It turns out Ready at Dawn really wanted to bring us a sequel to The Order: 1886, but Sony wasn’t on board. According to Andrea Pessino, co-founder of the now-defunct studio, a follow-up to the PS4 exclusive was pitched, but Sony ultimately decided against it.

Speaking in an interview with MinnMax on YouTube, Pessino shared that he doesn’t believe sales were the issue. Instead, he thinks Sony turned down the idea because of the lukewarm critical reception that the first game received at launch.

“I don’t think it was the sales,” Pessino explained. “I think it was the critical reception—that’s the thing. Sony is a very proud group, and rightfully so. If the reviews had even been just in the 70s, we would have had the sequel, I’m convinced. Just a few points more and it would have been okay.”

A Sequel That Never Had a Chance

When The Order: 1886 launched in 2015, it received a Metacritic score of 63, while users scored it slightly higher at 6.8. The game was widely praised for its stunning visuals and immersive world-building, but it was also criticized for its short length, lack of meaningful gameplay depth, and overly cinematic approach. Our own review at the time echoed similar sentiments, awarding it a 6/10 and stating: “The presentation is sublime from the release’s rousing start right the way through to its anticlimactic finish, but several shoddy design decisions detract from its otherwise exemplary gloss. The developer’s crafted an incredible universe, but outside of the title’s core cast, it’s failed to do much of note with it.”

Ironically, we also noted that the game “was begging for a sequel to realize its undeniable potential,” and Pessino claimed that if Sony had approved it, the sequel could have been ready by 2018. Not only that, but it would have expanded upon the original with a multiplayer mode alongside another cinematic single-player adventure.

A Rushed Launch and What Could Have Been

One of the most interesting revelations from the interview was that internal mock reviews at Ready at Dawn were much higher than what critics ultimately gave the game. Pessino suggested that this disparity may have been due to the game’s rushed development cycle. The studio had a fixed, non-negotiable release date of February 20, 2015, which meant there was no extra time to refine the final product.

“We needed another year—that’s the reality,” Pessino admitted. “We needed at least one more year, but we didn’t get it, so we were like, cut, cut, cut.”

This meant that a lot of the game’s more subtle narrative elements were lost in the process. “So much was chopped away, and things that were supposed to be interactive became a movie,” he added. This comment aligns with one of the biggest complaints about The Order: 1886—it often felt like players were watching a movie rather than playing a game. But if Ready at Dawn had been given more time, perhaps the balance between gameplay and cinematics could have been better refined.

Ready at Dawn’s Shift to VR and Closure

Following The Order: 1886, Ready at Dawn pivoted away from traditional console development and dove into the world of virtual reality. The studio was eventually acquired by Oculus Studios, where it worked on various VR projects. Unfortunately, in a tragic turn of events, the company was shut down last year.

It’s hard not to wonder what could have been if Ready at Dawn had been given another shot at The Order. Could they have delivered a sequel that fixed the mistakes of the original? Would multiplayer have breathed new life into the franchise? We’ll never know, but it’s always sad to see a game with so much potential never get the chance to fulfill it.

Would you have played a sequel to The Order: 1886? Let us know in the comments below and share your thoughts on the game that never was.