worth the trip.