Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom preview (Quest)

Peaky Blinders is one of the biggest hits in modern television, and it’s getting a VR adaptation soon in the shape of Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom. We took a closer look at the game’s Quest 2 version.

What we know

Launching on the Meta Quest 2 and PICO 4 headsets on Thursday 9th March and afterwards on Steam for PC-based headsets, Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom takes gamers to the 1920s version of Birmingham and London. Immersing players in the world of the acclaimed gangster drama is developer Maze Theory, who previously worked on Doctor Who: The Edge of Time, a studio familiar with taking a well-known IP license and turning it into a VR format.

And while The King’s Ransom is an original story, there’s plenty for fans to enjoy here, from the presence of Tommy and Arthur Shelby (portrayed by Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson) to the chance of exploring locations like the tavern, Charlie’s yard and the betting shop. Story-wise, there’s a bit of James Bond/Mission Impossible here as well, as the plot revolves around a briefcase that contains the names of every British secret agent out there.

What we saw

We recently got the chance to check out Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom with a pre-release build for the Meta Quest 2, which we’ve been able to test out extensively at our own pace so that we’d be able to get a good look at what we can expect from the game.

What we thought

After booting up Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom, our first impressions were certainly good – before too long we found ourselves traversing Garrison Lane accompanied by music from the TV show, and if that wasn’t enough to immerse ourselves we also got to meet none other than Thomas Shelby soon after.

Shelby explains that he’s after the aforementioned briefcase, which belong to Winston Churchill but represents great value to anyone wanting to shift the balance of power. That’s easier said than done though, as getting anywhere within the Peaky Blinders organization will require you to gain the trust of others – including Thomas’ brother Arthur.

This, it turns out, segues into you becoming a part of the everyday problems that the Shelby’s have, with rival gangs looking to end them (either directly or by getting that briefcase) and workers protesting the way they run things. As a result, you’ll be disarming bombs and engaging in shoot-outs rather than just plotting some kind of heist, making sure things feel enough like the TV show for fans of the source material.

Compared to Doctor Who: The Edge of Time, the game feels less puzzle-oriented and more immersive in that you’re almost constantly interacting with characters and/or locations from the show. Having the real actors deliver the lines and lend their likeness certainly helps in that regard, and our time with the game made us feel like we were genuinely part of one of the show’s episodes. We’re hoping it’s going to be long enough and able to sustain that sense, but won’t have to wait too much longer to find out.