Member the games you used to play? We member. The basement at the Hardcore Gamer office has a section known as the Crust Room, with an old grey couch and a big old CRT TV. All the classic systems are down there collecting dust, so in an effort to improve the cleanliness of our work space, we dust off these old consoles every so often and put an old game through its paces, just to make sure everything stays in working order. We even have a beige computer with a floppy disk drive.
It’s a rare feat to achieve a great deal of fame for being underwhelmingly mediocre, but that seems to be the legacy left behind fromThe Order: 1886. The Order: 1886 was a game that had extremely high production values and was touted as something that would truly showcase what the PlayStation 4 was capable of providing. It had expectations to be an exclusive title that sold the value of owning a PlayStation 4, but ultimately fell short of everyone’s expectations. But was it really a bad game or was it simply one that didn’t live up to what people hoped it would be?
Review: The Order: 1886
Visions of a Blind Order
The Order: 1886 is a third-person action game set in an alternate history steampunk version of London. The Knights of the Round table comprise the titular Order, so let’s take a second to explain how they are protecting London several centuries after the time of Arthurian legend. The knights have been protecting humanity from monsters referred to as half-breeds, werewolves and vampires and the like. King Arthur had discovered a mythical liquid called Blackwater that greatly extended their lives, keeping them healthy and enhancing their bodies' healing abilities. Their superhuman longevity provides them an edge in fighting off their enemies, but it’s really the industrial revolution that gives them the tools to gain a significant advantage in battle.
The player controls Sir Galahad. Set in the fall of 1886, London is being attacked not only by monsters, but also by anti-government insurgents. Sir Percival believes that the insurgents and half-breeds are somehow linked, but these concerns are dismissed by the higher ups and Sir Percival was instructed to keep his focus only on the latter. As peacekeepers of the realm, Sir Galahad and Sir Percival travel to Whitechapel anyway to investigate the unrest in the area. Sir Percival’s suspicion was correct as a hideout for the insurgents is also a den of Lycans. And thus the story continues, with airships, Lycans and the threat of an anti-government uprising. There’s potential for a great story here, but sadly, having potential is about as good as it ever gets.
It’s a rare feat to achieve a great deal of fame for being underwhelmingly mediocre, but that seems to be the legacy left behind from The Order: 1886.
The Order: 1886 is a third-person action game. It involves guiding Galahad through the story in a linear progression, breaking up the sections of combat with cinematic cutscenes. The combat is primarily cover-based shooting, with melee stealth kills and quick time events. Much like the story, the combat feels like a rudimentary attempt at adding layers to combat, but doesn’t implement them in any way that ever gets interesting. It isn’t the worst action game, it just fails to ever reach any real level of excitement. Fighting vampires and werewolves with unusual weaponry designed by Nikola Tesla in a world filled with airships has no right to be this boring.
Disorderly Conduct
The length of The Order: 1886 was one of the main points of criticism. Prior to its release, there was controversy as someone leaked that the game only took about five hours to complete. A followup statement from the publisher stated it was closer to eight to ten hours, which is more in line with my experience, but that still was a red flag that The Order: 1886 was not what people were hoping for. Eight to ten hours isn’t a bad length for an action game, but when it’s being released at the market standard full price and doesn’t offer much in terms of replay value, it doesn’t seem like the player is getting a good value for their purchase, and that’s even if the game didn’t have as many shortcomings as this.
The production values of The Order: 1886 were touted as being some of the best that the PlayStation 4 could deliver, which were partly correct in this claim. On a technical level, the character models and some of the environments look detailed and realistic, and there were well done set pieces. Outside a few moments of visual brilliance, the overall presentation was grand on a technical level, but underwhelming with its artistic direction.
188.6 Reasons to Buy The Order
Having not played The Order: 1886 until a significant amount of time after its launch, it was easy to go into the game without having any expectations. The biggest downside to is how unfinished it felt, like when the story was starting to get interesting it was like the production budget dried up, so they slapped on an ending and called it a day. A steampunk world with a nearly-immortal Knights of the Round Table fighting against Lycans and vampires sounds amazing on paper, but the execution of The Order: 1886 felt more like a generic low-budget B movie than the game of the year contender it was intended to be. Even though the graphics were amazing on a technical level for 2015, most of the environments were bland and forgettable. It had all the ingredients to be a great game, and perhaps with six more months in development to flesh out the story and gameplay it could have been amazing, but sadly that’s not what we got.
No Remasters Or Ports Ordered
The Order: 1886 remains a PlayStation 4 exclusive title. This isn’t too surprising, as it failed to garner the positive reception games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and God of War received to warrant PC ports and remasters. For those who are curious, it’s a game that can be completed in under ten hours and an easy platinum trophy for those who are into that sort of thing. But there are so many better games to play. The Order: 1886 is ultimately a game with some good ideas and production, but the final product fell short of all the potential it had.
