Ready at Dawn Studios and Sony PlayStation recently released a new featurette for the upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive game The Order: 1886. The new video finally sheds some light on one of the game’s most mysterious and intriguing aspects–that of the race of half-breed beasts that are called Lycans. Unfortunately, the playable demo at the Electronic Entertainment Expo did little to expand on this aspect of the lore in the game’s story. However, the new video does answer some burning questions about the inhuman enemy that the Knights of the Round Table face in the world of The Order.
According to the developers, humans have been at war with the Lycans for hundreds of years. Apparently, the Lycans are beings that have the intelligence of humans with the predator instincts of beasts or wolves. The developers also spoke about how in “our world,” werewolves were likely derived from something similar to the Lycans, an evolution of humans. One clip shows a Lycan tossing a Galahad around like a rag doll. “You swine,” the Lycan growls. Clearly, even in their bestial forms, the Lycans have the ability to speak English and communicate. They are not completely feral. Another clip shows a disguised half-breed transforming into a Lycan, so it appears the Lycans can take human form and walk undetected among humans.
The behind the scenes video also featured early concept art and designs for the Lycans. The Lycans definitely look visually interesting. It looks like the designers stopped short of making them looking like full-on werewolves. The creatures look more like enhanced humans with bestial features. Judging by what we have heard from the plot and the behind the scenes featurettes, my guess is the Lycans will be depicted as a malevolent race that sees humans as its food source, not unlike vampires in narrative fiction. My prediction is that this ancient war between humans and Lycans is simply one of dominance. Since the developers discussed the Lycans being a transition of human evolution, perhaps the Lycans are merely trying to take the place of humans on the evolutionary ladder.
Overall, the seamless blending of the cut scene visuals to actual gameplay visuals in the footage looks impressive. However, it is still remarkably unclear how the war between Lycans and humans ties into the war with the human resistance rebels. Is the human rebellion out of anger toward the handling of the war with the Lycans? Or, does the rebellion merely represent the machinations of the Lycans? The Ready at Dawn developers described the Lycans as highly intelligent, so a cunning plot does not seem impossible.
The Order: 1886 is due out in February, exclusively for the PlayStation 4.
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