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While a lot will be made of The Order: 1886’s length in the coming days, developer Ready at Dawn wants players to know they’ve packed their new IP with a ton of content. From the design to the gameplay, The Order represents a new challenge for Ready at Dawn: how to deliver a breathing world rich with character and life but at the same time keep the player engaged.

To that point, Sony has released a new behind the scenes video for The Order that focuses on the game’s four main characters. As members of the Knights of the Round Table, each character brings something interesting to the table both in terms of their backstory and their characterization.

Although players may only be taking control of one member of The Order, the knight Galahad, Ready at Dawn wants to make sure that the four members feel like distinct characters with a history and a personality. Lafayette, for example, is a Frenchman with a proclivity for women, but whose experience in war has made him battle hardened.

The video also touches upon the challenges of making each character look realistic, while also animating their faces in real time. That is perhaps The Order’s most appealing quality: it’s ability to seamlessly jump from gameplay to cutscene while preserving the visual fidelity.

Does Size Matter?

Unfortunately, much of the conversation surrounding The Order as of late has focused on the game’s perceived length. First, there were rumors that the game was only about 3 hours long (since refuted by Ready at Dawn) and then one gamer leaked a full playthrough that lasted about 5 hours.

Now, Ready at Dawn has come forward once again to address the story length issue, saying that an average playthrough should take between 8-10 hours. However, those who want to peak in every nook and cranny of The Order, or who want to bump up the difficulty, will find their completion time clocks in closer to 12 hours. Whatever the case may be, the issue of completion time will soon be settled once reviews for The Order come in.

Until such a time, though, outlets (Game Rant included) are heavily embargoed from revealing any details about the upcoming PS4 exclusive. Even then, there’s something to be said for a game that focuses on character and story, and delivers a complete experience without padding. That’s what this behind-the-scenes video hopes to suggest: that The Order is a worthwhile, albeit focused, experience.

What do you think of the characters in The Order: 1886? How do you look at the playthrough length controversy?

The Order: 1886 releases February 20, 2015 for PS4.

Source: DualShockers