Live Magazine September 2014 Volume 9/2014 | Page 58

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THE ORDER 1886
From the studios who brought you
God of War and Daxter comes The
Order: 1886, an action-adventure
game where an ancient order of
knights battle monsters in Victorianera London. During the course of
history, a small number of humans
began to take on beast-like traits.
Humans feared these half-breeds
and war broke out. Though man outnumbered the beasts significantly
their animal strength gave them the
upper hand in combat.
Humanity found hope in King Arthur
and the Knights of the Round Table,
who despite putting up a decent defense against the monsters, are losing the battle. Through a mysterious
turn of events, Arthur discovers Black
Water, a mysterious substance that
significantly extends their lifetimes
and grants them miraculous healing
abilities. Despite this new development the knights continue to struggle
against the beasts, that is until the
Industrial Revolution. Inventors are
far ahead of their time, developing
advanced technologies such as thermal imaging, zeppelins, and wireless
communications. New weapons harness the power of electr icity, envelop
the half-breeds in mounds of molten
metal, and sport dual functionality
such as proximity mines and fragmentation grenades.
By 1886, the war still goes on, but

the humans almost have martial law.
A new threat emerges with the lower
class rebelling against the rich and
the social order, with the knights supporting the well-to-do upper classes
and nobles. The game features four
main protagonists from the same
squad, who each has a given name,
and the adopted name of one of the
original Knights.
The oldest is Sebastian Mallory, the
second to bear the name of Sir Percival, and the descendant of Thomas
Mallory, who in the 1400s wrote Le
Morte d’Arthur, the definitive Arthurian Text. A close friend of Grayson,
he is one of the best Knights in the
history of the order.
Grayson is the third to bear the title of Sir Galahad, and has battled
the order’s enemies for centuries.
He views Mallory as a mentor, Lafayette as a friend, and Isabeau as
a potential love interest. Other than
that, little is known about him so far.
Isabeau D’Argyll is one of the young-

prentice and if not for her commitment to the order, his lover. Marquis
de Lafayette was a French military
officer who fought in the French and
American Revolutions. His tactical
expertise brought him to the order’s
attention, and Mallory approached
him and convinced him to join the
order. Although the group’s youngest, his globetrotting has given him
a whimsical outlook on life that
grounds the squad. As an apprentice, he does not yet bear the name
of a Knight.
The Order: 1886 has been in development since 2010, with the idea for
the game being inspired by Naughty
Dog’s Uncharted 2: Honor Among
Thieves. Not a great deal is known
about the gameplay at this point (as
Ready at Dawn have been very selective about how much is shown in
previews) but the game sounds impressive on a technical standpoint.
Ready at Dawn have created the
RAD 4.0. engine to run the game,
which is free from the limitations of

“READY AT DAWN ARE KEEPING THE
ORDER A SOLELY SINGLE-PLAYER AFFAIR.”
er Knights in the order, but is much
older than her appearance of being
in her late twenties. The latest Lady
Igraine, Isabeau was Grayson’s ap-

developing for the PS3. There’s no
porting over of assets here - everything is being developed for the
PS4 exclusively.