Peaky Blinders: Mastermind

Playing status: 100% achievement
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (11 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a puzzle adventure game featuring a group of the Peaky Blinders gang. You'll be able to control a character from the said gang, switch between the available characters, and rewind and forward time to coordinate their movements to accomplish a certain task with perfect coordination. Since the game is based on a TV show that I haven't watch before, this review will be based on that.
Pros:
- 10 levels
- 2 difficulties
- Unique concept where you get to control more than one character to sync their movements
Cons:
- Pressing the R button to get back to the previous event might cause the future events to be deleted
- Unable to fast forward time if the person that you are controlling hasn't gone to that timeframe yet
Specs
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Should you buy this game?
Yes.
If you like to play puzzle games that focus on coordination, buy this game.
In-Depth Review
Visuals
The game has superb-looking visuals. Both cutscenes and character portraits look realistic while simplistic at the same time. It looks as if it's an actual person with some sort of filter to make them look 2D. However, I had trouble distinguishing between two characters, Tommy and John, due to their similarities in the cutscenes.
Story
As someone who never watched the TV show, I got confused with the story at first. I didn't know what Peaky Blinders is or what the characters are doing at all. I only get the gist of what they did after I spent some hours in the game, and somehow, that's also the time when the plot comes around. I enjoyed the bickering between the characters, and their talking style reminds me of the ones in western movies. All characters look tough from their way of talking, and they held themselves in such high regard that makes them look cool, even the kid. It was fun to see them going in action, and I even admit that some scenes are funny because of it.
The Game
Gameplay
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind's gameplay focuses on coordinating action between more than one character. You'll be able to control all characters one by one, with an ability to rewind and fast forward time to control the other character at the same timeframe. This can prove to be challenging since you need to figure out where the character is supposed to go and execute their actions perfectly. The rewind feature also means that you can always redo your action until you are satisfied since your time will be limited.
More characters will be playable later on, each with different perks. You need to utilize each character's skill to reach your objective, and this also includes having them cooperate with each other. You might have to coordinate two characters to pull on a lever at the same time to get a third person to pass through an obstacle or distract a guard so the other characters can pass the area. This will require some perfect coordination sometimes, and that's what sets the game apart from the others.
Length and Difficulty
Sadly, the game is quite short. I finished all 10 levels in 7.4h, and that's after obtaining all achievements. The game has 2 difficulties, with the easier, default one having a marker on where you are supposed to move your character, which really helps in one of the levels to prevent you from getting overwhelmed. The game can be taxing and hard to learn at the beginning, but you'll enjoy it once you get it covered. However, there isn't any replayability value unless if you want to collect all collectibles or finish a run without getting caught by the guards. Some characters couldn't be seen by any guards, so you need to have other characters distract them before getting past.
Problems
The game can be problematic if you are not using your mouse. Pressing the R button to rewind the game to the previous event might delete the future actions of that character, and rewinding the time with the Q button, which will rewind the game for a few seconds, is way too slow. Lastly, you won't be able to fast forward the time if a character that you are controlling hasn't been controlled up to that period. Some levels require some characters to wait in a certain spot for a few seconds, so it can be annoying to wait sometimes.
Conclusion
I enjoyed playing Peaky Blinders: Mastermind. The game confused me at first with their story and controls, but it won't take long before you get used to both. It is fun to control all characters one at a time and it feels great to see that you can pull the action off with perfect coordination. As someone who hasn't watched the TV series, it got me interested in the series because of this game; the story concept looks promising and the dialogues are amusing to read.
Despite the short playtime, I feel satisfied playing it, mainly because the last 2 levels which are harder than the others. However, if you are concerned with the price to playtime ratio, you can buy it on a sale. Note that the game quality is decent enough to pay more from the discounted price.
Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily!

TL;DR a relatively short RTT game with some unique mechanics
PLOT
I am somewhat a Peaky Blinders (the TV show, not the mafia crime family) fan, currently watching season 5, and was hoping this game will scratch the Peaky Blinders itch somewhat.
It doesn't.
For better or worse.
The plot is non-existent, and basically happens before season 1 starts, so it doesn't add anything to the world of the show.
So if you're a Peaky Blinders fan (like me) you won't get any satisfaction in that regard.
But on the other hand, if you never watched the show - you won't miss anything when you play the game.
I will get you up to speed in no time:
Arthur, Thomas (Tommy), John and Finn are the Shelby brothers (arranged by age).
And Ada Shelby is their sister.
Polly Grey is their aunt.
They are a Gipsy crime family from Smal Heath, Birmingham.
They are called Peaky Blinders (due to their signature caps, and their affinity to blinding people by cutting out their eyes).
Tommy is the head of the family.
That's all the background from the show you need for the game.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is the best part of the game.
It's an RTT (real-time tactics) similar to the classic "Commandos" games, the modern "Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun" or "Desperados III".
You control various members of the Peaky Blinders, while they attempt to perform various missions.
The novelty comes from the fact that you are able to control time (move it backward of forward), so instead of restarting the level when caught or defeated, you can now rewind and try a different approach.
The game utilizes that mechanic, by combining several characters in the same mission, and making you synchronize their actions in order to help each other.
The level progression is very well made, allowing you to learn step-by-step how to utilize this game mechanic, and perform increasingly complex tasks with multi-person cooperation.
LENGTH
The one "weak" aspect of the game is it's length.
I was able to fully finish the 10 levels of the game within 6 hours (and I'm a person who likes to leisurely play games, rather than rushing them).
It's not necessarily a bad thing - sometimes these games can be too-drawn out.
And this offers a nice little adventure for gamers.
I will say that I wouldn't have paid full price ($25) for the game of this length.
As I got it in the bundle with 9 other games, all together for $5 (Fanatical Killer Bundle 14) - it was definitely worth the price. And some.

Pretty interesting puzzle game where you can go back and forth in time to change your character's actions to solve the puzzles. The puzzles are straight forward and not too hard, especially at the beginning. The price on Steam is a little too high considering it only has 10 missions, it should have 15 to 20 missions in my opinion, preferably in the vein of the last two missions which were a good challenge. An obvious issue this game has is it is locked at 30 FPS, but this didn't distract me from giving it a chance and enjoy the game. I completed it entirely though the last achievement for collecting all pocket watches did not trigger for me even though I picked them all up. Despite the issues, I still had a pretty good time with this game and there's no reason to not recommend it. There's hoping the devs or someone else is picking up this game's gameplay formula to create a similar game.
EDIT: just replayed nearly all levels and the last achievement triggered eventually.

A satisfying, relaxing puzzler, I just wish it was longer.
Pros
-Soundtrack is fire
-Visuals while not outstanding are still pleasant
-Simple, yet really satisfying core gameplay loop of pairing interaction points to characters, rewinding time, find the next point-to-character pair, rinsing and repeating until everything plays out perfect
-Smooth controls
Cons
-Surprisingly short, total of 10 levels shouldn’t take you longer than 6 hours tops
- Story is nothing more than
Peaky isn’t a hard puzzler, au contraire, everything pretty much just falls into place as you walk around interacting, but boy, is it satisfying when you’ve figured everything out, added all the tasks to do and just let you’re genius manifest. Not only that, but it’s also supported by a great soundtrack! .
For more detail on the above points and a look at gameplay, please join me as I elaborate on my thoughts in this video:
Click Me .

No plot.
No voice acting.
Nice gameplay (Commandos + time rewind).
Nice graphics.
Nice soundtrack.
Obtaining all achievements took me 12 hours. If you are not aiming for 100% you could finish it in 5 - 6 hours.
It's worth buying if you need puzzle game and it's discounted.

---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ Paint.exe
---{Gameplay}---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ It‘s just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Starring at walls is better
☐ Just don‘t
---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape
---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ 3k$ computer
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{Difficulity}---
☐ Just press ‚A‘
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{Grind}---
☐ Nothing to grind
☑ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isnt necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You‘ll need a second live for grinding
---{Story}---
☐ Story?
☐ Text or Audio floating around
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It‘ll replace your life
---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{Price}---
☐ It’s free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If u have some spare money left
☑ Wait for discounts (I bought it for 0.6$ on Eneba)
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{Bugs}---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying (couldn't complete game because of the bugs)
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

A relatively short (less than 8 hours for 100% achievements) real-time tactics game where you can rewind time. Don't expect an in-depth story or any difficulty in the first 8 levels (there's 10 total). Also beware the ingame 30 FPS lock (funnily enough, the menus are 60 FPS) - it's done in a weird way which results in this game being a stuttery mess even when compared to other 30 FPS games.
The difficulty spike in level 9 was a nice surprise, as up until that point, the game was fully linear with no possibility for any other strategy than the one intended (so you could always just rewind time once you figured out what you're supposed to do and get a gold time in the end). In the ninth level, you get a big open map that seems to be full of hidden passageways and alternate routes to accomplish your goals, and going the wrong way actually means you can't get the gold time - it's not much, but still a welcome change after roughly 5 hours of "go in the only direction you can, figure out how to use your characters' abilities to open the locked door in your way, pass through, rinse and repeat".
Quite a shame that only about 7 % of players get to this part before they get bored of the game, I think it's the part where it actually becomes fun.
To end on a positive note, I haven't encountered a single bug or crash in my few hours playing this game, and the available abilities are decent and fitting to the theme of the game.
Overall, I'd say the game isn't bad if you can get over the stuttering and the lack of interesting story.