I was hooked the moment I walked in that famous Garrison alley. As the tune of Red Right Hand blared in my ears, I could see the gloomy backdrop of 1920s Birmingham. If it weren't for Peaky Blinders, it wouldn't be a place people would want to visit.
In Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom, you'll take the role of Samuel Taylor, a man who has been away from his hometown for 10 years after an unfortunate incident. In the game, you'll smoke, drink, and shoot a lot of people in order to prove you're a member of the Peaky Blinders.
There are a lot of collectibles and story pieces along the way in this game. You can pick up and interact with a lot of objects along the way.
There are two levels from the main game in the demo I got to play. The game looked and performed the same on the Meta Quest Pro as it did on the Quest 2.
Garrison Lane was a treat for the eyes. Visually, the game is pretty fantastic on the Quest 2.
The demo began in a box truck with Rowena Fox at the wheel. The Peaky Blinders are fighting the Bolsheviks and your truck goes through a rough patch on the way to Peaky HQ. You can hear what's happening inside of the truck.
The introductory portion of the game introduces you to the mechanics organically, having you pick up your journal, move and look around, and follow through all the usual first-time sequence. I'm happy that it's part of the story and that it makes the sequence fit in better.
It was a pleasure to exit the shop and head down Garrison Lane. The game is great on the quest. Even though the character models are simple, the environmental and character models are detailed. If you're looking for the best visuals, you'll want to play it on a gaming PC that's ready for virtual reality.
In-game characters are voice acted by their real-world counterparts, lending legitimacy to each one.
Characters from the show will speak to you as you progress through the game, each voiced by a different actor. Even if character animation is a bit stiff, these voices give a serious sense of legitimacy to each character.
You will find alcohol and cigarettes in the environment at any given time. You seem to be able to play as a player. It feels like role-playing can help a player better understand their character. After all, the Peaky Blinders were well known for their shenanigans, and TommyShelby even offers a cigarette and lights it when you first meet him.
My 30-minute demo took part in chapters one and ten, so the final game should be several hours long.
Based on the 30-minute demo, it seems that most areas are designed to offer a specific sequence of stories. Hidden items and hand-written letters that lend to the story can be found in the stairwells on Garrison Lane. If you're into that sort of thing, the Garrison Pub has a lot of small collectibles.
In the two chapters I got to play, I only found one type of puzzle, so I don't know how varied the game's entire story will be. It seems like this could be a long game if there are many chapters included. It's assumed that the chapters weren't cut short for the demo.
Areas are free-roam and action sequences seem to offer branching paths to change up subsequent playthroughs.
During the chapter in the scrapyard, the game offered branching paths that let you choose which character you could help and which area you'd go through. I'm not sure how much replayability this will offer in the final game, but it does bode well for possibilities.
Throughout the game, you'll meet important people and find story clues in the form of letters and other written materials, all of which can be found in your journal. You can grab your journal from your left shoulder at any time.
There are character profiles, maps, and a lot of written details in this book. The beginning of the game had me choose from a list of options to write my own entry, implying that there's a branching storyline in the game.
Tommy's first job is to kill a man tied up in a room in the pub. Either you shoot him or leave the pub. It's nice to have the option of not killing people in the game.
The image is the first of four.
Gunplay felt solid but the enemy AI left a bit to be desired. Hopefully, we'll get a harder difficulty in the final game.
The gunplay was good, but the enemies weren't smart. Most of the time, it was a shooting gallery where you could take down the enemies that were in your way.
If you have a lighter, you could light Molotov cocktails and eliminate enemies at the same time. I'm hoping the developers increase the difficulty for the final game as it never felt like a challenge to complete these sequence.
The game's voice actors were incredibly authentic, but the heavy Birmingham accent can be hard to understand at times. Before the final retail version of the game comes out, I would like to see an option to enable subtitles.
There are a number of comfort options, including blinders to help reduce motion sickness, and a number of other options. You can use either the left or right joysticks at any time.
I'm excited about the final game if I'm able to learn more about TommyShelby and his empire. The only way to get Peaky's attention is with other media. It's a great way to experience that. I cannot think of a single one.
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