Playing this game in 2022 is such a surreal experience. Not only does it still look better than 99% of games that come out today, but it's nearly impossible to separate it from its place in history as maybe the game which had the quickest turn from "hyped to hated".
It is truly hard to believe how much shit this game got when it was released, genuinely historical. "The Order 1886" became the much needed whipping boy for large game studios, as at the time the general gaming public were in the midst of raging against the preverbal machine; frustrated by increasingly shallow experiences.
I have the empathy to take a step back and understand why someone in 2015 would feel jipped by paying $60 for a five hour game. However, seven years on I was able to buy this game for the first time for around $10 and once that discount was enacted a lot of the problems people had with this game started to disappear. As I wrote at the top this is honestly one of the most breathtaking video game experiences I've ever had. Not only are the environments seemingly endless and full for vivacious detail, but the facial animations are genuinely the best I've ever seen. While I'm on the topic of visuals I'll add in that everything from the character design to weapons help to create a wonderfully unique world.
The only aspect of this game that I'm not crazy about is the gameplay. For starters it kind of feels like shit to move, what I mean by that is the game tries to guide you along as best it can and one of the ways it does that is by gating how fast and slow you can move in certain areas. While this might not sound so back it can be incredibly frustrating to try sprinting only to find out you're not supposed to sprint in this one random open area for seemingly no reason. The gunplay also kind of sucks. While you do get access to plenty of cool weapons, a majority of them feel exactly the same and the actually cool ones are severely underused. Speaking of underused, the werewolves in this game are the biggest swing and miss of the entire console generation as far as I'm concerned. They show up a total of like three times and your method of dispatching them is so pathetically boring I almost thought it was a glitch. As essential as these may seem in a video game I don't think that lackluster gameplay can singlehandedly tank an experience.
Of all the things that would benefit from a reevaluation in the year of out lord 2022 (George Harrison's solo material, jnco jeans, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, etc.) I believe The Order 1886 would see the greatest improvement. I will gladly die on the hill that The Order is not a terrible video game, it is instead wildly mediocre.
It is truly hard to believe how much shit this game got when it was released, genuinely historical. "The Order 1886" became the much needed whipping boy for large game studios, as at the time the general gaming public were in the midst of raging against the preverbal machine; frustrated by increasingly shallow experiences.
I have the empathy to take a step back and understand why someone in 2015 would feel jipped by paying $60 for a five hour game. However, seven years on I was able to buy this game for the first time for around $10 and once that discount was enacted a lot of the problems people had with this game started to disappear. As I wrote at the top this is honestly one of the most breathtaking video game experiences I've ever had. Not only are the environments seemingly endless and full for vivacious detail, but the facial animations are genuinely the best I've ever seen. While I'm on the topic of visuals I'll add in that everything from the character design to weapons help to create a wonderfully unique world.
The only aspect of this game that I'm not crazy about is the gameplay. For starters it kind of feels like shit to move, what I mean by that is the game tries to guide you along as best it can and one of the ways it does that is by gating how fast and slow you can move in certain areas. While this might not sound so back it can be incredibly frustrating to try sprinting only to find out you're not supposed to sprint in this one random open area for seemingly no reason. The gunplay also kind of sucks. While you do get access to plenty of cool weapons, a majority of them feel exactly the same and the actually cool ones are severely underused. Speaking of underused, the werewolves in this game are the biggest swing and miss of the entire console generation as far as I'm concerned. They show up a total of like three times and your method of dispatching them is so pathetically boring I almost thought it was a glitch. As essential as these may seem in a video game I don't think that lackluster gameplay can singlehandedly tank an experience.
Of all the things that would benefit from a reevaluation in the year of out lord 2022 (George Harrison's solo material, jnco jeans, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, etc.) I believe The Order 1886 would see the greatest improvement. I will gladly die on the hill that The Order is not a terrible video game, it is instead wildly mediocre.