The Order: 1886 Reviews
The Order is thrilling and frustrating.
At times Ready at Dawn's latest title is so efficient at seamlessly blurring the lines between gameplay and cutscenes, it's difficult to tell what portions of the game are actually interactive.
The world built by 1886 is an engrossing one, and if nothing else the way it's presented is fantastic, especially when it comes to the strong vocal performances and beautiful character animation. As burly English people yell at each other, one could feel they were watching something from the Sharpe series of televised adaptations, even if the dialog is intensely cliched at times – for example, there's a cringeworthy "not so different" speech from an antagonist, including a bromide, "maybe one day you'll understand."
The Order: 1886 is a graphically stunning title bogged down by tired combat scenarios and a lackluster story.
Literally no game has ever looked this good. It's strange to even write that, but The Order: 1886 raises the bar so far above its contemporaries that it stands in a class by itself. Joined by a soundtrack that perfects the mood, The Order is a cinematic masterpiece. If you want to show off your PlayStation 4 to your friends, this is the title to showcase.
'The Order: 1886' is bursting with creativity when it comes to design, narrative, and setting, but its gameplay is far too linear and derivative to be worth a full price purchase.
The Order: 1886 is a spectacular visual showcase, but its muddled narrative and gameplay make for a wasted opportunity.
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.
Like Resistance: Fall of Man, The Order: 1886 comes early in a console lifecycle to set new visual benchmarks and give us creative, compelling fiction. As a game, it's significantly less ambitious.
The Order: 1886 is an incredible tech demo for the PlayStation 4 and, like Ryse: Son of Rome on Xbox One, will likely be one of the best-looking games on the system for quite a while. It stands tall and should be commended for that. The flat characters, paint by numbers story, and strictly workable mechanics, though, keep the game from being anything more than just a technical demo of the engine Ready at Dawn has created.
The Order: 1886 is more cohesive than the 15-year story arc of Quantic Dream's last effort, but cohesion doesn't automatically result in a compelling experience. It succeeds so well in playing out like the middle episode of an unmade series that it forgets to delve deeper into the otherwise fascinating Arthurian lore and its 19th century context.
We need more game developers and publishers willing to gamble on made-from-scratch worlds and ideas, but The Order: 1886 feels like it might have fared better as a film, graphic novel or TV series. As a game, there's just not enough propping up this shining suit of armour.
"The Order" will likely become a long running franchise for Sony. It will be interesting to see how it evolves. It could stay in content with being a game that is only interested in presenting a cinematic story with gorgeous graphics, or it could evolve into a game that grants players with more creative freedom. Its current form is a step back from what modern games have become. "Shadow of Mordor," "Dragon Age" and "GTA V" achieved accolades because their settings were molded and enhanced by the player's freedoms. "The Order" feels confining. Galahad is trapped between the gorgeous buildings of London with nothing to do other than play out his story. The player has nothing to do but watch.
The Order: 1886 flaunts its interactive cinematic presentation, and it plays that card well. Despite this, it will continue to incite debate about overall length, being story heavy, and not allowing much freedom for the player. If these are things that bother you, then The Order was not developed for you. The decision will need to be where each player places value in their video games. This is an immersive game for people who want to sit back — or on the edge of their seat — and let themselves become engrossed in the story of a Knight in turmoil fighting against a supernatural force. Give The Order a go yourself, and perhaps you'll find yourself diving back into it as much as I've rewatched Jurassic Park over the last twenty years. It may not be perfect, but The Order: 1886 is an immersive cinematic experience and a damned good ride worth going back to.