The Order: 1886 builds a new London

In a new post on the PlayStation blog CEO and creative director of Ready at Dawn Studios Ru Weerasuriya has talked about how his team re-imagined London to make it a potent mix of the familiar and the strange.

In the blog post Weerasuriya says that "This Neo-Victorian London will seem familiar to everyone, however, advances in technology will take center stage in many ways as you navigate the city." He gives the example of electricity coming to the city far before its time. "Everywhere you go, you can hear the hum of electricity running through the city."

The blog also confirms that the London Underground will be present, but it'll be "much more advanced" than in real life. Some sections of the Underground will run above ground and connect buildings within the city.

"The other big change you will witness is in the skyline of London. Although the familiar sights of Big Ben, St. Paul’s, and the Tower Bridge are present, the skyline is broken up by watch towers. Their searchlights are constantly scanning the city and the skies. The other change in the skyline is the presence of airship mooring towers. In The Order: 1886, London is patrolled day and night by a squadron of dirigibles called the Sentinels. All of these are a constant reminder that the world is not as it seems."

All of these changes are due to the "centuries-old" war that presumably will make up the bulk of the game's story. Much of the anachronistic advancements come in the form of high-tech weaponry. The blog gives the example of a thermite gun that allows you to shoot a cloud of flammable thermite that can then be ignited by throwing a flare into it.

Yesterday we reported that The Order: 1886 will be a franchise, and will span different media. There's no release date for the game yet, but it'll be landing on PS4 some time in 2014.