Ready at Dawn’s Deformers is shutting down on August 9th

Ready At Dawn has announced that it will be shutting down the servers for its physics-based arena brawler, Deformers, in its Western and European markets on August 9th. According to the team, Deformers was no longer financially viable in the West and in Europe, which is why it decided to shut down its servers.

[yellowgerbil]

That game looked like a April fools prank after the order. Would be like naughty dog making state of decay instead of tlou

[narsaku]

Outside of in-engine graphic fidelity The Order 1886 was a horrible game, one of this generation's worst. I'm not saying Deformers was a blockbuster hit, or that great, but it was at least more of a game than 1886's CGI hallway was.

[Nodoze]

I rather enjoyed The Order. The setting was fantastic. The gameplay could use some tweaking for sure, but what was on offer was good. The world needs another game set in this universe.

[KOIMOJO]

@nodoze Yeah, as someone who really values cool settings, tone, characters and stuff like that I absolutely loved the order and think it was a great starting point that they could add more mechanics and systems around. Really hope Sony decides to save them from having to make more Deformers-like games. I still believe this studio can thrive with a big budget.

[coolbeans]

I've actually had a review resting on this for a while too. My mindset was similar to your own: jumping from an overly-constrained, dreary shooter to a bounce-house brawler looked like a great direction for them (if only as a diversion).

EDIT: In fact, I think I'm going to invest time to finish it!

[MarineLineman]

Did you actually play the game to develop that opinion? The Order was far from a horrible game; it was definitely short, and didn’t need those couple of chapters that were nothing more than cutscenes, but the gameplay, the gun mechanics, the overall story, the setting/ environment, and the voice acting were all top notch. The insanely good graphics go without say. Nothing about it was broken, and everything worked extremely well. Nothing that a bigger and better resourced team couldn’t fix in a potential sequel to make an actually fantastic game.

[NotanotherReboot]

Yep, The Order is epitome of all things wrong with linear SP games

[Godmars290]

@Nodoze:
The issue is that as a big budget AAA it failed to deliver. Didn't make enough to justify sequel, yet the people who liked it feel justified in asking for one as if it had performed well. Willfully miss the point

[Gaming_1st]

@narsaku

I feel the hate in your blood, let it consume you and come to the darkside.

[bouzebbal]

It's RAD's first full scale project and we should encourage them.
The game wasn't bad at all.
It was short, YES!
It had no replayability value, YES!

it is however a very good foundation for a more ambitious sequel.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

The Order was amazing

[UltraNova]

Its 2018 and still people call a game bad for being short...so by that logic launch window NMS was an infinitely great game?

Lets get serious...it was short and it lacked replayability but what was there was top quality (gun play, voice acting, story, visuals, sound..) and more than enough to warrant a sequel that could address all shortcomings.

We as gamers should be advocating for RAD and Sony to give The Order a second chance, to give us what we deserve.. a better game set in this unique setting, not rooting against it. This is so wrong in so many levels.

[Ceaser9857361]

Order 1886 has huge potential. And it was not a horrible game.. I hope the game gets another chance..

[oasdada]

The order was a fantastic game.. U know whats worst and horrible? Sea of theieves and it blows my mind outlets still gave that trash anything above a 3.. The order was atleast atleasttt an 8! What a game..

[rainslacker]

The only problem with the Order was that it was unfinished and rushed out the door to get it done. It certainly wasn't the best game this gen, but it's not the worst.

[Null1980]

I didn't even realize this ever came out. I remember them talking about it after The Order. Everybody was like 'huh'? I was willing to try it out... but honestly never realized it came out!

The Order is not as bad as so many people say it is. There are certain games that come out that you play and you say, "Okay, this is decent... I can really see the potential in it. I bet they could do something a lot better with it in a sequel". That's how I feel about The Order. Much like how I feel about Rage and the presumably true (?) leak of Rage 2. I have high hopes that Rage 2 will fix many of the mistakes of the first, because the core of the game was a good foundation I could see built upon. I bet it will be a lot better game.

[Tobse]

I love when people go graphics over gameplay and fun. Deformers was okay nothing special but fun at times. The order could have been a cgi movie. More shallow than anything this gen

[Nyxus]

I love when people dictate what is fun.

[KickSpinFilter]

The Order had some of the worst AI Ive played in a while. The half-breeds were just terrible, collectibles were pointless. Story started off great but got stale and rather silly when they introduce vampires, just a little much. Human enemies AI, and the combat with them was rather good with a cover system that was very top notch.
Art/graphics were great. The shortness of the game would have not bothered me if it was a well thought out game from start to finish. QTE's were ok with the human AI enemy, but just terrible with half-breeds. So a good rental, but far from a "CGI" movie.

[mandingo]

Not quite

[pody]

OH SAVAGE!

[StormLegend]

Such a terrible company and they have no idea how to make good games.

[Gazondaily]

After the crap that was The Order, they needed to do something big but alas...they settled on this

[Nyxus]

The Order wasn't crap.

[narsaku]

Your right, it was worse than crap.

[Nyxus]

Played through it twice and want to go through it again, try to get the Platinum Trophy. I understand this type of game isn't for everyone but I liked it a lot. The atmosphere and story were amazing.

[Rachel_Alucard]

I think Order was a bad video game but they did a good job at creating eye candy to the average viewer. I only see praise for the things that are second to a video game foundation, like characters, setting, world, story. You can't write any positive aspects about the game parts because it does nothing new any other shooter had done in the last decade. Ready at Dawn is a textbook example of the differences between western developers and eastern developers

https://www.gamasutra.com/v...

[Chexs1990]

The gameplay was mediocre, sure, but the tone, setting, world mythos and atmosphere was probably some of the best this gen.
A lot of what made it good, came from all the subtleties and implicit workings, weaved into the game world.
Not for everyone, I'll agree with that, but for those who understood them, the game was a pretty good experience :)

[Araragifeels]

Good thing, I got the game for free since Gamestop was giving away to all power up members.

[DigitalRaptor]

Looks like I'll have to put on my teacher hat... *sighs*

Ready At Dawn has made some good games though:

- Daxter on PSP was a great game.
- God of War: Chains of Olympus on PSP was a great game.
- Okami on the Wii was a damn good port.
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta on PSP was a great game.
- God of War: Origins Collection was an excellent remaster collection.
- Lone Echo on Oculus Rift was critically acclaimed.

They also have more projects in the works, so its possible for them to release more quality games after switching to work on 3 games outside of their comfort zone for the first time (big budget/new IP/console project, a multiplayer project, and a PCVR project... respectively). If you don't try new things, it becomes easy to stagnate. Props to them for having ambition and wanting to try new things and grow as a studio.

Lone Echo was something big (at least in the VR arena), but according to Septic it neither exists nor is it good: https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[coolbeans]

"If you don't try new things, it becomes easy to stagnate. Props to them for having ambition and wanting to try new things and grow as a studio."

I think this is--surprisingly--one of the most thoughtful takes on the trite negativity on here. It's easy to just play armchair-publisher and ask "why not dedicate resourses to what I want?" but it's apparent that the money wasn't there. They're exploring different avenues b/c that appears to be the only way they can keep the lights on (atm).

[KickSpinFilter]

Thx was to lazy to make a list!

[Segata]

Okami on Wii is a butchered port. Paper filter removed. Lousy controls and removed the original team's credits.

[NotanotherReboot]

Back off. Daxter was good on PSP

[BlackIceJoe]

This is another reason why I don't want to hear people saying the future for video games is more multiplayer games, because if the game sells bad you're left with a brick.

[narsaku]

Not wanting reality is a tough struggle bud. I feel you though I ship Naruto/Sakura.

But more multiplayer is coming whether you like it or not bud.

[P_Bomb]

Hey misery loves company.

[mkis007]

over saturation will cause it to balance itself. Multi without single-player rarely happens, single without multi happens a lot. A game is art, and single player is where it shines.

[Goldby]

@mkis

Theres a whole genre built around multiplayer without single player. Battle Royale, in top of that there's the arena shooters and brawlers like overwatch and paladins

[KickSpinFilter]

As is Singleplayer, neither are going anywhere.

[lodossrage]

@BlackIceJoe

I agree with you. I said this even during the PS3/360 era. People are going to realize what they're pushing for when it's too late to do anything about it. Everyone buying into things like "always online, "GAAS", and games without a single player component have to come to the realization that when a game's server goes offline, so does any use of the game they purchased.

I don't care if a game server goes down 1 year or 20 years after I bought it. I like to think whatever I bought is still USEABLE when the server is eventually gone.

Unfortunately, the game companies know enough people are slaves to gaming and will accept it. I just know the moment their "future" becomes reality is the moment I stop being a "current" game and go retro. I love games, but not enough to buy into this mutliplayer only stuff.

[VerminSC]

This poor developer can’t catch a break. They have so much potential

[Nodoze]

What a complete and utter waste of development talent...on this. They should have been commissioned for a sequel to The Order. Instead they made this. Sorry but what a terrible decision.

[Araragifeels]

But remember that PlayStation cut ties with Ready At Dawn so they are no longer a second Party studio. So the only one who can do a sequel for The Order is Santa Monica since they did help out Ready At Dawn make the game.

[shinoff2183]

Sony could always hire them to make a sequel. It's not that if you cut ties you aren't allowed to work together again exclusively lol

[Araragifeels]

@shinoff2183 the problem is that they haven't made a good game in awhile and haven't done anything big ever since The Order. Plus The Order didn't do that well in sales and got mixed reviews. If sales was decent then PS probably could have greenlit The Order sequel just like Knack which Knack won't get another sequel since the second game was a flop.

[Salooh]

It's not a waste, if they were forced to do it than yes, but if they genuinely have ideas for this genre than they should keep trying.

But even with that in mind, what they did with the order is nothing but an improvement( From my eyes a great achievement) compared to their previous games. So they shouldn't have stopped. They should make a plan and try get the support. They shouldn't doubt themselves...

[masterfox]

How about creating a sequel to The Order 1886 ?, the only issue The order had was the game is too short but if you think about it the developer actually deliver on its promise, the game is freaking stunning looking and fun to play no damn downgrades like other developers like to do at the end, also the Order sold pretty well for a new IP imo, so they should use this experience to create a bigger game for the Order sequel if they ever do that.

[generic-user-name]

Agree, The Order got shat on in reviews and when I played it I was expecting a bad game, but of course it turned out to be a pretty damn good game. It achieved what it set out to do, which was be cinematic, and people got mad over that because of the "hurrr durr, if I want a movie I'll go to the cinema durrrrrrrr" routine, because how dare there be cinematic games in existence.

Great world, interesting characters, some of the best visuals ever even today, gripping story, cool and unique weapons, I didn't feel it was as short as people make out either. My only real problem with the game were the crappy werewolf fights. Meanwhile everyone else was freaking out over the 'film bars' and that they dared to label some of the cutscenes with chapter titles.

Hope we see a sequel some day.

[shinoff2183]

I enjoyed it I don't get why people hating on it what was on the other system at the time ryse, sorry I'll take personality over that any day. The order though short was enjoyable

[Rachel_Alucard]

They made a good presentation and had eye candy to the average player then did nothing with the game to make it stand out from any other 3rd person shooter.

[MarineLineman]

The game was kindof bound to fail. I mean, what the hell was it? I’m not gonna claim it was bad, as I never played it, but I never played it because I literally could not figure out what it was based off the gameplay I’ve seen. I know based off it’s sales that I certainly wasn’t in the minority on that one.

I really wish [email protected] hasn’t let their arrogance get the best of them when developing The Order. That franchise still has huge potential, but I don’t want to see them touch it. A bigger and more talented dev should take over it.

[lociefer]

Almost as sad as club penguin

[TheOttomatic91]

To be expected the game looked like a cheap quick cash grab, hopefully they follow suit with Ninja Theory and create a self published game.

[Xack]

Inevitable really. Hard to hold the masses attention these days, even more so when your game is rather niche.

[coolbeans]

And here I was anticipating the XOneX-enhancement update. :/

[nibblo]

Looks a hell of a lot better than The Order at least.

[coolbeans]

It is too--for what it's trying to accomplish. Modestly-priced, bouncy brawler utilizing [email protected]'s technical ability.

[addictedtochaos]

Ready At Dawn should have stuck with making handheld games. Their God Of War games on PSP were very good.

[PizzaSteve]

The Order was a good game not the best but good. I would like a 2nd game but they need help from other devs maybe Santa Monica.

[lellkay]

Hope this doesn't signal the end for Ready At Dawn. The Order wasn't great but I think it had some neat ideas. I'd like to see them work with Sony and again and have another punt at an Order game with more focus on interesting gameplay scenarios.

[Segata]

*shrug* No one really cares and I forgot it even existed.