The other day, I tuned into my favorite gaming website, N4G, to see what could be known about the Order: 1886. There were the typical clickbait articles containing classic clickbait terminology: "graphics downgrade," "game is too short," "repetitive," and "generic." What, do these guys buy the same dictionary: "How to write clickbait, a primer?" It was then that I had an epiphany of sorts.
I prebought the game this week because I saw all the hate it is getting.
It seems that every time a new IP or game comes out for the Sony system, it garners incredible amounts of hate: Killzone: SF, Infamous: SS, (and the claims of graphics downgrades!!!!!) Dragon Age Inquisition. Since I bought everyone of those games and had an absolute blast, I am now basing my decisions to buy games on how much hate it gets. It appears that the more hate the game gets, is a direct correlation to how much fun I have playing it.
I've put in 9 days 10 hours on Destiny alone. Sure, that'll get me some disagrees in and of itself, but obviously, I'm enjoying the game.
Recently, I finished (quite enjoyably) AC Unity.
With that, I give you a review of the Order: 1886.
What to expect:
The game is a cinematic 3rd person cover shooter. It has elements of stealth as well as enemies that don't just stand out in the open for you to shoot them. Expect quick time events (QTEs) that seamlessly jump between cinematics and gameplay. Cut scenes keep the narrative fast paced and gripping, something that just can't be done in an open world FPS. It is set in an alternate Steampunk Victorian London. It is quite possibly one of the better Steampunk stories I have experienced.
The main character is Galahad, a Knight of the Round. His Order has been fighting the Lycans for years. His compatriots are varied and enjoyable counterparts.
Graphics
Impressive Coding. Right off the bat, and through the entire game it is obvious that this thing went through extensive alpha testing. The textures are solid, draw distances are perfect. There are no graphical hiccups, no stutters, no screen tearing. The characters are anything but generic. If I were to make a complaint here it would be the lack of non white characters. There are no gamebreaking bugs that I have encountered. Which makes me wonder about those review scores that place this below a BF4 or AC: Unity. I honestly don't believe anyone knocks this game for the graphics as they are stunning.
The set pieces are works of art. Every hallway, every room, every store front, every street appears to have been meticulously planned out. There are no generic graphics that are repeated over and over.
Sound
Sound effects are appropriate and match the weapons and the movements of the characters well. Ready at Dawn released the soundtrack and I can see why people would buy it. This soundtrack is definitely well done. The voice acting is spot on. The actors sound like they live in this awesome alternative history world. They believe what they are saying and not just phoning it in. Weapons sound as they should, even as fantastical as they are.
Gameplay
If you want to run and gun, do drop shots and quick scopes, you are going to be sorely disappointed. This game doesn't offer that. Instead, it forces you to *gasp!* actually take aim before firing. You won't be able to grenade spam either. The controls are easy to learn and intuitive. I was able to understand them within minutes of picking up the controller. Aiming is similar to most 3rd person shooters. I am not sure how you can change this to make it not feel like other 3rd person shooters or why you would need to.
Getting into cover and doing stealth feel organic and part of the game. It feels natural and the animations reveal that Galahad is an old pro at this. There are instances of parkour and they also feel genuine. There are no superhuman feats of daring, just simple jumps and grabs that make things exciting enough.
The Order also gives us a reason for why our character can heal himself in the middle of combat. It isn't just a "patch" that miraculously heels that bullet to the chest, but an actual tonic that is established as part of the mythology of the game and thus makes it far more "realistic" than your modern shooter where you can heal a severed limb by gauze. Sure, in the Order, you can heal by waiting, but it has more to do with this Blackwater tonic than anything else.
Fun Factor
I would definitely say this is a fun game. The story is an original take on werewolf hunting. It is perplexing to see people claim that they didn't enjoy this experience. Exploring feels like the Uncharted games, of which I am a huge fan. The levels are big enough to feel that you are part of a bigger city. But if you are looking for a GTA, Fallout, Skyrim open world experience, this is not it.
Conclusion:
This game has cut scenes and quick time events. That detracts from a game's score for some jaded people. For me, it enhances the experience. Not everything has to be run and gun, use enough fire power to blow up a continent, and kill enough people to populate a large country.
The low scores match games that are broken, are unplayable messes, and, in some cases, can't be completed. But when I see some sites rate this game the same as Wreck it Ralph (the video game) or some other game that should never have been published then it is obvious what those authors are trying to do. Those reviews reveal themselves as pure, unadulterated clickbait. I am not talking about the mid range review scores. I am talking about the ones that fall far below a 50.
And, as I stated before. The more a game is hated by in the media, the more vitriol that is aimed at it, I find that my experience is the complete opposite. Maybe because I understand what the consoles (and PC) are capable of and what they aren't. Maybe because I like unique experiences and enjoyable characters and storyline. Maybe it's because I am not some jaded person who hates this awesome hobby.
The Order: 1886 is a promise to the new generation of gaming. Here's to Gaming's New Golden Age, begun but a scant year ago, and already strong and gaining steam.
Digital Foundry : Released in February 2015, The Order: 1886 was a stunning PlayStation 4 game at the cutting-edge of rendering technology, with visuals that still hold up today. The game's release pre-dated in-depth Digital Foundry coverage, something we're looking to address with this new video! Ready at Dawn's game never received a sequel and never received a PS4 Pro upgrade, but thanks to developments with exploited, older firmware PS5 consoles, we can now show you the game running locked at 60 frames per second.
The gameplay was bland and extremely frustrating at times with unnecessary QTE combat at points. But the world and the lore and the characters and the story were fantastic. I’ve always wanted a sequel. I still hope Sony will surprise us one day.
And let's not forget,
Ready At Dawn showcased The Order 1886 running on PC at 60fps at SIGGRAPH 2015
https://www.dsogaming.com/n...
I still stand by my theory that this game just released at the wrong time. Almost every outlet spent a lot of time in their reviews ragging on the game for not being an online experience, everyone was in the Destiny hype train and at the time they wanted EVERY game to follow suit, bashing any game that didn't. If this were released after everyone realized how much that wasn't future, people would've appreciated it more. I loved it, and I'm always disappointed that we'll never get a sequel
That doesn't seem to be true about outlets complaining on the lack of online. The review summaries on Metacritic are very consistent: Amazing graphics, but shallow gameplay and a very short length with little reason to return.
Here's an example of how *little* time IGN spent talking about multiplayer:
"With no multiplayer, and no reason to revisit the short and stunted single-player campaign once it’s been completed, there just isn’t a lot to it."
It's the final sentence. They don't even take the time to say "online multiplayer"
"Amazing graphics, but shallow gameplay and a very short length with little reason to return."
You are right, that's what everbody was saying at the time, never heard anything about it not being online.
I've been thinking about trying this game for years, I may get it now that it's dirt cheap, no big loss if it sucks
Oh, add to that bad enemy AI, I remember that from the reviews, I saw a video of a wherewolf boss fight with a very weak AI
And there we glowing reviews for shorter games. It was one of the times where hating this game was "cool."
Can you show me the reviews that rag on it for not having an online experience?
I’m not doubting you or anything. I’m just being lazy.
That's also fake news, isarai. Again, the game was consistently criticized for what it was (Pretty but extremely short, extremely linear, hand-holding, no replayability), not for what it wasn't (multiplayer/open-world)
Nope, every review uses the term "linear" several times as if it's some inherently bad attribute. Not fake news at all. Since then there's veen plenty of short and sweet single player linear games that get lots of praise, again after the reality of everything being open world set it and it wasn't as great as everyone thought. But at the launch of the last gen everyone had open world fever, and especially the first couple years "linear" was a con in many games reviewed
That's your own contortion assuming criticism of its extremely linear design is suddenly a call for it to have been open world.
You totally made up a claim regarding an overall review consensus that isn't true. And, instead of just ignoring being called out for it, you respond with "oh actually i ment to say OPEN WORLD". Which literally isn't true either. You can't show us one review that bashed the game for "not being open world". And, somehow the other guy is getting downvoted. Over a bullshit liar.
Games were being criticized at that time for any game that wasn't open world or online. So yeah I got one mixed for the other, doesn't change my argument one bit that it would've been received better if it released later. People are agreeing because if you were not riding the "online and open world" hype train at that time, it was blatantly obvious there were biases in play for how games were criticized. Now after all that has happened since people want to say "oh wait these games were actually pretty good" cause they know better now
The gameplay was very shallow and when one says repetitive, it is by the very definition for some fights. As in, completely identical but different setting.
The game has amazing potential.
The graphics, the lore, characters…
This could most definitely have been all corrected with a sequel and became a franchise hit…
Still would love to see an attempt.
Ie fantastic premise and moments that shine…
But it had its downfalls that deserved the negative marks.
It was the "game to hate" when it launched. And right here, on this site, we saw people posting stories that were outright fabrications about the game. It was weird. The game launched, it was fun, a really cool game but the hate was too much. And so were the lies.
It was just too short....but I loved every minute of it....double dipped and grabbed the ultimate CE
That isn't true. I remember people talking about how incredibly short it was and the somewhat janky gunplay.
First I'm hearing of this. I don't know what multiplayer has to do with anything. The game was just dull. Amazing graphics, great narrative, great lore, boring gameplay sprinkled in pieces between cutscenes, and lackluster AI and controls.
People cried this game was too short. No people are crying because games are too long.
Games like Ubisoft open worlds not enjoyable lengthy games like Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate III
I get it, but people also complain about the main stories being too long or just games being too long in general because they are "adults".
Ready At Dawn cut their teeth developing spin-offs for PlayStation Portable and porting games to consoles. When they got a chance to establish their own with The Order: 1886, its poor critical reception ostensibly halted their trajectory. Can one middling game really sully one’s reputation in the eyes of Sony?
Wanted a sequel for this game so much. It was left wide open for one with the ending it had.
Sony did file a new trademark a while back, so you never know. Though if I were to guess it would be a reboot rather than a sequel.
The Order was great from my playthrough and really enjoyed it. The same with Days Gone. Both, amongst others out there, deserve a follow-up. Anyone who actually played through the complete games knows there were hidden gems in and around these 2 games. Too many out there put too much faith in reviewer's opinions instead of thier own and get put off or join the hate bandwagon.
Seriously, gamers need to game & not read or view other people game with added opinions thrown in.
Honestly, if you haven't played either of these 2 games yet, do yourself a favour, pick it or them up, forget anything you know about them & just play it for yourself & create you're own opinions.
I ignored the reviews and went straight to the store to but the game. Thoroughly enjoyed it I might add. If only Sony had the balls to summon enough faith to reboot or give us a sequel. Maybe even a prequel done right and make it a 3 part series. Wasted opportunity for a really different exclusive if you ask me.
Days Gone is really an exceptional game though it feels like it took a bit of time for it to get interesting.
The Order 1886 was unfortunately not very good. Super beautiful game with beautiful cinematics but felt incomplete and don't really remember much happening at all in the game i.e. it was kind of bland. A sequel where they learned from their mistakes would be very intriguing though and I would have bought it.
I loved Days Gone and I would have loved a sequel.
I didnt like The Order. There was enough there for me to give a sequel a chance if they improved on bits but I'm losing no sleep over the absence of it. I thought the 1st one was genuinely terrible for a multitude of valid reasons.
I really enjoyed it. I was hoping for a game in the same world but less linear. With lots of that sweet lore.
Yeah with the tech sorted and expanding on the existing assets, they could/should have been able to do a trilogy that gen. What happened..
Agreed. Such an interesting title just abandoned. Makes no sense. As I said the ending of the game sets up for a sequel perfectly.
Incredible graphics and presentation. Great use of photo mode. A really interesting premise. The actual gunplay felt solid. The game just needed to be longer, and the levels could have been a bit less constrained. More enemy variety as well. At full price it just didn't have the value, at least in my opinion.
I would like to see a sequel or reboot, which I think is more likely. It would need to be a new dev as Ready at Dawn are part of Oculus now
I think Bluepoint could do a good job. They have the technical capability if Demon's Souls is anything to go by.
Agreed. Because of all the bad reviews I waited until the end of last gen to buy it, but was really surprised. The only knocks against it were length and linearity. Really loved the visuals, atmosphere, story, and characters. The gunplay was actually really well done with unique and fun weapons.
You mentioned the photo mode, and this was one of the best examples I have seen. They actually allow you to add filters and modify the visuals in the photo mode, and then apply those to the game. I have never seen that before or since. I really wish more games would allow this. Give the users more control over how the game looks to cater it to their tastes.
Because it’s literally a 5 hr game, yet had the same quality offering of the other AAA Sony games that are tens to hundreds of hours of gameplay.
I used a walkthrough trophy guide for the platinum to not miss any collectibles in one run, it took 8hrs. I thought it was actually a pretty great game, but always wonder why that level of game development didn’t continue for a 15hr single player campaign.
I'm part of the community and I loved it.
I think a lot of the hate was from people who didn't even play it jumping on the bandwagon. Clearly there was the usual hate from xbox fans but also from insecure PC players as the graphics were (still are) phenomenal.
The game is a flawed gem. A new entry on PS5 would have great potential (doubt it will happen though, Sony isn't into risk taking these days).
All the early hate was a people who haven't played it and were quick to call it a QTE game.
I'm an Xbox fan and I'm planning on getting a PS4 pro one day to play this game along with gravity Rush 2 and others.
-"I think a lot of the hate was from people who didn't even play it jumping on the bandwagon."
Can we please stop retreating back such tired defenses? It's had a heavily mixed reception ever since critics PLAYED the game back then, and justifiably so. Even trying to rope in "insecure PC players" just shows how shallow this view actually is.
Ugh, I love this game! But yes, those lycan fights were terribly designed, for real.
Overall though, solid gameplay.
The Order: 1886 has received a new trademark filed by Sony. The trademark application is for a video game, implying that they want to extend it.
I hope they give this game another chance, it had an incredible story and gameplay, It was just unfortunate that the game length was extremely short.
The team that made it was bought by Facebook. I don't see why they would continue the series with a new team rather than just make a new IP.
I guess it's still possible that another studio could take another swing at it. But yeah, Ready at Dawn was bought by Facebook.
It wouldn't be the first time this has happened. Bungie and 343 come to mind with Halo.
@CrimsonWing69 the difference is Halo was still successful. In my mind they should have put the series to rest when the original creators got tired of it but Microsoft love to flog the series so there you go.
So what other great games has that studio produced since being bought by Facebook?
The team was, but that doesn't mean all of them left Sony. It's entirely possible that several of the employees still work for Sony.
"The team that made it was bought by Facebook."
Yes.. Not the IP...
Personally, The IP has soooo much potential for exploration.......If done right.....
Which brings me to your post... Unlike FB... Sorry, Meta.... A team is not IP, and with an even better team working on such said IP, It could be a winner...
Def wont be 1886 infinite,
Exactly @Rhythmattic Could you imagine if The Order was handed over to a studio like Santa Monica?! The Order 1886 set up a really nice setting and lore... now the idea could be pushed to the next level by one of Sony's high tier studios. It may be too much to ask to get one of the big dogs on it, but one can dream.
It could even work out that someone like Santa Monica create a smaller team just for creative vision, then hand over the busy work of building that world to one of their subsidiaries like the newly acquired Valkyrie Entertainment, which specializes in high tier support work.
@Lord_Sloth Readyatdawn were never owned by Sony so no, none of their employees stayed with Sony. Order 1886 was a second party game funded by Sony but developed by an outside company.
@GamingSinceForever - Lone Echo and its sequel are some of the better VR games out there with a great story and some awesome VR integration. The second game only came out in October of this year, so it will be some time before we see their next project.
Please let one of the big boys take a swing at it and slay us with an awesome game. Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, Sony Santa Monica, and Sony Bend could all do this IP justice.
Why would any of Sony's teams want to take their time and resources to work on another studios unsuccessful IP instead of their own unique ideas? Generally speaking Sony doesn't assign their top teams games to make they let them make what they want and are passionate about.
It’ll be just to hold on to the rights. They’re not making a new one. A remaster in 5 years is most likely, but until then, no.
If it had been marketed correctly as a strong narrative experience and sold for $30-40 instead of full price, the game would’ve big a huge success and we’d have guaranteed sequels. Loved the game, hope more from this IP is on the way.
It def cut corners though.. The Wolf fights where copy and pasted, the gun mechanics, decent... But the World was what made it... Maybe your standard gun mechanics, but never the guns....
The round table needs to be fleshed out....
Short games are ok with me. Everyone loves the Titanfall 2 campaign and it was only about 5 hours. The issue is gameplay, and frustrating controls that did not need to be frustrating. Other than that, the look and feel was fantastic.
Titanfall 2 also had an excellent multiplayer mode though. As excellent as the campaign was, no one would have paid full price for just that.
Totally agree. If it was a 20-30 hour campaign, it would have sold very well. It deserves another chance.
Nah it had mediocre to terrible reviews. Don’t really know anyone who actually loved the game, but there was potential. They should give it another go same studio. Lol
This is not that type of game.
I can not think of a single story driven game that does not have endless fetch quests in a forced open world type game that comes close to 20 hours.
Let’s be realistic…
Either way, the game had issues that can easily be remedied and make for an amazing sequel and I hope it happens.
It was good but had a terrible
Cliffhanger. An actual second half would have skyrocketed the game’s status. TLOU 2 was over 30 hours long for some people.
It really just needed to be twice as long. I can put up with super linear, tightly scripted gameplay as long as I feel like I'm getting my money's worth. But the game was so short with little replay value. And the length prevented the lore from being properly realized.
I'm interested as long as they can flesh out the length. Possibly open up the gameplay slightly without detracting from the movie-like scripting.
Yeah I really liked the overall world and Sir Galahad
(SPOILERS)
Having Werewolves and then vampires opened it up to so many possibilities, who's to say other mythical beasts couldn't be introduced.
The story was good until it ended on a cliff hanger, I wouldn't call it incredible. The gameplay was dreadful. I would like to see an improved sequel however.
@zsquare
Maybe I'm missing something but, wasn't that game panned after much hype as not very good and poor gameplay? Metacritic is 63% and user rating of 6.7 and by no means consider a hit.
Actually a new developer could be good for the game.
Yep, I always liked the atmosphere and characters of this game. I think it can be a really good game if they put emphasis on the gameplay.
I don't know if I would say the gameplay was "incredible." The lore was fine and the weapons were awesome (and truly a standout visually, no questions asked). I'm impressed they got a game looking this good to run in such a stable condition when you consider the tech last gen. I only played it on base PS4, and that was really a marvel.
But that all said, the gameplay didn't stand out for me at all. Felt like a pretty standard affair and, as you said, the length was pretty short. Granted, I got it on sale for $12, so I don't feel bad about that purchase. It didn't really linger so the point was really to tell the story they wanted to tell, which I can respect.
I also hope they give it another chance, but I would prefer if they really made it stand out. There's a ton of creative talent over at PlayStation, so if Ready at Dawn had learned from the shortcomings of the first game and they're willing to solicit feedback from PlayStation studios, it has great potential.
I really want another one, I bought it day one zero regrets. I enjoyed it a lot and has lots of room for a sequel.
HOWEVER
USPTO policy is that a trademark only be updates with visual proof once every ten years after initial filing, and since the game is still for sale on the PlayStation Network it is likely just a paper work error that will be corrected so that they can continue selling the game digitally.
Yea ... I initially though this might be for a near-future res+fps boost and/or a PC port, paving way for 1887.
It was a really good game but there was a ton of room for improvement all around. If they had another crack at it, it could be something special.
A lot of games before and since have made absolutely shameless attempts at making a great experience that ended up falling short. This game gets the worst of it because of hype. And it's actually has really good narrative and gameplay. Tell me one thing NOW that it did wrong that other games aren't doing. Tell me.
I really like it, bought the special edition years after release, expecting an average game but was very pleasantly surprised
I really liked the concept, but the game wasn't perfect. It definitely had some flaws. The graphics not being one, they were insane. The coolest guns in the game were only usable for a short period of time. I believe there were like 2 werewolf fights that were basically identical which people pointed out. I'd love for the series to get another shot.
hope there is a sequel, first one was and still is stunning from every aspect, from gameplay, visuals , music, etc, you name it, it literally the whole game is realtime cgi!, imagine what a PS5 can do to it!
This is one of my favorite reviews! You gave specifics that i was wondering about. You didnt spoil any parts of the game but gave a thorough review. Again, although your opinion (thats what reviews are), I can appreciate the game more. Still may wait till I can find it used. AGAIN you don't spoil anything at all, you completely engaged the reader and it does exactly what its supposed to inform without spoiling anything. Thanks and I look forward to reading more of your reviews. thanks
One of the few reviews i've actually enjoyed reading. Nice format and content.
I just finished The Order and I agree with the score. But this game is not for everyone. I think the order actually fits a really small audience. Most reviewers complain about the lack of freedom but imo the orders restrictions only enhances the narrative.
I always think that a game with a good narrative weights up for the lack of gameplay. I often find the narrative to be what drives me to complete the game. As an example I never could finish Far Cry 4 because the story was unoriginal and uninteresting.
I still think The Order could find a better balance between narrative and gameplay in a sequel. TLOU made that balance brilliantly.
Great review for a great game
"I prebought the game this week because I saw all the hate it is getting.
It seems that every time a new IP or game comes out for the Sony system, it garners incredible amounts of hate: Killzone: SF, Infamous: SS, (and the claims of graphics downgrades!!!!!) Dragon Age Inquisition. Since I bought everyone of those games and had an absolute blast, I am now basing my decisions to buy games on how much hate it gets. It appears that the more hate the game gets, is a direct correlation to how much fun I have playing it. "
There's no conspiracy going on here. Just those that hate seeing their choice of console and its games getting mediocre reviews. There have been plenty of games that have had what you lot like to call 'hate' that I've absolutely loved too. And there have also been games that have been hyped through the roof which I've been quite disappointed by. I still don't believe that one or the other company is paying off reviewers to see them do bad. That's just a lame excuse. Have we forgotten what TLOU/Uncharted/GOW scored?
We're all quick to pick on the reviews that rate a game poorly but what if this game had 9s and 10s across the board. Would that imply Sony bought the reviewers?
That's a fine review but please let's stop the conspiracy theories.