By the Order of the Peaky Blinders, here is the review of Mastermind…
Welcome to Birmingham, during the aftermath of the Great War. Set right before the events of Season One, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind lets you join the Shelby family’s criminal gang. Follow the rise of Tommy as he successfully uncovers a sinister plot to put the family out of business, proving himself worthy of being the true mastermind of the Peaky Blinders.
Peaky Blinders is one of those shows that I’m always wanting to watch but have yet to actually sit down and view, but perhaps after playing Mastermind it might be worth a binge-session. It doesn’t actually matter if you haven’t watched the show though as Mastermind is set before the first season. Gameplay at first glance looked like how the John Wick Hex game was designed, but actually Mastermind is very different as it lets you rewind and fast-forward time to achieve the best result.
Stealth is a big part of the game and the time mechanic helps with this to stop being detected through rewinding, but you can also take short possession of other characters to open doors and such for you. The game also has a Majora’s Mask feel with the time as certain things will happen at certain times of the day, so you need to be in key locations by then and so timing events right is essential.
It’s definitely not the first thought I had when I heard of a game based on criminal gangs, but it works and it works well. It will take some getting used to, but it’s clever and definitely a departure from what I was expecting. I honestly thought of an open-world GTA style game would be the first port of call for a game like this, but I’m glad I was wrong…although I’m not objected to that either.
Visually, Mastermind is a bit basic to look at but runs smoothly and I didn’t encounter any bugs other than a few random crashes that I’m sure will be patched. Voice-acting and the soundtrack are fairly decent as well.
The Verdict
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a great tactical game that really makes you think the best strategy in the quickest time. It may not be what we expected from the licence, but it works, and it works well.