The Order: 1886

In the beginning ...

A part of me wanted to be alive in 1886. I could dress neat, I could set people on fire with a Thermal Rifle and I could look unbelievable doing it. But is The Order: 1886 a case of style over substance?

History is firmly rewritten in The Order: 1886. The Victorian-Era London you've sworn to protect through centuries isn't like anything you've quite seen before. Pitted against rebels and half-breeds, you fill the shoes of Sir Galahad and thrust into a war centuries in the making. The myths and legends sit deep in the lore surrounding The Order, and you'll meet familiar personalities and discover bizarre twists to well known stories. And it's the story more than anything else that takes precedence. More on that in a bit.

The game starts slow but also smack in the middle of spoiler territory, and it starts with QTE's. I'll happily admit that my eyes rolled briefly as I mashed X and occasionally tapped triangle to proceed, but I was willing to go to such lengths in protection of queen and country. And like many other things in the game, it pays off.

At its core it's a 3rd person shooter. You have your over-the-shoulder camera, you have your cover mechanics, you aim, you shoot, things go boom. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's a superbly comfortable ride. The controls feel refined and tight. You see, The Order is a very meticulous affair. Your movement carries a weight that demands just the kind of respect you assume a man like Galahad would get. The push of the arc gun as you send lightning through a person's body is borderline intimidating. The flow of your shoulder garments as you make haste down a set of stairs... There is a craftsmanship built around the very basic mechanics you're given that could very well blow your mind. Following a year where a lot of games felt half done at release and were occasionally unplayable, this is at the absolute other end of the scale. Sure, there is a day one patch, but it works. It all just works. The craft doesn't stop there though. There's a lavish orchestral soundtrack and some delightfully convincing voiceover work in it as well. Lines are delivered with authority and the writing and execution feels right for the time.

The real star though might be how ridiculously good it all looks. Much like The Last of Us, every room and location is littered with details that all feel unique to that particular place. We've previously written about the tech behind things in the environment breaking, how it breaks and what it looks like afterwards, and you can clearly see the benefits from this after a chaotic firefight in a room filled with bottles, buckets and vases. It might be the best looking game available on a PS4 right now.

Such craftsmanship comes with a cost though, albeit a small one. You are usually confined to smaller and very linear areas which gives little to no room for improvisation. The usually seamless transition between a cut-scene and the gameplay also takes jarring turn for the worse when the game decides you're someplace else in order to fit the scene. The latter isn't a new thing in games, it's just all the more visible in a game that does everything else so well. This doesn't happen often though, and you might not even notice it. There are also some odd design choices where the game during certain parts decide to take away things like the cover mechanic and the ability to run. Personally I found it more problematic that they chose to include stealth sequences where the only option is instant death when seen. Such a terrible mechanic.

The verdict

In the end this is a winner, and while it's a gorgeous looking game, it was the story that grabbed a hold of me. That hasn't happened in a long time. It's not that the overall story arc isn't predictable (it is), but it's conveyed convincingly, and in such a manner that blew everything I've played the last year right out of the water. It's a complete, beautifully realized and coherent experience from beginning to end, and that's a rare thing these days.