After a decent drought the PS4 has a new exclusive, and it’s not been met particularly well. With ratings averaging around 6.5 throughout the web, how bad could it be? Is it a waste of an exclusive, or are reviewers being too rough on the game with complaints about its length and its gameplay?
Premise
The Order: 1886 tells the story of an alternate version of Victorian London set largely during October of 1886. London is plagued by Half-Breeds, shapeshifting creatures that stalk the alleyways by the dark of night and feast upon the flesh of the innocent. However, much of London remains oblivious to this fact, thanks to the intervention of Her Majesty’s Royal Order of Knights, an Order that was established by the Knights of the Round Table, and who bear their names in respect. Armed with conventional weapons and incredible steampunk inspired technology provided by Nikola Tesla, the Order protects London from lycanthropic Half-Breeds, and budding rebellions gaining ground in the city streets.
Sir Gallahad (Grayson), student of Sir Perceval (Sebastien Malory) ends up wrapped up in questions and conspiracies when the rebels begin to implement the weapons and gear Tesla designed for the Order alone in order to terrorize the United Indian Company. Over the course of a couple weeks, Gallahad must work in tandem with his fellow knights, including Lady Igraine (Isideau), the Marquis de Lafayette, and Sir Alastair (Lucan), and at times against them to uncover truths that would besmirch the history of their centuries old service and Order alike.
Story
The Order: 1886 is a cinematic game. It is a narrative-driven game, and one that relies heavily upon its setting and characters to deliver its charm. For the most part it is very successful in its aims, and delivers what is to be expected from its premise, but still manages to bring surprise enough to not be boring during the length of a playthrough. Without a doubt, one of the biggest complaints about the game has been its length, but unduly so. As a narrative game the length is rationalized by its story, and for an 8 hour game, it is amazing, with a couple faults.
The story itself is very well written, rarely relying upon tropes and working well within the time period, without growing stale. The inclusion of Tesla allows for extravagant technology and weaponry that both fits within the time and stands apart as something foreign that sets this Victorian setting apart from others, of which it takes inspiration. Unlike other historical fiction games and stories, the inclusion of historical characters is not overwhelming, but usually quite subtle, such as Commissioner Doyle and his love of deductive reasoning and favor of the phrase ‘elementary’, the long present fear in the air from a series of killings by one known only as Jack, or the notes and writings that can be found from one C. Darwin. Characters in the foreground and background feel in place with the setting, with major side characters discussing their time in East India, either allied with the Crown or resisting it.
The characters are strongly written and independent of one another. The bonds established between them early on are played with and change over time, but never without cause or reason, and so the progression from beginning to end for every character involved feels natural. Gallahad and other knights show an imperialistic mentality that is befitting the time, the rebels discuss political and economic grievances that can still be seen as fitting today, and all characters operate very well within their setting, and against their monstrous Half-Breed enemies.
The greatest faults of the story are its ending, and its length. The ending while satisfactory (and rather awesome) leaves more questions than perhaps it should, but does so in such a way that it doesn’t seem abrupt and instead leaves one wanting to see more. It sequel baits, as so many other games do, but it does so fairly well. The length does leave one wanting more as well, sadly, and for the same reason as the ending. For the story that is told the length is very fitting, and does cut things off at a point that leaves one wanting more. It is well done, but it could have fit some more in and sequel-baited a little less, but then so could many narrative games such as another Sony exclusive, The Last of Us.
Presentation
Frankly put, The Order: 1886 is BEAUTIFUL. Graphically the game is stunning and, while heavy on cutscenes, runs consistently well. The character models and animations are wonderfully done and indistinguishable in and out of cutscenes. It was not uncommon to forget that what was seen was digital and running in a game, instead of filmed in real life, nor was it uncommon to leave a cutscene believing that it was still going. That the only noticeably recurring character models were those of enemies (which were still fairly varied) is only further testament to the raw technical power behind the game.
Characters were visually distinct and stunning, setpieces were beautifully rendered and even in a linear game such as The Order gave a sensation of being organic and lived in. Settings were often interactable and, to an extent, destructible, especially during a firefight when one was encouraged to avoid certain pieces of cover for how quickly it will fail.
Sound design was very well done, adding a further sense of life to the world, and a wonderful sense of weight and power to the weapons, characters, and combat. The music, however was somewhat downplayed and virtually nonexistent for much of the game, though this only served to make its inclusion all the more impactful when it did come. Using a mix of new orchestrated tracks, and period pieces, the soundtrack is very satisfactory, adding a fair bit to the scenes and setpieces for which it is present.
Gameplay
Perhaps the greatest fault of the game as a whole is its gameplay, and doubtlessly it is for this that it has received so much criticism, though in part unduly. The Order: 1886 is a third-person shooter, and as one does not add much to the genre in terms of innovation. It does, however, do its job as a third-person shooter very well. Hit-detection is solid, with a well placed bullet bringing down an enemy instantly while armored enemies plod through automatic fire ricocheting off of their steel plated chest. Cover mechanics are adequate, with Gallahad crouching and standing to remain behind cover, but becoming exposed enough to hit when moving around low cover. Sadly, the game does not have a very strong cover-to-cover movement mechanic, but it doesn’t really need one as it offers several forms of cover-based combat including blind-fire, and a more typical peek-a-boo approach.
There is a fair bit of variety within the game, with the shooting segments broken up by basic traversal and exploration, some mild parkour-esque traversal in segments, some lock-picking and generator-overloading minigames, stealth segments and, of course, QTEs. The game does abuse QTEs at times, but it never felt excessive and instead tended to fit with what was happening in game, especially during 'turning-point’ segments in which the player is often given a choice of what to use or do in the environment during a QTE or fight sequence.
As a shooter, The Order does not offer much that is new, but what it does is extremely satisfying. Its weapons look and feel unique. The two shotguns don’t feel identical to one another, nor do the automatic rifles, or the pistols. Every typical weapon feels unique in its firing and use, with the Falchion Rifle feeling inclined to mid-range combat with smaller clips, deteriorating accuracy during sustained fire, and a secondary stunning air-blast, and the more tommy-gun-esque alternative benefiting much more from distanced spray-and-pray, or the pistols each feeling different in recoil and fire power. The scientific weapons are where the game shines, though: The lightning-shooting Arc Rifle can rip through enemies after a charge, a direct hit even tearing foes apart on screen, an explosive launcher fires out sticky explosives that can be detonated individually and independently allowing for traps, a rocket launcher of sorts makes an appearance as a shoulder mounted cannon, firing artillery shells with ease, and of course the Thermite Rifle which sprays a cloud of thermite which can then be ignited with a flare for a wall of sparks and fire that can trap and incinerate enemies. Weapons feel unique, amazing, and oh so satisfying in a way that is sadly uncommon in this genre.
Verdict
The Order: 1886 is not a perfect game. It has some faults in its story, and in its length. Its gameplay can often be put off as secondary in preference of its story. However, the gameplay that it does exhibit is tight and reacts well. It is varied and the third-person shooting is more satisfying and strong than many others. The story is strong and the characters are unique and well established despite the 8 hour constraints, and the progression feels natural and without major hiccups unlike in some other games in the genre that have lauded for their narrative.
It is a fairly short game clocking in at around 8 hours for a typical playthrough, and down to 5 for a speed run. It does not have a lot of replayability outside of finding all of the collectibles for trophies, and there is no multiplayer component, or anything outside of the story. For what it is, though it is very well done and beautiful. Had the game been marketed as a mini-series or series of movies it would likely not be criticized, but because it is marketed as a single game it can feel as though it’s overpriced because of its length. For $60, however it is worth it for the experience and for the story.
It is not a must have at that price, and will likely drop before long, but it is worth experiencing at some point, be it months down the line, or as a rental. Length should not be a determining factor of a game’s worth, and The Order: 1886 benefits from its length more than it suffers from it. It is a strong experience, even if some feel that it is lacking as a game, and is certainly worth looking in to now, and especially when it lowers in price.
Final score: 8.9/10