7 Wonders and Blood Rage creators unite to unleash evil Victorian Masterminds

Two of the tabletop’s most prestigious designers are teaming up for a game set in a world where Sherlock Holmes is dead and evil villains rule the day.

Victorian Masterminds is the result of a collaboration between Antoine Bauza – responsible for 7 Wonders, Hanabi and Tokaido – and Eric Lang, known for Blood Rage, Rising Sun and XCOM, among others.

The upcoming worker-placement title isn’t technically a brand new game, having been originally revealed way back at the end of 2015. At the time, it was in the hands of TIME Stories and Unlock! studio Space Cowboys, but seemed to fall off the radar in the subsequent two years.

This re-announcement confirms that the project has jumped ship to Blood Rage, Zombicide and Rising Sun outlet CMON, which Lang recently joined as director of game design.

CMON has also given the game a slightly more concrete release date – even if it’s just the news that it’ll be out next year at some point.

The game takes place in a steampunk Europe that players are attempting to dominate by building an evil contraption. Each machine is different and enables unique actions, resulting in slightly different gameplay for each of the two to four players.

The villains send their henchman around the continent to collect parts and wreak havoc, destroying buildings and completing missions. On their tails is the secret service. Once a contraption is built or the sercret service puts and end to things, the most victory points wins.

It sounds like it could be a lot of fun – especially given the big names attached – so we’ll be looking out for a full release date and more details in 2018.