Below are press previews based on a 12 minutes hands-off developer controlled preview event of The Order: 1886. Click on links for full impressions.
Eurogamer: How The Order reinvents QTEs and the cinematic game
IGN: The Order: 1886’s Mixed Signals
Playstation Access interview with Ready At Dawn Co-founder and The Order: 1886 Game Director Ru Weerasuriya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfHUvthiwBI&hd=1
Official PS Mag: The Order 1886 gameplay & details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lIG-BI2Vno
VG247: The Order: 1886 – the new PS4 exclusive with a lot to prove
On possible MP:
CVG: Next-gen spectacular: How The Order 1886 defines the future
PS Nation: Impressions of The Order: 1886 (w/ gameplay video)
Polygon: The Order: 1886 makes dark, dreary London shine in a first taste of gameplay
Kotaku: The Order: 1886 Is 30 Frames Per Second And Darn Proud Of It
Gamespot: The Order: 1886 Remains Shrouded in the Neo-Victorian London Fog
PS Blog (Post by The Order Game Director Ru Weerasuriya): The Order on PS4: New Trailer, Story Details Revealed
Feel free to post further previews and I will try to keep the OP updated.
Eurogamer: How The Order reinvents QTEs and the cinematic game
Eurogamer said:A good few minutes of our first proper look at The Order, the PlayStation 4's high-profile, big-budget exclusive, pass before we see anything resembling traditional gameplay. Even then it's brief - a short, staged shoot-out in a crowded Whitechapel alleyway where third-person cover-based gunplay gives way to a fist fight before our hero Galahad crashes through a weak timber roof. Except it's one of those fist-fights, as Galahad's actions are brought to life via on-screen prompts that, when pressed in the correct order, see him reaching for a knife before plunging it into a rebel's neck.
This isn't a QTE, though - or, rather, that's not what developer Ready at Dawn is calling it. In their parlance it's "branching melee", whereby failure at any stage in the process simply sends you down another path. The knife isn't the only option open to Galahad, and the fight can be concluded in many more ways. All of which sounds very much like a QTE, albeit a very generous one. It seems it's not just in The Order's twisted take on Victorian history that there's been some slight revisionism and a little bending of the rules.
Eurogamer said:Within seconds of seeing The Order in action, the benefits of working alongside Sony exclusively on the PlayStation 4 are clear enough. It's a fine-looking game, and one of the first to show what's really possible with the new generation of consoles. As Galahad and LaFayette, two of the four heroes that make up The Order's eponymous posse, take to a Whitechapel roof, the city stretches out across a tangible smoky horizon. Like Crytek's Ryse, a film-like visual quality is favoured over searing fidelity - which possibly explains its aim of running at 30fps over 60 - with grain and occlusion lending the image an electric authenticity. The Order's love of cinema runs deeper than the surface, too.
Of the 12 or so minutes of the game demonstration, a hefty chunk is given over to cut-scenes and exposition. Like those QTEs - or should I say "branching melees"? - there's a twist; throughout each cinematic you're given a slither of agency, with the ability to scope the landscape when Galahad looks down an eyeglass, or to examine a newly acquired weapon by rotating it in your hands.
Weerasuriya suggests that the balance in the final game will be weighted much further towards more tangible gameplay, but nevertheless it's a mix he believes is integral to the experience. "If you really think about it, it took you from a cinematic to an interactive cinematic to navigation to talk and walk, which are the moments where you navigate conversing back and forth, to gunplay to branching melee and back into cinematic," he says.
IGN: The Order: 1886’s Mixed Signals
IGN said:The Order: 1886 absolutely nails its period costumes and its wonderfully realized, believable setting. London looks dark, dreary, and perpetually overcast, exactly as you’d expect from a heavily-industrialised Britain. Ready at Dawn’s brilliance is shown with its understated odes to history and alternate history alike. The blimps flying through the air weren’t actually invented until years after the game takes place, yet you believe they should be there, and so they are. On the other hand, the navy blue outfits worn by The Order look old-school, yet timeless, with the Rebellion wearing similar dusters that pin them firmly to the late 19th century.
IGN said:But the game quickly turned into something a bit more typical the further we got into the demo. Technical issues aside, seamless transitions between cutscenes and gameplay are well-executed, but The Order: 1886 seems to be a fairly ordinary third-person shooter at its core. The camera angle and cover-based gameplay are more reminiscent of Gears of War than Uncharted, and while seeing it was exciting – and while the game no doubt looks fun – some of its mystique was siphoned away. We weren’t shown anything in this brief 10-minute glimpse not done in other third-person shooters. There are even quick-time events. Still, I did love 1886’s clean HUD. Your weapon and ammo count are only shown during battle, so as to not muddy the screen during exploration, with weapon swapping seemingly mapped to the directional pad.
Playstation Access interview with Ready At Dawn Co-founder and The Order: 1886 Game Director Ru Weerasuriya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfHUvthiwBI&hd=1
Official PS Mag: The Order 1886 gameplay & details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lIG-BI2Vno
VG247: The Order: 1886 – the new PS4 exclusive with a lot to prove
On possible MP:
VG247 said:Whatever the case, Ready At Dawn refused to properly discuss multiplayer. Whether that’s because they do want to make sure we understand this ‘new IP’ before talking about it, or because they’re not sure if they’re going to have time to implement it, remains to be seen.
As the only brand new and exclusive PS4 shooter with a triple-A budget behind it, there’s enormous pressure on The Order to deliver. What we’ve seen so far is packed full of potential, but we’re not yet convinced enough to let excitement get the better of us. We’ll have to go hands-on before that might happen.
CVG: Next-gen spectacular: How The Order 1886 defines the future
CVG said:How foolish is it to be amazed by a 'demo' these days?
In this case not even a hands-on preview, but a four-minute video, of which all the interactive scenes are carefully play-acted by a developer. Considering all the smoke and mirrors that inevitably come with such presentations, is it therefore wrong to be dazzled by them?
The problem we're having is this: The Order 1886 looks astonishing.
Watching it unfold on screen, ogling at its technical mastery and artistic majesty, marks it as the first PS4 game to deliver that next-gen "wow" factor. Slightly unfeasible PS3 games are no longer the visual benchmark for PlayStation 4; The Order has become the graphical barometer upon which all next-gen titles should be measured.
Although it is still unclear what truly defines a "next-gen" game, The Order argues it is the mastery of all production methods. Certainly it makes a convincing point. The video above showcases a harmonious unison of graphics, audio, acting, set-design, lighting and animation. On their own they are last-gen milestones, but together they achieve a filmic quality not seen to this extent before.
Perhaps the most obvious place to begin is the character models, which are staggeringly detailed and clearly a significant draw on hardware resources. Ru Weerasuriya, chief executive at developer Ready at Dawn, tells CVG that facial animation has become the biggest R&D expense for the project. Such investment has demonstrably paid off, with even the most subtle expressions from each character becoming noticeable indicators of their mood and personality.
This is enriched further by the body animations, which are a testament to the incomparable benefits of performance capture (a technique that Naughty Dog mastered in the Uncharted games as well as The Last of Us).
PS Nation: Impressions of The Order: 1886 (w/ gameplay video)
PS Nation said:My favorite moment of the presentation was when Ru revealed that they were also pulling from Arthurian Legend, which is a favorite of mine. Even the four main characters bear the names of Knights of the Round Table: LaFayette (not from Arthurian legend), Galahad, Igraine, and Percival (yup, Game of the Year!) By the way, one thing that I was very conscious of was that after the E3 trailer hit, a lot of people assumed that there was a Steampunk element in the game, but that seems to not be the case. Ru even pointed out that they avoid the use of “Sci-Fi” when talking about it, since the approach is more geared toward alternate science and technology for the time period.
PS Nation said:It’s striking to see the game in action. The attention to detail, and that everything is on screen whether it’s “cutscene” or actual gameplay, is what I talked about the most after we’d seen it. The lighting too, just grabbed me immediately. I’m not sure if it’s in the video I’ve included, but there’s a spot where Galahad comes to a flight of stairs going down, and above them is a window with sunlight soaking through, but in front of the window hang clotheslines with sheets slung across. The way the light diffuses through the different elements, but also how the light still fills the area, and illuminates the particles floating in the air, well, it was something to behold. This is what these “next-gen” systems are supposed to bring to us, at least that’s what I thought. Throughout the demo, you can see the deliberate effort to never pull the player out of the experience, with a minimal HUD that isn’t even on the screen all of the time. Ru also talked about these efforts, but obviously regarding what is and isn’t on the screen can definitely change by the time the game comes out.
Polygon: The Order: 1886 makes dark, dreary London shine in a first taste of gameplay
Polygon said:Graphically, The Order: 1886 can be simply jaw-dropping. There's a convincing sense of life in the faces of its protagonists, the knights Lafayette, a happy-go-lucky rookie; Galahad, the seasoned veteran; the noble mentor Percival and Igraine, the love interest/rival. Cloth physics give uniforms a heavy sense of weight and believable bounce as the knights traverse London's streets and rooftops. Motion blur, film grain and lens flare lend the game a warm, cinematic quality. Neo-Victorian London's dark, grit and grime aesthetic perfectly matches the overall dreary tone.
Admittedly, I found The Order's real-time graphics a bit hard to believe at first. It matched what looked at the time — last year's E3 — like a pre-rendered cinematic. But the occasional imperfect texture, hitched frame or aliased seam would pop up, proving that, yes, this is happening in real-time.
Kotaku: The Order: 1886 Is 30 Frames Per Second And Darn Proud Of It
Kotaku said:Ready At Dawn was from the beginning seeking a specific look and feel for the game. They liked the way 30fps looks versus 60, and they insisted on utilizing a 4x multisampling anti-aliasing (MSAA) process—which is quite technically demanding. Between that and any number of other graphical effects they wanted to implement. going with a higher framerate just wasn't a priority.P
"Higher framerate doesn't equate to better," Weerasuriya insisted. "The framerate has to satisfy the experience you want to have."
Gamespot: The Order: 1886 Remains Shrouded in the Neo-Victorian London Fog
Gamespot said:It's not that I came away feeling like what I saw reflected poorly on The Order so much as I felt like there wasn't enough there for me to get much of a sense of The Order at all. It may be that this intriguing game just isn't far enough along yet to make a strong showing at an event. Weerasuriya said that the people at Ready at Dawn are working hard to get the game out in 2014, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up getting pushed back. And if it needs extra time to make The Order great, I hope Ready at Dawn takes it. When I finally do get to visit neo-Victorian London, I want it to be in a game that is worthy of such an intriguing setting.
PS Blog (Post by The Order Game Director Ru Weerasuriya): The Order on PS4: New Trailer, Story Details Revealed
PS Blog said:Over the past few months, we shared with you our vision of a Neo-Victorian London in The Order: 1886, an alternate version of human history filled with mystery and advances in technology that take center stage in an age-old war.
This conflict that started centuries ago pitted mankind against half-breeds in a battle for survival. This became the catalyst for the noblest warriors of their time to come together in an alliance, an Order that waged war and held the line for hundreds of years. Through the centuries, their vigil has kept humanity safe and the war in a status quo while The Order’s members remained hidden behind history and legend.
But everything changes with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. The tide of war shifts as the Knights finally bring the battle to the half-breeds with the help of new weaponry.
But with progress comes civil unrest and rebellion, by the very people they have sworn to protect. Oppressed by what they perceive to be a dictatorship, the Rebellion rises out of the streets of Whitechapel and quickly prove themselves a dangerous foe, taking up arms against the Monarchy and The Order.
The Order now lives in a world where they must face and fight their fellow man while protecting their kind from the half-breeds. In The Order: 1886, you will be confronted by a diverse group of adversaries and use your weaponry against different factions.
We recently shared a first look at gameplay that illustrates the rebel uprising and that coverage is hitting today so be sure to check it out. Everyone here at Ready At Dawn is hard at work on the game. It’s been great to see all the excitement and we promise to share more of the game soon!
Feel free to post further previews and I will try to keep the OP updated.