If Dark Souls is an infinitely deep ocean of gameplay to some, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a puddle of tears over penis envy. It is laughably small in a games industry that takes the 15-hour experience of The Last of Us and stretches that out to double the length in its sequel. In an industry where Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is to some 100-hours, and everything releasing must be a prolonged waiting experience, Peaky Blinders is teeny weeny itty bitty. I know to some that’s an instant turn off, but it shouldn’t be.

It contains ten refined levels that don’t take more than 20-30 minutes to beat, it is surprisingly short. However, that’s what I often want, something I can play, enjoy, and move on. I don’t need several second lives through time. Though let’s get to that, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a game set in the BBC drama’s universe of Peaky Blinders, a show about some Birmingham-based criminals arguing about post-war dealings and their criminal activity. I’ve honestly tried to watch the show, and I can’t. It is dreadfully slow and boring, like most BBC period dramas, sanitized and emulsified. It is just fine.

The game, however, is a collection of low-level heists within the confined and a rather constrictive world it is set in. It is, for all all intents and purposes, a puzzle game with time bindings that cage you into getting a gold, silver, and bronze time. It is all about putting the right pieces in the right place at the right time, which lacks a bit of gameplay. For a majority of the time, you are stood around waiting for the next piece to fall into place. You’ll have one character off collecting things such as Finn, a small child that crawls through small gaps, grab keys, and cannot fight, the usual for children.

Meanwhile, you can have other characters like John, Tommy, Ada, Polly, and Arthur who can fight but can’t do other tasks. They all have their own abilities, but sometimes I’ll have them just standing about doing nothing, just spinning their flat claps on their fingers like basketballs. This is an inherent problem faced with the timeline-strategy game, for lack of a proper genre to put it in. It is fixed with tightly designed levels. Though that would bring up a bit of difficulty that could make the timed levels a bit harder, which is the case with the last levels. I’d argue with the size of the game, the level design, and a dull afternoon, you could bite through Peaky Blinders: Mastermind in a day for the most part.

Though, unless you are a superfan of the show and must have every detail ever released about it, you are most likely not going to. The issue is the gameplay. While it works, it is rudimentary at the very least. To do anything it is one of two buttons, you can pause the timeline with another, and the rewinding and fast-forwarding is done with another two. It is as simple and easy to understand as possible. Combat is prompted by a single button, there are cones of vision of traffic light proportions, and nothing major in between. It has a lack of something. If it wasn’t for the copious amounts of swearing and general period-appropriate xenophobia by characters, you’d think it was a game for kids.

That is not to say it is a bad game. It is fine, but it lacks some inspiration. I said it long before the embargo lifted while talking with our editor-in-chief Alexx, if this wasn’t for the Peaky Blinders IP, there wouldn’t be as much fanfare about it in this manner. In fact, with a more inspired and slightly more original setting, it might have proven to work for both kids and adults. The problem is it feels more like one of those bargain bin games you would find for the PS2 or PC for the mid-2000s. Again, it is not a bad game, but it lacks a reason to play it.

Even the annoying moments of trying to time working with an ally you’ve persuaded to do something, with the timing one of your leads to slip around a corner, only to instantly be spotted by police or screw up your timeline is missing. For a game about stealth of some kind, there is a lack of everything going wrong. It is missing the klaxon calling in the troops, the moment that you’ve failed everything and you’ve just disappointed everyone who ever said they loved you. Instead, it all just stops, you rewind, and try again. There is just a lack of danger that something is going to go awry at any time, you don’t fail and you don’t lose progress.

I’m not saying you should, but there is just something missing to gamify the game itself. It is a puzzle game a child would enjoy aside from the grim setting. It is complex enough to be puzzling for a moment, but still simple enough you’d figure it out soon enough. Though, there is one problem that stands out against all of that for some: Performance. A problem with this Apple-like half-generation jump we’ve had with the 3DS, New 3DS, Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, PS4 and PS4 Pro is that the older hardware will struggle to keep up.

This is a sad thing to note, as in the early levels it only seemed to happen while fully rewinding the timeline. Then it started to happen while everything was playing forward normally. That’s when it became more troublesome while slowly rewinding, and furthermore when everything was working normally. It was a non-issue in the beginning, but grew ever more pervasive as time went on and levels got a little more complex in their set dressing. If anything, that’s what everyone that plays will notice, providing they aren’t on Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, or a PC that is far beyond recommended specs.

While that’s the only major issue that truly will concern some, the music is a bit bland and feels like royalty-free bland Rock of the Oasis/Biffy Clyro/Arctic Monkeys/Bastille/Coldplay variety. It is the type of music someone wants to talk about in elevators in your nightmares, nightmares where you are trapped in hell. This also explains the story. That isn’t to say it is bad either, it is in fact a theme of the series; The hell of being tormented by the war that was meant to end it all. It is nice, it is well done, but like several games, the gameplay and the story are in two different worlds.

There is an attempt to pull the story and gameplay together, but there is still a disconnect between the playful rewinding once spotted and the men suffering from “shell shock.” It is a serious topic for something that until the final levels is playful and joyous within the gameplay, aside from beating someone to death with a flat clap. If every level were as story-heavy as the 8th level, or as tightly designed as the penultimate 9th level, there would be a moment to say the game is fantastic and will get you into Peaky Blinders the show.

The issue is that all the levels before then either hold your hand a little too much, or give you too much time to pull off everything you’re meant to. I’ve been comparing it in my head to Hitman, more specifically the new ones. It wants you to play levels over and over again, hence the small number and praising of being a little bit short. The problem, and it is a personal one, is that I don’t want to go back to them, and I don’t want to collect all the collectibles. I’m just not that kind of obsessive person. When nothing else is pulling me in up onto that point, including the story, I don’t know that I ever will go back to them for any reason at all.

If anything makes me enjoy Peaky Blinders: Mastermind other than those later levels, it is the art. Every cutscene (or lack thereof) is done with beautiful painting-esque shots that are vibrant with color from characters or backgrounds. Even in-game, there is a beautiful bit of contrast between colors that make some levels more memorable than others. The downside of that is how little of it makes me think of Birmingham. Very little of it makes me think of anywhere specific in England.

Overall, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a puzzle game that won’t challenge you too often and gives you a bit of a “who done it” mystery in a universe you might already enjoy. It is not a game that will get you anymore into the show than you might already be or not be. Nonetheless, it can provide a few entertaining hours with a handful of levels and a beautiful artistic direction. Yet it is hampered by troublesome performance and some moments working with allies. It is good, though flawed in places.

An Xbox One review copy of Peaky Blinders: Mastermind was provided by Curve Digital for this review.

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Peaky Blinders: Mastermind

$24.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Beautiful art direction.
• The final couple levels prove to be the best.
• Nice and short.

Cons

• Strong performance issues in some areas on older hardware.
• Most levels aren't as tightly designed as others.