The year's first major game release rewrites 19th century British history, adding steampunk weaponry and grotesque man-beast monsters. Chris Schulz talks to two of the developers behind The Order: 1886.
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In the middle of London, in broad daylight, a group of adults were playing like children. And they were loving it.
"We were pretending to have gunfights like little kids," says gamedirector Dana Jan. "We were crouching behind different things in the street, pointing our fingers and shooting at each other (while yelling), 'Peow peow'. People looked at us as if we were crazy."
There was a very good reason for their shenanigans: the 20-strong group of Ready at Dawn staff were gathering research for The Order: 1886, the riskiest venture yet for the Los Angeles-based studio best known for animated platformer Daxter and two God of War instalments.
Due out on Friday exclusively on Playstation 4, The Order is one of this year's most exciting releases. Set in Victorian-era London, the city's grand churches, gothic arcitecture and iconic buildings like Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster form the background for the adventure-shooter's most explosive moments.
Gamers take charge of gruff adventurer Sir Galahad, the head of a group of knights called The Order battling a war on two fronts: rebels spearheading a class uprising, and the Half-breeds, a race of grotesque man-beasts that have invaded the city.
Much of the game involves creeping down grimy alleys, searching dimly lit buildings and finding cover while engaging enemies in shootouts with a startling array of steampunk weaponry. There are incredible set pieces: in one gripping scene, Galahad rappels down the side of a gigantic blimp floating above London, pausing to take in the breathtaking scenery before breaking into the cockpit and smashing the pilot's head into a wall.
As their five-day visit to London shows, developers went to extreme lengths to make The Order historically and artistically accurate. They adopted that attitude for the weaponry, giving 19th century guns a futuristic twist. Galahad's arsenal including the Thermite Rifle, which shoots highly flammable magnesium shots, and the Arc Gun, which zaps enemies with a fizzing electric bolt.
Technology director Garret Foster admits they allowed themselves a little wiggle room while dreaming up things like the Arc Gun. "The one rule we had is that it had to plausible," says Foster. "The technology had to exist somewhere in the world at that time (for us to use it). But then we stretched it ... we knew the triple-barrelled shotgun (the "Three Crown Coach Gun") was going to be fun when we started blowing arms off people."
Gamers will need to get to grips with Galahad's inventory - about 20 weapons are promised - to progress through The Order, which Foster and Jan say will deliver between 10-12 hours of gameplay depending on skill level.
After first debuting at E3 in 2013, hype around The Order has centred on its incredibly realistic and stylised graphics. Foster says they worked hard to blend cut scenes with gameplay, hoping players wouldn't want to leave their virtual world - even for a second.
"Very early on we decided we were not going to have videos. We wanted actions to carry into the cinematics, so if you get shot in the shoulder, that carries on into the cinematic. You want to have players immersed, and the smallest glitch can tear them out of that world ... you've lost them, it's over."
No one will be disappearing when the Half-Breeds - and their gruesome sidekicks the Lycans - are on screen. With their gigantic fangs and claws, the human-animal hybrids are vicious: in one heart-stopping scene demoed to TimeOut, Sir Galahad comes face-to-face with a Lycan, armed only with a knife. The Lycan pins him to the floor, bashes him into a wall, slashes his arm almost off, and then tries to eat his face.
Terrifying moments like that are rare, says Jan. "We were very cautious not to include too many of those. Think about the movie Alien: you only see the alien a few times, but the whole time you're on edge thinking about it. But in (the sequel) Aliens they're everywhere; it's like a war film," he says.
"In The Order, there's variety; you don't shoot so many Lycans that it loses meaning."
That brings us to the story. Developers have been generous in explaining The Order's mythology, characters and weaponry, as well as delivering plenty of tantalising tasters online. But, despite TimeOut playing four different scenes from the game over the past six months, we're none the wiser as to what Sir Galahad and his band of merry men - and one woman - are up to.
Jan admits they've been secretive because they don't want any plot twists spoiled before Friday's release. "What's been tricky about handling this franchise publicly is that this story is going to surprise people by how many layers and how much detail is in it.
"The characters are very deep ... There are twists, there were a lot of surprises we had to hide.
