"Holy Grail or naught"
The Order is a controversial game, many gamers question if the length of the game and the price point; but, is it right to hate the game because of this? Well for starters let me get that out of the game, the game is not 5 and a half hours, much less if you want to get the platinum trophy; but is not a long game either, it sits at a comfortable 8 to 11 hour mark.
First and foremost, this game is undoubtedly beautiful. Ready at Dawn shows a high level of craftsmanship, the visuals and presentation of the Order are par none in consoles. Even with the odd resolution the presentation of the game simply works. I am especially impressed by the lightning and illumination technology displayed here; from gaslights to fire sources, daylight, gun flashes, and even cinders from a shotgun blast, the light just looks right, it looks realistic. This game has the best shadows I have ever seen rendered by a console. Speaking of presentation, the character animations look very realistic and believable; so does the art in general, it looks like a feasible Victorian era London. And these visual come accompanied by a beautiful sound design, gunshots, steps and ambiance sounds are perfect, and again, believable. The score is also very adequate to the mood of the game although I personally did not find it noteworthy, personal taste mind you.
Now as for the gameplay all I can say is that the mechanics are solid. Shooting feels right, the cover system feels right and the QTE are honestly above average — which is not much really.
So before stating what bugged me about the game let me get this straight, yes I do recommend you playing this game, buy it on sale or get it when the inevitable PS+ version comes, it truly shows what the PS4 is capable off.
Now, what really takes away from the game is the lack of content, not because of the length but because how unfinished and underuse some features feel. There are not even enough QTEs!!! Yes I said it, even that feel underused. Plus the story ends abruptly — avoiding all spoilers — and this sucks because the story is really good. Also the pacing as a game feel very weird, there are some chapters where gameplay is kept to a bare minimum.
All and all, The Order 1886 is a good game with wasted potential, RatD took more time in crafting the game than fleshing it as such. But with some really easy tweaking (add a multiplayer for cod’s sake!) and more content, The Order is destined to be a bar setting IP— it accomplishes that on the graphics and presentation department — and the next step on storytelling, cinematic games. I am very interested in the next game; I want to see more of these badasses and their fight against the supernatural; I want more of the steampunk, casltevania-ish setting.
"More Bark Than Bite..."
There comes a time were a game is let loose into the wild and the developers eagerly study if the beast they happily created can survive the onslaught of opinions, reviews and the needs of a nation of gamers. “The Order 1886” is a breed of game which looks fantastic and plays very easily and straight forward.
It really hits that high note of triple “A” gaming quality with even the minor details that are brought to life. From the simple voice acting to the actual “gravity” of each weapon from the trigger to the actual impact on the unfortunate target. One of the greatest strengths of the game is the actual lore and the environment the game projects. "Ready at Dawn" really gave this some thought when actually putting the story into production because this is what drove me throughout the whole game. The fictional characters seem real, the danger seems real, and the actual “shit that hits the fan” smells real. After that last sentence I seemed to have painted a very pretty picture, but no system is perfect.
This game is missing such obvious elements that would have made this a perfect game. This game was made for “Co-op” play. This would have been implemented beautifully helping your partner take down baddies/werewolves while overcoming various obstacles. Also, I am not the type of person who thinks that every game needs a multiplayer, but I can see some good potential for this genre. A horde mode or a good ol’ Knights vs an Elder werewolf multiplayer option would have been so awesome! Oh, the possibilities! A big and obvious thing that every reviewer has talked about was the length of the game and yes, this is true. How can you create some so epic and only give you a taste for 60 bucks? An average gamer would have accepted a 10 or 12 hour game, minimum! But from 6 to 7 hours? I played Demos longer than this which also had more replay value. I played this game on “Hard” mode and I got nothing back but a challenge. I didn’t even get a trophy!(Besides the "Knight no more") The only thing I got was Just the fact that I am a Bad-ass werewolf slayer who will pop a cap in anything that moves, no questions asked! And to add more to this, I paid over 60 dollars and got the special Edition with a cool statue and some stickers. I have no regrets and Iam probably going to have to eat peanut butter sandwiches for the rest of the week...
In a nutshell this game shines very bright from beginning to end but fizzles out too soon.
Thus, leaving you wanting more or wishing that it would have been more. This game is worth at least 30 bucks, or better yet wait untill it hits PS-Plus to get the greatest deal of all: Free 99! Now im going to post a picture of my cool statue below so that I can feel better about myself. Game on!
Check out some our videos from "The Order 1886"!
Head-Shot Cinema
The Order 1886 : 1 on 1 with a werewolf
