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Those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed that the outfits of the Knights in upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive The Order: 1886 have gotten decidedly less flamboyant in the weeks since its initial announcement. While early screenshots showed the iconic warriors battling in full royal gear, images captured from this week’s gameplay clip show the protagonists sporting somewhat more subdued garments. Such is the cynicism of the Internet, many have pondered if this is the first sign of some form of visual downgrade.

Fortunately, it’s not. Responding to queries on his official Twitter account, Ready at Dawn’s founder Andrea Pessino revealed that the characters’ costumes have merely been swapped to ‘infiltration’ robes for this particular portion of the game. These are apparently a much more logical option in combat. “The full ceremonial ones are used in other places,” he confirmed. The developer was also quick to shut down speculation that the hotly anticipated adventure will be little more than a straightforward third-person shooter. “[There will be a] lot variety in the things that you do moment to moment,” he added.

Exactly what this gameplay diversity will entail remains to be seen, but there have been hints at some L.A. Noire-esque crime scene investigation aspects in previous trailers. A second embargo lift is expected in the coming days, so hopefully we’ll get a glimpse at these additional elements as we stride closer to E3 next month. In the meantime, Polygon has uploaded some new screenshots, which appear to be taken from Friday’s gameplay tease. You can check out the full batch through here, but we’ve included some of our favourites below.

The Knights' new combat-ready look.

[source twitter.com, via twitter.com, neogaf.com, polygon.com]