The Order: 1886 is set in an alternate history 1886 London, where an old Order of Knights keeps the world safe from half breed monsters, which are a combination of animal and human. Around the seventh or eighth century, a small number of humans took on bestial traits, the majority of humans feared these half-breeds and war broke out. Despite the humans outnumbering the half-breeds, their animal strength gave them the upper hand in centuries of conflict. Humanity finds new hope in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. King Arthur and his like-minded knights take the fight to the half-breeds, but Arthur realizes it is a losing battle. Through a mysterious turn of fate, the Knights discover Blackwater, a mystical liquid that significantly extends their lifetimes and gives them healing abilities. Despite this advantage, the half-breeds continue to win battle after battle, until the Industrial Revolution turns the tide. Engineers are far ahead of their time, inventing technologies such as thermal imaging, railguns, zeppelins, and wireless communications. New weapons belch electricity, ignite clouds of thermite on top of enemies, and fulfill dual functions as fragmentation grenades and proximity mines. Additionally, the events involving Jack the Ripper have taken place two years earlier.