LOS ANGELES, Feb 23 — Victorian-era action game “The Order: 1886” was one of last June’s mystery titles announced for the PlayStation 4; a handful of new trailers start to flesh out its intent. It’ll be the first wholly original game from Californian studio Ready at Dawn, whose previous titles have formed part of the “Daxter”, “God of War” and “Okami” series.

The setting is being called “Neo-Victorian” to help distinguish it from the already established Steampunk genre, and leveraging many technological advances brought about by the industrial revolution.

“We did a lot of research, reading and travel to build a London that would be believable but to give enough stuff for people to dream about,” explained game director Ru Weerasuriya.

While the game is a squad shooter — a genre whose best-known touchstone remains Microsoft’s “Gears of War” series — it incorporates elements from elsewhere.

An alternative British history recalls the early PlayStation 3 hit “Resistance: Fall of Man”, while talk of secretive organisations and advanced gadgetry has shades of “Assassin’s Creed” about it.

But in “The Order: 1886”, its Templar-style group are the good guys, with the first game following a team of monster hunters dedicated to pursuing dangerous half-breeds that threaten a society in flux.

A two-minute cinematic trailer was accompanied by 10 minutes of elaboration mixed with gameplay footage from the offical PlayStation Access channel.

That second slice of material confirmed that players would be stepping into the shoes of the generously sideburned Galahad during their encounter with “The Order: 1886”, though that still leaves room for other stories to be explored should subsequent series entries emerge.

The game is expected towards the end of 2014 on PlayStation 4.

See below for the cinematic trailer — The Order: 1886 on PS4. — AFP/Relaxnews