Game Review – The Order: 1886

Imagine walking the dirty, wet, cobbled streets of London, your eyes frantically scanning for loot and finding none, except for the odd family photo here and there or a random news article taped to a dustbin. There is a certain ambiance about where you are. The misty, morning air hangs thick with the smell of gunpowder. The eerie sound of werewolves gnawing at your leg. Imagine smelling the blood as you repeatedly stab at the creatures. This sets the scene for The Order: 1886. A graphically insane game with the likes of a smooth film and you’re starring in it.

I have read a few other reviews about this Sony Ps4 exclusive title, most of which were not in favour of the game. I, on the other-hand, really enjoyed this title.

The storytelling is, unfortunately, rather linear and begins with a historic event, which links the killings of the infamous Jack the Ripper to one of the characters in-game. I welcomed the linear game play; too many games lately have a sandbox approach, which makes for interesting game play, but one can quickly lose the essence of the story. Sony did an excellent job in keeping you focussed on the story in The Order: 1886, with excellent dialogue and great characters. The game, however, gently forces you to run to your next objective with the hope of unravelling the mystery that befalls your order.

The controls are pretty standard and if you’ve played any of the Assassins Creed games, you would certainly catch on to the controls Of The Order: 1886 quickly. To avoid getting killed or to kill an enemy in a satisfyingly face crushing way, fun, quicktime control combinations need to be pressed, keeping you on the edge of your seat.

Simply put: The graphics are insane! I have yet see a game with better animations, character movements and facial expressions, even on PC. Yes, ‘PC master elite race’ I just went there! Suck it! Although, the letter boxing of the game was a bit strange to me in the beginning, I quickly realised it added to the widescreen movie feel of the game. Another theory is that without the amount of pixels to render, Sony could squeeze out every last bit of console power to make the game look as graphically awesome as they did.

Trophies are super easy to find in the game and makes for that extra treat. It’s like Sony is handing them to you for putting up with a somewhat short and linear game. The game is worth about 8-9 hours of game-play. It is really worth it to inspect every corner of the game to achieve a full list of trophies.

Personally, I think the replay value is not that great, but I’ll do it anyways, just for the purely awesome graphics and missed trophies. Also, on second play-through you do pick up on small hints in the dialogue, which could’ve easily been missed the first time.

My conclusion is, The Order: 1886 looks, feels and plays like a movie and should rather be treated as such. Approach it with that in mind and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I’d score it an 8 out of 10.