Ah, The Order 1886. I finished this once a while ago, but I came back to get the platinum trophy. I've pretty much enjoyed and loved 90% of Sony's first party output in the last 10 years, and of the other 10%, this game is perhaps the one I wanted to like the most. The setting and world of The Order is right up my alley: an interesting twist on the Knights of the Round story, set in a steampunk-ish London, with a tasteful supernatural edge to it all. But it stumbles more often than it excels.
Most of The Order's failings can be seen in its first hour. The opening is incredibly slow, and in return, it doesn't offer a meaningful reason as to why it would be this slow. You'll also see an overreliance on QTEs, using them when they don't need to be used, and when they shouldn't. This lack of engaging interactivity is also felt through the movement, as the game insists on making you walk/climb so slowly through tight corridors for most of its runtime. All of this coalesces into this feeling of sluggish, uninviting gameplay.
And then there's a bigger problem: the game lacks the gameplay variety and depth needed to keep people engaged at all times. There are neat things in the combat, like the high variety of weapons available, and the Blackwater ability, which is a pretty badass slo-mo auto-lock-on move. But the level and encounter design is just so lacking. It's like having a cool sports car to drive, but all the roads are just simple straightaways and 90-degree corners. There's a part early on where you're just blasting 30-40 enemies in a courtyard and it's so basic. You barely have to move from your original cover. It's more like a stationary shooting gallery, and there's at least one of these every hour. Then you have the non-combat sections, which are hampered by the stuff I mentioned earlier, and most of the collectibles you find are just not exciting. Sure, the graphics are pretty as heck, and the environments are quite detailed, but sightseeing will only get you so far.
The worst of all is the half-breed fights; they're so disappointing. I get so mad when I think about these fights. Either you'll have a shitty Infinity Blade clone (remember that iPhone game?), or a shootout with the dumbest creature AI in the game. Just wait in one corner, shoot the heck out of them when they pop up, and press X at the right time to dodge their attack if needed. Rinse and repeat. It never changes. God, what a waste of potential.
All of this is the textbook example of all the worst qualities of cinematic prestige gaming. When you wrest control away from the player, you're supposed to have a good reason for it. Maybe you want to showcase great facial animations by taking away the camera controls and having these cinematographed cutscenes. Or maybe you want to slow down the player's movement to properly time a cool scripted set piece. This game fails at most attempts of these. The best of the genre understands how to balance developer intent with user experience; just look at every single Naughty Dog game in the last two decades. They constantly juggle between multiple gameplay flavors fluidly, and they put so much care into the way all of these flavors connect and interact with one another. As somebody who is incredibly fond of this type of game, seeing all these flaws condensed into an experience this short makes me feel so annoyed like I've been a hater all along.
...Okay, the worst has come to pass. I have talked a lot already, let's speedrun some other things about the game before we end this.
- I enjoyed the story quite a bit. The game is at its best when it's building this world of long-living Knights. Lines like "...It's a motto that has seen me through decades" and "Two revolutions have taught me that danger are on both sides" makes me so excited to learn more about this world. I also really like the angle of the Knights living a cursed life; "Men were never meant to live this life."
- Sir Galahad is a pretty great protagonist to play as, and I particularly liked the company of Lafayette and Lakshmi.
- I mentioned a bit about the weapons before, they really cooked with some of these. The Arc Gun is seriously one of my favorite video game weapons in the last 10 years. Shoutouts also to the Dragoon Revolver, the Thermite Gun, and the Falchion Rifle.
- The Letterbox aspect ratio certainly doesn't help with the boring level design: it especially lacks verticality. It only adds to the overall claustrophobic feel of the game. Also, I wish there were motion blur and film grain slider settings.
- Having unskippable cutscenes sucks ass.
If there's any one game that deserves a sequel to right all its wrongs, it's this. The setting of The Order is just too exciting for me, and I'm still quite bummed that we'll probably never see more of this world. Except if Sony decides to make a TV show or movie about this, I guess.
Most of The Order's failings can be seen in its first hour. The opening is incredibly slow, and in return, it doesn't offer a meaningful reason as to why it would be this slow. You'll also see an overreliance on QTEs, using them when they don't need to be used, and when they shouldn't. This lack of engaging interactivity is also felt through the movement, as the game insists on making you walk/climb so slowly through tight corridors for most of its runtime. All of this coalesces into this feeling of sluggish, uninviting gameplay.
And then there's a bigger problem: the game lacks the gameplay variety and depth needed to keep people engaged at all times. There are neat things in the combat, like the high variety of weapons available, and the Blackwater ability, which is a pretty badass slo-mo auto-lock-on move. But the level and encounter design is just so lacking. It's like having a cool sports car to drive, but all the roads are just simple straightaways and 90-degree corners. There's a part early on where you're just blasting 30-40 enemies in a courtyard and it's so basic. You barely have to move from your original cover. It's more like a stationary shooting gallery, and there's at least one of these every hour. Then you have the non-combat sections, which are hampered by the stuff I mentioned earlier, and most of the collectibles you find are just not exciting. Sure, the graphics are pretty as heck, and the environments are quite detailed, but sightseeing will only get you so far.
The worst of all is the half-breed fights; they're so disappointing. I get so mad when I think about these fights. Either you'll have a shitty Infinity Blade clone (remember that iPhone game?), or a shootout with the dumbest creature AI in the game. Just wait in one corner, shoot the heck out of them when they pop up, and press X at the right time to dodge their attack if needed. Rinse and repeat. It never changes. God, what a waste of potential.
All of this is the textbook example of all the worst qualities of cinematic prestige gaming. When you wrest control away from the player, you're supposed to have a good reason for it. Maybe you want to showcase great facial animations by taking away the camera controls and having these cinematographed cutscenes. Or maybe you want to slow down the player's movement to properly time a cool scripted set piece. This game fails at most attempts of these. The best of the genre understands how to balance developer intent with user experience; just look at every single Naughty Dog game in the last two decades. They constantly juggle between multiple gameplay flavors fluidly, and they put so much care into the way all of these flavors connect and interact with one another. As somebody who is incredibly fond of this type of game, seeing all these flaws condensed into an experience this short makes me feel so annoyed like I've been a hater all along.
...Okay, the worst has come to pass. I have talked a lot already, let's speedrun some other things about the game before we end this.
- I enjoyed the story quite a bit. The game is at its best when it's building this world of long-living Knights. Lines like "...It's a motto that has seen me through decades" and "Two revolutions have taught me that danger are on both sides" makes me so excited to learn more about this world. I also really like the angle of the Knights living a cursed life; "Men were never meant to live this life."
- Sir Galahad is a pretty great protagonist to play as, and I particularly liked the company of Lafayette and Lakshmi.
- I mentioned a bit about the weapons before, they really cooked with some of these. The Arc Gun is seriously one of my favorite video game weapons in the last 10 years. Shoutouts also to the Dragoon Revolver, the Thermite Gun, and the Falchion Rifle.
- The Letterbox aspect ratio certainly doesn't help with the boring level design: it especially lacks verticality. It only adds to the overall claustrophobic feel of the game. Also, I wish there were motion blur and film grain slider settings.
- Having unskippable cutscenes sucks ass.
If there's any one game that deserves a sequel to right all its wrongs, it's this. The setting of The Order is just too exciting for me, and I'm still quite bummed that we'll probably never see more of this world. Except if Sony decides to make a TV show or movie about this, I guess.
MIKEYMO
2 months ago