The Order: 1886 Reviews
The Order: 1886 is a paper-thin PS4 launch title delivered 15 months behind schedule. It's nowhere near as profound or innovative as it thinks it is—the epitome of all style and no substance.
A stunning graphical showcase that can't hide a so-so game. The Order: 1886 has a great premise and a decent, albeit clichéd narrative, but the cost of its cinematic values comes in restrictive gameplay, mediocre shooting and an over-reliance on quick-time events. It's a fantastic looking game with which to show off your PS4, but it's too short and too unimaginative for its beauty to be anything more than skin-deep.
It's amazing the mileage The Order gets from its incredible presentation and world, but that goodwill is squandered by a title that's middling to poor in most other areas.
Yet, this is a high-quality first chapter of a promising new IP that fully deserves a chance from all lovers of an exceptional story and tight, fun cover shooting gameplay.
The Order: 1886 is a dull, plodding experience that's beautiful to behold but spends too little time giving players a reason to stick around.
Overall, The Order: 1886 is an exceptional game that can be mistaken for a film as much as it can be for a game. Ready At Dawn achieved their mission of showing how a game can be great even when priorities lie in the visual, sound and plot departments.
Great visuals alone do not a great game make - and there's unfortunately very little in The Order: 1886 to elevate it beyond being a pretty, but shallow and insipid shooter. It commits the one sin no interactive entertainment should: it's painfully boring.
If the setting and lore of The Order: 1886 interest you at all, the game is at least worth a rental. Those hoping for a meaty, innovative experience however need not bother as the game wastes much of its potential on rehashed gameplay systems, an unsatisfyingly thin story, and a noticeable lack of long-term appeal.
The Order: 1886 is a disappointing and short game that fails to live up to the hype that surrounds it. However, if you're willing to overlook its faults and sit through its abundance of lengthy cutscenes, you'll find that there's some fun to be had. It's fleeting, but it's there.
The game is our best example that we can play a movie. The fact that the movie in question is a leaden, unimaginative waste is almost incidental.
The Order: 1886 shows just how good games can look on the PlayStation 4, but it's not an example of how fun or satisfying they can be.
Though impressive in some ways, The Order: 1886 fails miserably in its most important goal of keeping the player entertained for any significant length of time.
It is an unfortunate irony that a game offering a glimpse into the future of video game graphics should be so hamstrung by its limited, conventional gameplay. This is one anachronism too many — even for a steampunk game.
The Order: 1886 isn't a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination; it's just a massive disappointment that failed to break new ground. It's a shame because you can tell that a great deal of effort went into building this alternate version of 19th century London, and boy is it gorgeous.
The Order: 1886 is not a perfect game by any stretch but it certainly wasn't deserving of the early criticism it received. Now that the release is finally here and you can play through the whole game yourself you'll find that despite some very minor misses in gameplay, Ready at Dawn sets a very high bar in terms of both presentation and story offering up one of the best experiences to date on your PS4.
Just like mustaches, not everyone can appreciate what The Order 1886 was trying to accomplish, but if you know what you're going into, you just might walk away loving it as much as I did flaws and all. The Order 1886 joins my list of story driven games I'll play again and again.
The Order: 1886 isn't easy to recommend, but it isn't impossible to endorse, and despite its familiarity, is a game we enjoyed our time with. Here's hoping The Order: 1887 pushes for greater.
The Order: 1886 is an antique that's aged ungracefully. The presentation is sublime from the release's rousing start right the way through to its anticlimactic finish, but several shoddy design decisions detract from its otherwise exemplary gloss. The developer's crafted an incredible universe, but outside of the title's core cast, it's failed to do much of note with it. This is a property that's begging for a sequel to realise its undeniable potential – but only time will determine whether it gets that opportunity.
The Order: 1886 is bland gameplay wrapped in admittedly gorgeous next generation graphics. It's not bad through and through, it's just disappointing.
The Order: 1886 is a remarkable achievement. The team at Ready at Dawn should be applauded and given the chance to bring their complete vision to life in its entirety. Breathtaking visuals, top notch performances and industry leading motion capture animate a great story to create a very special and unique gaming experience.