Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom review — hats off to the new VR game

Here at RadioTimes.com, we've followed the development of this game closely, first chatting to producer Russ Harding last year. He explained that The King's Ransom explores "missing years" between seasons 4 and 5 of the show (shortly after Tommy became an MP), a point in the Peaky timeline which necessitated recasting the role of Polly.

Playing alongside returning stars Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson, Ruth Gibson stepped into the role made famous by the late, great Helen McCrory. Gibson told us exclusively about that challenge, saying that Polly is "the heart, to me, in amongst this strength".

Now that you understand when the game is set and who is in it, the big question is, of course, is it any good? And we're pleased to report that it is! Although it may have a few rough edges, Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom feels like a brilliant extension of the brand. Fans of the show will love it, for sure.

You play as a new character, taking part in a whole new story with lots of twists and turns — but right from the start, your experience intersects really nicely with familiar faces and locations from the show. Within the first half hour or so, you'll come face to face with Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby in a stunning recreation of the Garrison Tavern.

Tommy, an old acquaintance of our mute protagonist, isn't sure what to make of you at first, but he trusts you enough to give you the game's core story mission: Sir Winston Churchill's big red box of government secrets has been stolen, and Tommy wants you to track it down. It's a simple set-up, but it's more than enough to kick things into action.

Speaking of which, the game's action moments are exciting, offering a nice blend of activities, from high-stakes running and gunning to some light bomb disposal and hunting for clues. All of this works well, giving you a fun mix of things to do, but the most thrilling element is when you get to meet those iconic characters — Tommy, Arthur and Polly — and visit those beloved locations from the show.

As you push through the game's four hour story, it begins to feel like you've discovered a secret miniseries of Peaky Blinders episodes that slot in seamlessly in between the existing seasons. The authenticity drips through the lovingly recreated locations and to have Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson voicing their characters just makes it feel like a proper Peaky Blinders experience.

Fans of the show will love The King’s Ransom, which captures the Peaky Blinders tone perfectly, and it’s also a fun VR game in its own right. But that's not to say that the game doesn't have a few flaws. For example, on a couple of occasions, we felt that the solution to a gameplay scenario was a little too fiddly to find (at one point, you have to push over a random pillar in order to reach the next area, and there's no prompt or clue to tell you that pushing over pillars is even possible).

On top of that, compared to the beautiful locations, you could argue that the character models are a little bit disappointing, veering into a more stylised animated look rather than pushing towards photorealism. Plus, Murphy's muted performance suits the voice realm a lot more naturally than Anderson's trademarked shouting, although there is a certain thrill in seeing Anderson stomp around the levels with his unmistakable gait.

Speaking of performances, special mention should go to Ruth Gibson for absolutely delivering in the difficult job of voicing Polly in the sad absence of Helen McCrory. Gibson doesn't push for an outright mimicry, but she totally captures the tone and essence of Polly. Her scenes here are some of the most memorable in the game, and the way Polly connects to some of the new characters is also pretty cool.

Special mention should also go to the game's music, with the winningly varied score from Richard Wilkinson helping to amp up the atmosphere and the tension when needed, complementing the returning Nick Cave theme tune really well.

In terms of the story, we don't want to say too much about how the game plays out, but it does run into some tough moral situations when forcing you to roleplay as a ruthless criminal. You might feel some guilt as you shoot through legions of Chinese gang members, for example, and you might not be thrilled when you have to blast a bunch of Birmingham-based socialists.

Being a Peaky Blinder has never looked like a particularly happy-go-lucky career choice, though, and The King's Ransom does a fine job of really making you feel what it would actually be like. It's exciting at points, stressful at others, and it builds to a strong emotional conclusion. In lieu of any new Peaky Blinders episodes on the telly, this will do very nicely indeed. Hats off to everyone involved.

Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom launches Thursday 9th March for Meta Quest 2 and Pico 4 headsets. We reviewed the full game on Meta, but the demo on Pico seems to run just as well. A Steam release is planned for an undisclosed date.

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