Title: The Order: 1886
Platform(s): PlayStation 4
Release Date: February 20, 2015
ESRB: Mature
Review by Blake Hester
Taking place in an
alternate Victorian London, The Order tells a story of a secret war
that has raged for centuries between a species of Halfbreed Lycans
and Mankind. Keeping man safe and the war away from the public eye
are the Queen of England's Royal Knights, or “The Order.”
Knights of The Order are sworn under oath to protect man from the
Halfbreeds and are bound to allegiance by the use of Blackwater, an
elixir that extends life and speeds up physical recovery. When a
mysterious attack plagues the London trade monopoly, The United India
Company, The Order is sent in to rectify the situation. The Order
quickly blames the anarchist group, “The Rebellion,” for mixing
with the Halfbreeds in an effort to overthrow the monarchy. A
desperate battle begins between The Order and The Rebellion and it is
a race against time to save London from those who wish to see it
brought to its knees.
Players are given control
of the Knight, Grayson or “Sir Galahad,” whose blind allegiance
to The Order often stands in the way of him seeing the corruption
that digs its nails deep within the back of those who control London.
Conspiracies run deep, pitting many groups against each other, all
the while masking secret alliances. Galahad must search for answers
quickly or the entire species may be at risk and the very cause he
has fought for for centuries may be for nothing.
One of The Order's main
draws is its fascinating story. The game tells a story of
brotherhood, betrayal, and rebellion. The game builds up a rich
lore, and it's hard to not want to know more about The Order, this
centuries old war, and how things became the way they are in London.
The story's pacing is slow, but deliberate, never giving players an
absolute conclusion and always leaving them wanting more. As Galahad
digs through the layers of conspiracies, The Order inches you closer
and closer to the edge of your seat as one answer is given and
another is asked. By the time the credits roll, players are not
given a full resolution. But it doesn't feel as though the game robs
you of answers, rather it leaves you wanting more.
The Order takes place takes
place in 19th century London around the time of the
Industrial Revolution. But, the game is an alternate view of history
where technology is far more advanced and items such as the zeppelin
and the fully automatic rifle were invented decades before they were
in our universe. Ready At Dawn bends history in a way that is as
believable as it can be. Rather than giving Galahad lasers and
iPhones in Victorian London, the imported inventions usually are only
borrowed from a few decades after 1886. This makes their inclusion
in the game more believable, implying that the universe this game
takes place in is only maybe forty or fifty years more advanced than
our own.
Even the game's completely
fictional arsenal makes sense with the time period. Weapons such as
the Arc Gun that weaponizes a Jacob's Ladder and the Thermite Gun
that sprays a layer of iron oxide and aluminum before shooting a flair to ignite it
stay true to the inventions and discoveries of the time. A lot of
care was taken by Ready At Dawn to make liberties with history
believable and it shows as I was willing to suspend my belief as far
as they asked me to.
The Order looks phenomenal.
Character models and environments are meticulously detailed, giving
breath to the world. Halfbreeds are truly terrifying and watching
their American Werewolf-esque transformation from human to Lycan is
equally as anatomically believable as it is visually horrifying.
Districts of London, such as Whitechapel and Westminster amongst
others, have their own distinct feels that make each area feel
unique. But, I wish there were more opportunities for exploration in
the game. Very early on there is a shot of the entire city, allowing
you to take in this world that Ready At Dawn has created. But when
Galahad reaches the streets, they feel claustrophobic and linear, as
if the entire city was built out of alleyways.
The Order is a story driven
game and it is a very cinematic game. Taking cues from games like
The Last Of Us, The Order uses film techniques such as lens flares
and shaky-handycams to heighten the atmosphere. Visual nuances such
as dust and scratch marks add to the over-all look of the game,
giving the impression that the world is affecting the game camera.
Cutscenes can tend to be long, but it never feels like a chore to
watch them. On top of the great story, The Order has excellent voice
acting that gives characters plenty of emotion and personality. Even
at their longest, I was always completely enthralled by the
cutscenes, ready to learn more about the story.
The Order interjects small
cutscenes into gameplay in an effort to make a more fluid cinematic
experience. Things such as going through a doorway or rounding a
corner may be substituted for a cinematic that shows characters
having brief conversations or alerting players to an item of
interest. I imagine this may be distracting for some, or they will
feel that control is taken away from the player too often. But,
personally, I thought this was a very unique and fluid way of
storytelling for a video game and I found that control was never
taken away more than that of a Telltale game, for example.
I did encounter a few muddy
textures as the game loaded new areas and occasionally the frame rate
dropped, but for the most part The Order is a fluid experience.
Also, a few side characters or background NPCs will look fairly
expressionless. But these are nothing that belittles the overall
presentation. With that being said, there is a fog that surrounds
the whole game that did have a tendency to lower my field of vision.
This could have been included in efforts to add to the dark
atmosphere of the game, but personally I found it distracting. This
also hindered a lot of environments from standing out, as they were
masked by a layer of murk.
The Order: 1886 plays
extremely well. There is a weight to controlling Galahad that makes
him feel solid and grounded in the world. Firefights are excellent
and tense. Galahad, even when in the company of other members of The
Order, is often outnumbered and taking only a couple of bullets can
result in death. So this makes it necessary to be precise when aiming
and smart when taking shots. Understanding when to hunker down in
cover and when to move offensively is also necessary for staying
alive in the game. Players can use Blackwater to revive themselves,
but also to slow down time and take more precise shots at enemy weak
points. Enemies and allies will communicate with each other,
alerting one another when they are reloading, when to stay behind
cover, and when they need help. This not only adds to the
presentation of the combat, but also can be used strategically in the
moment, allowing you to have better knowledge of what is going on
around you. The firefights always had my heart in my throat as I
never felt in control of the situation. Rather each bullet that I
was able to get to make contact felt like a godsend.
One issue I did have with
the game is that there is often too much time between action
sequences. The first third of the game especially has many moments
where you just make Galahad walk from point A to point B, then to
point C, and then at point D you finally get to shoot someone. A lot
of this is spent advancing the story, but I feel like a lot of that
could have been done in cutscene rather than on foot. In the last
two thirds of the game, this isn't as bad and players are able to
engage in a lot more action and gunfights take a lot more time to get
through. But forcing players to walk continuously through the
beginning of the game can get incredibly stale and repetitive as
there isn't much to explore and despite a handful of collectibles,
there isn't much to see in the game either.
The Order's heavy use of
Quick Time Events has been the thing of criticism in the time leading
up to the game's launch. While it is true that the game is rife with
QTEs, for the most part (though not completely), a lot of these don't
feel like flaws in the game. Most of the QTEs are prompts such as
pressing one button repeatedly to get an enemy off Galahad or to
reach for an item that is far away, both which are constant in most
video games. The use of QTEs such as this don't personally bother me
and I never found them to be distracting in The Order.
However, there are a few
examples of the game using QTEs as a crutch and ultimately taking
away from the overall experience. The game has no melee system and
during occasional stealth sections when a melee attack is required to
maintain cover, the game opts for a time-sensitive button prompt that
if missed leads to failure. This becomes especially frustrating
towards the tail end of the game where an extremely long stealth
section becomes boring and repetitive as you are forced to repeatedly
start over because you couldn't press triangle in rhythm with the
game. Similarly, boss fights in the game rely heavily on QTEs.
These moments are built up to be extremely tense, but they lose
momentum fast, as all you have to do is strike, then move the analog
stick in the direction the game tells you to to evade. Boss fights
come during very pivotal moments of the story and the game takes away
the overall intensity of the moment with these simple button prompts.
These moments feel lazy on the developer's part and hopefully later
entries to the series will opt for more fleshed out melee mechanics
and more intense boss fights.
The Order:1886 is an
interesting ride. Its unique way of intertwining gameplay with its
excellent story makes for a seamless experience that keeps players
interested in what will happen next. The Order's twist on European
history paired with its great gameplay and excellent combat make this
a journey worth taking, but unfortunately too much downtime in the
game mixed with lazy QTE sections don't give too much reason to stay
in London once the credits roll on this entry. Hopefully a sequel
will fix these issues and give us reason to return during the next go
around.
7 out of 10
Very Good. This game is
worth playing, but it may have unforgivable issues that hinder it
from cracking the top three. It may be a fun game in the moment, but
also may be forgettable in the end.
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