How ‘The Order: 1886’ Put Me To Sleep…And Then Woke Me Up

Shaz Mohsin says: "The Order: 1886 is a good game. A game that was crushed by expectations of what a $60 game should look like. Even if it may not be “worth it” at $60, it’s a game that is a solid deal at $40, a bargain at $20, and a steal for anything less. With decent gunplay, a good number of fairly creative guns, alongside an impeccable visual design, this game from an eagle eyed view, is a simple and inoffensive addition to the third-person shooter genre. But it’s when you go into it, and look closer, and play it for what it is – a cinematic experience – is when you truly appreciate what this game offers. Although it may be riddled with QTE’s, but the way in which the game utilizes those QTE’s in specific moments to provide the sense of immersion in a brilliantly told, and brilliantly weaved narrative, voiced by capable actors that bring these characters to life, results in a game that I am happy to let play itself, simply to enjoy the story that’s being told."

[IcarusOne]

With writing like that, how could I NOT click! /s

[Nu]

Sounds like the story of my life.
My girlfriendputsme to sleep and then she suddenly wakes me from my slumber.....

[SquidBuck]

Dawg, none of us care about you or your girlfriend. Also, what a dumb analogy.

[Team_Litt]

False! I care.
Tell me more about your girlfriend, friend.

[nix]

yeah. how did she wake you up from slumber?

[Skull521]

I never got far in the game, it keep taking me out of the action or making me walk around all boring, really a terrible game.

[Nu]

How she woke me is actually xXXX rated /s

[rainslacker]

I enjoyed the game, and have probably defended it against attack on these forums more than I really should have, but just reading the description I can't really imagine who the writer is trying to convince. The game was decent enough, and the game play was solid, and the graphics are still some of the best of this generation, but there were things that brought it down, and the cinematic experience was not a good selling point when it was too intrusive and took the player out of the game too often, and for too long. The cinematics and story itself were great, but the balance between presenting that story, and the game play itself was very unbalanced.

[gbsrnctaln]

To me the graphics were a mess, monochromatic blue, and blurry. The Order was also fairly monochromatic, but in every other aspect visually shit, and I mean SHIT all over QB.

[MegamanXXX]

Actually I thought the order 1886 was better than Quantum Break but that's just my opinion

[Soulst0rmer]

The only major flaws I had were the too-cover based pop up target combat and the lack of a good navigation/collection systems. The QTEs, stealth, graphics, story, length, gun play, melee, etc were all great.. it just needed polishing mechanically. Hoping for a sequel to really shine.

[Kribwalker]

I got it for $5 during the flash sale in January and can say for $5 it was pretty good, I liked it better then the original remastered uncharted, but I don't think it was a better game then quantum break. There was way too many points in the game where they made you walk with no way to move faster that was so frustrating and after play all of the gears games, the cover mechanics weren't up to the task I felt

[MegamanXXX]

The game play mechanics was horrible in Quantum break and you couldn't even take cover. Not to mention the cutscenes or movie scenes was like 30 minutes long and boring.The game kept crashing on my PC. Angry Joe review was very accurate imo.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

[goken]

i saw it at $4 in april, but i was in China and couldn't pay for it. by tge time i got back the sale was over... sigh

[ninsigma]

The order and quantum break both fit into the same tier really. Neither are pushing the boundaries of games and neither are amazing titles but both were good and enjoyable in their own right. The order was much better imo though. Had a better story, characters and gameplay while also looking graphically awesome. It was worth extra play throughs while QB was a one and done for me.

[81BX]

Strongly disagree. For me QB was way better than the order. I loved the show tie in.

[81BX]

I prefer my Xbox but make no mistake I'm a gamer 1st. For me the best gaming experience this gen is until dawn... not on xbox btw

[Gazondaily]

QB was better but still a letdown.

The Order was thoroughly bad aside from visuals and voice acting.

[ninsigma]

@septic
Thoroughly bad my ass. If you weren't on a hate crusade to downplay it, you might actually enjoy it.

[morganfell]

The Order put a lot of people "to sleep" that were intent on disliking the game without playing it. Similar to those that talk about it being so so that still haven't played it despite what they post. I just do not see someone with a record of having written so nastily about the title having purchased it later. The Order is great cinematic gaming and as a fan of both The Post Vulgate Cycle as well as the remarkable Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi I couldn't be more pleased.

[Kiwi66]

You pretty much just described every person who has hated on a game that they will never play because its on another console so they downplay it instead 👍🙂

[Kribwalker]

If you are questioning me playing it or not, go to your PS4, type in my user name and go to my trophies. You will be pleasantly surprised. I'm also playing knack right now because I got it for $5, as well as infamous ss, and I beat until dawn after I bought it for $8. Until dawn is my favourite PS4 exclusive so far. Bought uncharted 4 during the E3 sale, but wanna play the others first, only played the first one and it turned me off them for now.

[DJustinUNCHAIND]

Why would I spend my time and money on a game that was deemed mediocre to bad across the board?

[morganfell]

Why you ask...

"deemed mediocre to bad "

This.

Because you shouldn't make gaming decisions on outstanding titles because someone else told you they were bad. You should decide for yourself.

[gbsrnctaln]

Loved The Order, hated the suckfest that was QB.

[Godmars290]

Not saying much.

[WilliamSheridan]

What a strange, almost fanboy like thing to say. Comparing two very different games. Uncharted vs Quantum would be more fair.

[freshslicepizza]

What fun is that though?

[S2Killinit]

The Order was a great game. The atmosphere was really good, the music original score, I was really happy with my purchase.

[freshslicepizza]

@MegamanXXX
"The game play mechanics was horrible in Quantum break and you couldn't even take cover. Not to mention the cutscenes or movie scenes was like 30 minutes long and boring.The game kept crashing on my PC. Angry Joe review was very accurate imo.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

You know you're a diehard fan when an article about a Sony exclusive turns into a discussion about a MS exclusive. I think The Order is the game Sony used to advertise the battery life of the PS4 controller.

[MegamanXXX]

I liked Quantum Break better than No Man Sky. I actually thought that No Man Sky was the worse game I have ever played this generation. I downplayed any game that I don't like. If you don't like it don't reply.

[81BX]

No

[OC_MurphysLaw]

for the record...letter box was a way to show movies that were developed for the 16:9 aspect ratio to be viewed as originally shot when viewed on a 4:3 aspect ratio TV. Without that technique movies that were put on DVD originally shot in 16:9 looked zoomed in and cut off much of the screen space when played in DVD players hooked up to TV's that were 4:3. It served a purpose a good 10+ yrs back when 4:3 screen ratio was more prevalent. Today its not really an issue given all TV's being sold for quite some time are in a 16:9 screen ratio as is. This game using that ratio was nothing more than a work around to get the game to perform better given how much it was pushing graphically.

[plmkoh]

That's incorrect, movies are not shot on 16:9 ratio, movies are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1. Letter boxing exists because TV formats are 16:9 and 4:3, this then allows those movie ratios to be viewed without stretching or zooming.

When you correctly shoot a movie at 1.85:1 and 2.39:1, you aren't seeing less picture compared to 16:9 or 4:3. People often mistake seeing black bars are seeing less picture, but in reality the movie ratio means the camera lens used is ultra wide and you are seeing a panoramic shot. The picture is zoomed out, not cut.

In games like 1886, you are seeing more game than compared to a 16:9 full screen. But there are badly done ones like The Evil Within, which uses a standard 16:9 viewing angle with fake black bars, in these situations you are seeing less.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I just pulled from Wiki to correctly put it into context as I may not have had all the ratios right...but I was right about why it was used early on in the 80's.

Letterboxing is used as an alternative to a full-screen, pan-and-scan transfer of a widescreen film image to videotape or videodisc. In pan-and-scan transfers, the original image is cropped to the narrower aspect ratio of the destination format, usually the 1.33:1 (4:3) ratio of the standard television screen, whereas letterboxing preserves the film's original image composition as seen in the cinema. Letterboxing was developed for use in 4:3 television displays before widescreen television screens were available, but it is also necessary to represent on a 16:9 widescreen display the unaltered original composition of a film with a wider aspect ratio, such as Panavision's 2.35:1 ratio.

On Television:
Digital broadcasting allows 1.78:1 (16:9) widescreen format transmissions without losing resolution, and thus widescreen is becoming the television norm. Most television programming in the United States, Britain and France is in standard-definition 16:9 and is transmitted in anamorphic format on digital platforms. When using a 4:3 television, it is possible to display such programming in either a letterbox format or in a 4:3 centre-cut format (where the edges of the picture are lost).

A letterboxed 14:9 compromise ratio was often broadcast in analogue transmissions in European countries making the transition from 4:3 to 16:9. In addition, recent years have seen an increase of "fake" 2.35:1 letterbox mattes on television to give the impression of a cinema film, often seen in adverts, trailers or television programmes such as Top Gear.[6]

Current high-definition television (HDTV) systems use video displays with a wider aspect ratio than older television sets, making it easier to accurately display widescreen films. In addition to films produced for the cinema, some television programming is produced in high definition and therefore widescreen.

On a widescreen television set, a 1.78:1 image fills the screen, however, 2.39:1 aspect ratio films are letterboxed with narrow mattes. Because the 1.85:1 aspect ratio does not match the 1.78:1 (16:9) aspect ratio of widescreen DVDs and high-definition video, slight letterboxing occurs. Usually, such matting of 1.85:1 film is eliminated to match the 1.78:1 aspect ratio in the DVD and HD image transference.

[plmkoh]

What I'm saying is the original movie shots which is ultra wide screen is a 'bigger' frame than the 16:9 and 4:3 than what we have standard on televisions.

What you see 'letter box' is the shrinking of the larger picture to fit in our television screens, not the otherway around, there is no cropping. 1886 you are seeing more picture than if it were a 16:9 game, because FOV has been adjusted for the movie aspect ratio. The downfall of fitting it on 1080p is pixel density suffers, up side is less pixels rendered as you said.

Have a look at this graph: https://www.bram.us/wordpre...

All the movie related aspect ratios are the largest frames.

[rainslacker]

Letterboxing still exists. I believe the most recent one I saw was Rogue One. The letterboxing does indeed maintain the original framing of the movie, but that doesn't mean all movies fit on 16:9.

The letterboxing on The Order was supposedly to give it a more cinematic feeling, which means that the frame was wider than a typical game. It's all about the aspect ratio of the camera, and has nothing to do with the framing of the screen itself.

I don't know how much stock I put in that, but that was the reason given by the developer. While playing, you don't really notice it anyhow.

[fenome]

it

Edit:
My phone hates me, I've either dropped it in too many toilets or watch too much porn...whichever order you choose on that. Lol

It's a great IP, it has great style and storytelling, I don't care what people think. Hopefully Sony hand this off to a solid team. They teased us with vampires at the end, I wanna fight 'em, plain and simple.

[morganfell]

You dropped it in the toilet while you were watching porn :P

[fenome]

Wouldn't be the first time, but you'd get the first interview, it'd be an exclusive ;)

[morganfell]

Ha ha ha FAH...

[Rearden]

This article is really woke.

[81BX]

Me too. Red bull will do that though!

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Can't believe this game is still being talked about.

[81BX]

Why? All new ips can't be str8 winners, but If it's 75% decent then it's a solid start.

[mastiffchild]

75 per cent is a good figure for The Order imho.

I felt the game really felt three quarters of the project they wanted to make. Idk if they ran out of money, Sony ran out of time, key staff left or what went on but got the feeling throughout of great ideas not fully pursued. Of ideas abandoned half way through and of a game three quarters of the length it should be, three quarters of the gameplay developed and compromises across the board to get something out when they did.

The story, premise, acting, visuals and atmosphere are all class. Gameplay had issues but was just, really, undercooked and therefore shallow while the ability to inspect notes was clearly meant to be able to help you investigate things eventually left out entirely.

A sequel could still be amazing if, as I suspect, the issues we dont know about caused its problems rather than it just being a difficult idea to flesh out. Enough care and could still amaze.

[81BX]

I'd say 60% atleast earns a sequel. This game in particular didn't grab me but of all the complaints I've seen, none of them lead me to believe another in the series isn't warrented.

[BABY-JEDI]

Sony should give make the Order a PS+ game 😉

[fromchildren]

Already happened.
http://gameranx.com/updates...

[BABY-JEDI]

How about Sony offering the rest of the world this great deal? 🤔 I'm totally unbiased when I say we all deserve this 😉

[nevin1]

It was decent for $10.

I think Sony should give a sequal a shot.

[Rude-ro]

I absolutely agree.
For the full price, the game was a let down for the first 2 hours, of which is the time to capture an audience.
The story was a 10/10, but to welcome gamers, the first two hours was a let down plus the exact repetitive fights against the wolves, BUT... the game deserves a sequel with corrections added.

[senorfartcushion]

Turn your volume down then.

[Majin-vegeta]

All I know is I better get a sequel

[bmanwyne]

now thats a title lol

[ClayRules2012]

The Order: 1886 had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Yes, even in the slower moments of the game,especially during that horrible nightmare of a stealth section through the mansion grounds😡😭it did have its isssues, but overall, it's still one of my favorite gaming experiences this console generation.

I hope a sequel does happen, in terms of story, there's more to be said, known, explored, and killed. Plus "Little spoiler" the fact that Isabelle is totally pissed off at Gallahad, he believes he's betrayed the Order, like I can't imagine not seeing what happens with their broken relationship. But I also believe there's room for improvement in the gameplay department, which is already solid & good. But define room for improvement. I'd love combat more along the lines of TLoU.

[nevin1]

"Isabelle is totally pissed off at Gallahad, he believes he's betrayed the Order, like I can't imagine not seeing what happens with their broken relationship"

Do you think he left with that Indian girl and will join their crew?

[ClayRules2012]

I think that's certainly a possibility. I'd like that to be the case. I really enjoyed the Indian woman, And I think he'd group of people are interesting. Would love to see more of that groups history.

What do you think happened at the end? What's your outlook on that?

[rainslacker]

I was really engaged with the story, and think they made a wonderful world to base a game off of. I didn't like the way it ended, as it was rather sudden and anti-climatic. Game play was solid where it was, outside the lichen fights. I would love to see them refine that in a sequel. I think this game ran out of time, and Sony said they had to get the game out. There were so many parts of the game which felt like there was supposed to be more there.

[ninsigma]

The last boss was certainly a let down.

[mooper50]

i wrote an email to the devs thanking them for the game. i was so disappointed that there probably wasn't going to be a sequel, that i wrote them to show them people really did appreciate the game. i loved the story and world, and hope we get a sequel!

[ClayRules2012]

That's really cool that you did that. I'm sure they appreciated it, bud.

[Donnie81]

The order 1886 is worth playing just to see those amazing looking character models for the werewolves. That's a joke but they do look fantastic. I enjoyed the game a lot and would buy a sequel in a heartbeat. My main complaint is when it really started to get good it ended. There was so much good in it I'd love to see Sony take a chance on part 2.

[SCW1982]

So much potential in this IP. Please Sony give it a second chance.

[InKnight7s]

I played alot of Quantom Break, and decent walkthrough of The Order 1886.
Both of them were hyped and had expectation much more than what they actually do.

Quantom Break have brilliant idea of semi matrix slow style but literary no mechanics help for all that good base.

The Order 1886 on other hand, gave us some settings of "Extraordinary League of Gentlemen" and as movie there was something missin' but its not long run for game and really crouch button is so important i dont why would games nit adding jump and crouch in action games.

Both 7.5 at best but good experience and different.

[jc12]

Lets be honest, the game was a shallow, vapid experience; heavily scripted while introducing nothing new in terms of gameplay. The cover mechanics were average, at best too.

Yes the graphics were amazing, but that's about it. I'll also concede the story and atmosphere were interesting - somewhat anyway. I wouldn't mind a sequel, but the developer would have to really focus on the gameplay the next go around.

[guyman]

Spot on

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Lol what game nowadays bring something new in terms of gameplay that gamers haven't already seen. The only one I can think of is the nemesis system in mordor so that is absolutely not a reason to knock a game because you would have to knock 99.9 percent of the games released nowadays. I also want you to please explain how the cover mechanic was mediocre. It did what it was supposed to and you didn't accidentally stick to cover resulting in death while the transitions were smooth getting in and out of cover.

[WilliamSheridan]

Sometimes, people tend, in my opinion, as I am clearly demonstrating, although some people might disagree, to over use commas instead of making new sentences.

[Hedstrom]

It was a good game, could have been great. A little more exploration and rewards for those explorations would have been a nice touch. I wonder why you could pick up some objects and turned them around when there were never anything more than that with them. It just felt wierd.

[Flewid638]

I still haven't seen better visuals than this game.

[Petebloodyonion]

The value of game and critics is always based on our expectations and the price we are paying for it.
For me, this game deserved the hate it got for a 60$ game.
But now, for a 10$ game, I would say that it's worth giving it a shot and it's 10 bucks well invested. I would say the same for Ryse.

Now regarding Quantum Break, I will just point out that the User Metacritics for Quantum is 70 compare 67 for The Order 1886 so it seems that users preferred Quantum Break. Also pointing out that Steam review indicates an 84% of positive review from users who own the game on Steam so perhaps QB is well liked despite Angry Joe slamming it because of Nissan.

Now if the Order 1886 fan wants to make this game warrant of a sequel they should let their friends play or Twitch the game instead of trying to bring some value to this game by downplaying a game from an another system ( and it would bring less negativity too).

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Cute using user scores where quantum break as just over 1600 reviews while the order has over 3500 which most of them were def fanboys metabombing and still there was only a 3 point difference

[Petebloodyonion]

Have you perhaps consider that there's more Ps4 owner compare to Xbox 1 user and if we follow the logic that there's 2 Ps4 for 1 Xbox1 sold it's mean that 3500 /2 = 1250 users for a similar # of consoles. Quite a similar ratio compare to Quantum Break. and funny all games on Ps4 and X1 seem to follow that logic.
http://www.metacritic.com/g...
http://www.metacritic.com/g...

Now has your fanboy theories goes, well, Steam review force you to own the game before posting a review.
82% of the owners who posted review enjoyed the game (can't say for the Order cause it's ps4 only)
Are you saying that Steam reviewer (that usually despise the MS store) suddenly became a fanboy for this title only?

[TheOttomatic91]

Yeah $40 SHOULD have been the price for the game although it didn't stop me from enjoying the game despite it's flaws.

It's a shame we may not see a sequel anytime soon.

[protwarrior]

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and am glad others did as well. It's far from perfect, but when you come from the Atari generation, a game like this is truly magnificent.

[Inzo]

I really enjoyed the Order 1886 and I hope for a sequel, it most certainly sold well enough to justify one.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Loved the game and would love a sequel :3

[ninsigma]

"A game that was crushed by expectations of what a $60 game should look like. Even if it may not be “worth it” at $60"

Very much agree with that. I know a lot of time and money went into making the game it was very polished on release but I do think it shouldn't have been full price.

" play it for what it is – a cinematic experience – is when you truly appreciate what this game offers"

This is what I've been saying for a long time. From what I've seen, the people who enjoyed it, are the ones who had the right idea about what this game was going to be. And similarly, those who vehemently tried to drag it through the mud, were criticizing the game based on what it wasn't trying to be.

[QuickdrawMcgraw]

I just played and finished the game yesterday...Was disappointed with it for 20 min or so....Then got really interested in the story...Came to enjoy the game play well enough....I give it a 5.8 out of 10...Well worth the $7 I paid....I think the knights must be some kind of relatives to vampires...

[BioShockGX]

W O K E

[Tzuno]

The game was good, we need another one, those vampires must be hunt.

[CrimsonWing69]

Yea, no offense man, but if you're in the business of writing you might want to work on your sentence structure...

Maybe learn where to put a comma and where not to. There's also these things called compound complex sentences that join two independent clauses to one or more dependent clauses.

[KickSpinFilter]

Some of the worst I.A. I've played recently, felt like a mid 90's game.
Human on Human fighting was not bad but the half breeds were such a joke taking the same attack route over and over again. The when you finally kill them the same QTE kill also.
I don't mind GTE's if they are good some were great like human on human take outs.
Stupid collecting of artifacts, but for what? to look at them!
Story was almost there, but was a little stale and too much when the vampires were added plus some pretty flat moments. I would have not had a problem with the length of this game if it was perfect, but it had some flaws, so then it was to short. Looked gorgeous and really good cover system and weapons. A bad purchase but a great rental.
I would like them to get another poke at it, with Order 2, will see.

[Mr_Luke]

i liked The Order. Everyone was speaking so bad about that game that i didn't buy it when it released. But when it was around $7 i wanted to give it a chance. And i don't regret my purchase ;)

[Gantrfaxx]

I enjoyed every moment of the game. I like it the way it is.