Birmingham, a place that’s still stuck in the 20s, the 1920s. I’ve never been one for this BBC crime-drama thing called “Peaky Blinders,” I’ll go as far as to say I’ve no idea who’s even in it. I know of the gang known for their criminal activity in the late 19th and early 20th century though. However, today we’re talking about the show that seemingly has a large number of people watching, and yet, I haven’t heard a good thing about it. Nonetheless, it’s getting a game, something you’d know if you enjoyed the show this time last year. In fact, today I’m talking about the second game announced for the series in a year. The first, of course, being a VR game that’s not seen the light of day since the announcement.

This time it is Peaky Blinders: Mastermind, a tactics heist game within the modern-day Birmingham scene. Yes, Model T’s are everywhere, a flat cap is on every man young and old, and women who don’t own humans can’t vote. Ok, jokes aside about some parts of the world being stuck in the past, I’m interested in this one. Sure, I’ll have no idea what the story is when it ties back to the show, but I like a tactics game based on a Netflix property. Ok, like might be stretching it, I wrote a whole article about the problems of the last netflix tie-in compared to what it set out to be.

Looking to be an isometric tactics game with a bit of a puzzle mentality to it, I’m in. It is stylized to look very broad 1920s with a sheen of high saturated colors, and has a visual style that’s easily accessible. Looking at the trailer, the combat looks to be a little stiff, lacking the snap or responsiveness to it overall. It does seem to feature quite a lot of blood following punches though. What is an interesting design choice is the timeline at the bottom, similar to Iron Danger, something Eurogamer said was a cross between Lord of the Rings and Premiere Pro.

As the gameplay reveal trailer from IGN shows, there’s a lot of synchronicity between characters and different threads you as a player have to manage. It’s quite an interesting concept for a TV tie-in game to take, as management tactics tend not to be as broad of an appeal for all audiences. Though, as I’ve said, I’m not a fan of the show and even I’m interested in the concept.

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind will release this summer on Steam PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

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