PS4 exclusive The Order: 1886 is a linear third-person action adventure with shooting mechanics
"We're trying to tell a story. It's what we call a 'filmic experience'."
PlayStation 4 exclusive The Order: 1886 is a linear third-person action adventure with shooting mechanics, developer Ready at Dawn has revealed.
The Order was announced during Sony's E3 press conference with a cinematic that told us little about the game, save it was set in a Steampunk London alternate history 40 years after the Industrial Revolution and would see you interacting with several real-world historical figures ala the Assassin's Creed series.
In an interview with the PlayStation Blog, Ready at Dawn co-founder Ru Weerasuriya described The Order as a linear story-based game. "We're trying to tell a story. It's what we call a 'filmic experience'."
Weerasuriya said Londoners will recognise The Order's virtual recreation of the city, although it isn't an exact 1:1 mapping. "There are obviously some things we're going to put in there that don't exist, and we've moved certain locations a bit, but as you can see from the trailer, when you pass in front of the Thames, Parliament is where it's supposed to be and London Bridge is where it's supposed to be.
"We don't want people to go 'Nah, this doesn't look right'. You'll be interacting with real people, real events and real places."
BUT WILL YOU BE ABLE TO GO TO CROYDON? (I know it's in Surrey but it's Zone 5 and you can get to Victoria in 15 minutes).
"There are obviously some things we're going to put in there that don't exist, and we've moved certain locations a bit, but as you can see from the trailer, when you pass in front of the Thames, Parliament is where it's supposed to be and London Bridge is where it's supposed to be."
Ready at Dawn co-founder Ru Weerasuriya
Ready at Dawn is best-known for the PlayStation Portable God of War games and has a long history of PlayStation exclusivity. Now, it's set about working on its own IP for the first time on PS4. "We're working on a single platform - we want to push it, we want to get everything out of it, and hopefully that's exactly what we're going to do - milk it for all it's worth," Weerasuriya said.
Elsewhere, Weerasuriya kept his cards close to his chest. He said the moment-to-moment gameplay is "really not what you might expect" without going into detail.
He continued: "The overall feel - that filmic experience... the one thing we brought to this is something people are accustomed too but usually can't tell. When you watch a movie you don't question what lens is being used. You don't question why there is grain on the film or why there's a certain lighting. Those are things we've been accustomed to seeing for 30 years. So when it's missing we usually go 'Wait, something is wrong with this image'.
"With this game we replicated a lot of physical attributes. We have true lens distortion. We built physical lenses into our engine so we could get something where people will look it and not be totally disconnected. Games have a tendency sometimes to be too clean and crisp. We thrive in the dirt. We just love the fact that it feels dirty. It's filmed in a very realistic way."
Apparently one of the reasons Ready at Dawn chose London as the setting for the game is because the city can be pretty filthy.
Really.