The night was alive. Some characters were lurking in back alleys and my feline intuition implied that most of them were more than shady. All the sounds were drowned in the heavy, foul-smelling, greyish fog. Most of the gas lamps were broken, but those still lit were outlining darkness instead of banishing it. Only the full moon and spotlights of sentinels soaring above the city were illuminating dirty narrow streets of Whitechapel.
Not the place where one wants to find himself in the middle of the night, but I – Sir Galahad, Royal Knight of the Round Table – was on duty. I had to find a connection between anarchistic rebels, scourge of half-breeds and godless deeds of Jack the Reaper that were tormenting London. Meow!
That is a pretty atmospheric piece! I’m proud of myself. Today I’ll share with you my thoughts about The Order 1886 – an exclusive story-driven shooter for PS4.
Pros:
- Atmosphere: the strongest point of The Order 1886. Great setting, neat concept – clothing, weapons, locations. All of it creates a mesmerizing picture of industrial Victorian London from alternative universe.
- Graphics: the game looks stunning both from technical and art point of view.
Cons:
- Incomplete: The Order 1886 feels unfinished – there is no closure. More like a first episode of episodic game.
- Bad or really rushed writing: huge plot holes, very strange decisions made by characters (WHY?! Someone, slap Sir Galahad really hard, I believe he hit his head while falling off that cool steampunkish airship!). Things that could be surprising are made obvious. The story does have an interesting core, but it feels like most of it was cut from the game.
- Sir Galahad and gang behave funny: they talk about not using deadly force on murdering bedlamites, but they kill brutally lots of people who might be innocent. The violence in the game is not natural – made especially for players’ pleasure (look, we have executions!!!). And it just breaks Sir Galahad’s character.
- Small amount of content: I finished the game in less than 8 hours. It can be a good length for the story-driven experience when it’s complete, but it’s too short for the action game. Especially if it feels like a 40% of a whole story.
- Letterboxing: why, Ready at Down? Why?!
- Badly executed controls: sometimes you can’t run, sometimes you can’t take out the gun, sometimes you can use only one-handed weapons. The game doesn’t tell player why controlls are changed or why. It feels like a bug.
Should you bother?
Only if you’re Gamer Cat. Like me.
Good graphics and Victorian London setting are huge virtues of The Order 1886. The game might scratch the itch of the virtual tourism adepts – the atmosphere is great. I dream of playing the game with project Morpheus support (probably not going to happen). Don’t hope for a great story, outstanding characters, addictive combat or multiplayer, though – you won’t find any of those in The Order 1886.
My personal rating:
- Contemporary graphics – check
- Victorian setting – check
- Great atmosphere – check
- Gun-wielding, knight-slaying monsters (and rebels, mostly rebels… poor rebels…) – check
However, the game left me unsatisfied and wishing for more.
Published: Aug 22, 2015 11:06 pm