Why Has PS4's Prettiest Game The Order: 1886 Been Delayed?

As expected, The Order: 1886 has been delayed. God of War: Ghost of Sparta developer Ready at Dawn confirmed the snippet as part of a media blowout earlier this afternoon, leaving console warriors short on ammunition in their ongoing online list wars. While the news is undoubtedly disappointing, though, the studio’s adopting a much more positive mindset – and it seems confident that the additional time is going to benefit its ambitious outing in every way.

“We want to hold true to something that we've talked about in the past," creative director Ru Weerasuriya told Eurogamer.net, "which is delivering the experience without having this ebb and flow of: oh, this was really great and that was kind of meh, because we sacrificed a little time on it.” In other words, the company wants to ensure that the historical shooter shines from start to finish, rather than 90 per cent of the time.

And despite the delay denting its holiday lineup, the platform holder shares the developer’s outlook. “We have an open discussion with Sony all of the time,” the upper-ranking employee continued. "We said, 'Look, we can achieve the quality that you expect everywhere, but delivering on this is going to take a few more months.' It's not that long. It's worth it if we can deliver on the promise that we made." The Japanese giant didn’t even attempt to argue.

Part of the challenge that the company’s faced is that the game has grown in scale during development. “The project is always bigger than what everybody expects,” Weerasuriya sighed. “That's what this is. It's bigger than what everybody expected. Everything that we've shot, everything that we've done, is quite a bit larger than what we had planned for. But we're not going to sacrifice just because of time. Quality has to come first.”

One thing that the delay will enable the developer to do is incorporate seamless transitions between each sequence of gameplay and narrative. “As much as you think it would be easy to put together those moment to moments, and the camera falling into something then falling out, it's more intricate than what everybody expected,” he admitted. “Without the delay, we probably wouldn't be seamless, because we'd have to do what a lot of other games do, like hard cuts.”

This is perhaps one of the game’s most important assets, as people still argue that the title’s first trailer – which was captured using in-engine footage – was rendered using a super computer. In actual fact, the entire game will look the same from start to finish – irrespective of whether you’re watching a cut-scene or shooting out Rebellion troops in the streets of Whitechapel. It’s this outstanding visual fidelity that looks set to be the release’s primary selling point.

Not that the gameplay appears to be lacking either. One new addition discussed in many of the previews is protagonist Galahad's ability to slow time using a move called Black Sight. This will allow you to pick off targets before they react, using a mechanic reminiscent of the Dead Eye system in Red Dead Redemption. The move all ties into the fiction’s mysterious Black Water, which the Knights employ to heal wounds at a faster rate than ordinary people.

You can learn a lot more about the way in which the developer is fusing real history with make believe in the video embedded below. The five minute behind-the-scenes clip centres on the studio’s vision, while also touching upon its trips to London and much more. Are you still looking forward to this Victorian foray, or has your interest plummeted as a result of the game’s delay? Raise your pitchforks in the comments section below.