Speaking during an interview with EDGE, Ru Weerasuriya, Creative Director at Ready At Dawn Studios, has pulled the veil on some of the tight-lipped gameplay details shrouding upcoming action title The Order: 1886.
The development team looks to be exercising its talents outside of the third-person shooter medium by trusting its accomplishments with God of War on PlayStation Portable, expressing the introduction of a deep melee system.
“Rather than just making a third-person game, we took it upon ourselves to figure out why we like them. Not everybody likes third-person shooters for the same exact reason, so we tried to figure out what the core elements were [that] we wanted to keep, and also add that element of what we’ve done in the past – for example, melee," said Weerasuriya.
"Shooters have a tendency to be very light or canned on melee. We wanted to find new ways of introducing it that would keep you feeling you were in a shooter that’s evolved into something else, rather than been segmented. It started with us trying to figure out how we balance the two, shooter and melee, but then it evolved into us making this shooter with different melee systems."
Weerasuriya further comments on the game’s stretch of pacing, assuring that it won’t fall into a predictable rhythm of segmented shooting.
“Beyond that, we also tried to make the moment-to-moment gameplay different. We didn’t want it to be a grind for 40-45 minutes because you’re in shooting mode. Everything in the game happens in little bursts, and that really makes you not dwell too much on one thing that might otherwise bore you.”
In regards to the much referenced linearity of the game, don’t expect to be strolling through the streets of London at your leisure. This is a focused single-player game with a hint of explorable ground.
“That’s always the struggle. I love to explore the environment so long as it gives you something back. Yes, we’re trying to do some of that, but the reality is that it’s a singleplayer game that takes you on a ride, and we don’t want to compromise that ride.”
It’s reassuring to see that Ready At Dawn is trying to change the third-person shooter landscape in its own way. Games like Gears of War brought to light an immersive cover mechanic, while Uncharted kept us at the edge of our seats with tight traversal gameplay and never-before-seen action. It’s only by nature that gamers will want to see something different.
The Order: 1886 is a PS4-exclusive that is rumored to release next Fall. Stay tuned for more information on this Victorian-themed action title.