There was once a time when reviews could only be read in the next issue of whatever game magazine source you trusted. There was a time when ad revenue didn't matter, and you trusted someones own opinion on a game. Sadly though that has changed because of the internet.
E3 2013 was the reveal of "The Order: 1886" and it gathered much hype quickly, after seeing that trailer and the E3 2014 gameplay I was convinced I was getting this game. Every screenshot, gameplay video, "leaked news, and images" were avoided. I wanted the full experience without any type of spoiler.
On release date I saw the review scores and that didn't make me think twice, I was still getting this game, I was going to take the "risk" and see how I felt about it. That's exactly what I am doing now. I have yet to read or watch a review, listen to feedback or have someone try and steer me away from something I consider a truly amazing experience. After playing through this game I have decided to write another review.
Loading up The Order I had a sense of nostalgia, one that quickly reminded me of what games use to be like before online multiplayer was a thing, when a game simply wowed you on the idea alone. I reference this to Resident Evil for the PlayStation. I remember quite clearly how I felt about that game (at the age of 11) and how awesome and amazing I felt to have played it. A game where the graphics were considered realistic and the game itself was simply amazing. I wanted to play a single player experience I wouldn't soon forget and The Order delivered that for me.
The Order Takes place in...You guessed it "1800's London" White Chapel to be exact and you are the "modern aged" Knights of the round table. This concept alone made me interested in the game. I won't go too much into the story as I really don't want to spoil it for anyone. Let's just say that there is a lot going on in White Chapel and you are trying to figure out how it all strings together.
This is by far the best looking game to date, the attention to detail is simply breathtaking. I spent 10 minutes looking at texture work on the wooden floors just to see how the light reflected off of it in such a way I was just floor (pun intended) by this, I honestly couldn't get enough. I think the biggest wow moments for me aside from amazing texture and lighting is the cloth physics this game has. I have yet to see anything come close to this level of realism. It brought me back to that feeling I had when I first played Resident Evil. The lighting in this game, the sounds, the water, THE HAIR. Nothing was spared in the making of this game, Ready at Dawn really has a talented team and a great engine and I am excited to see what else comes of it. I can go on and on about how gorgeous the game looks but I honestly think the only real way to experience it is for you to sit in a dark room, put on some headphones, turn out the lights and just play it yourself.
The Order is not an open world game, in fact its quite linear and sets you on a guided path through a story that can take you anywhere from 6-10 hours (depending if you like to sprint, or would rather admire what the game actually shows you). This is what everyone is complaining about, how linear and short the game is. I don't know about anyone else but when I buy a game, I do it for the experience not just the content on the disc. If I feel I was satisfied with what I spent my money on, I then move on and play the next one. Ready at Dawn had a vision, to keep the player going to keep everything happening in such a way that you were playing a Cinematic adventure (Think Heavy Rain but at a turbo pace). I understood their vision as soon as I realized the QTE's were there to keep you into the cut scenes, to make you feel invested in some way, and it worked very well for me. I loved every single minute of this game and at no point did I feel like any "one" part dragged on at all for too long.
The emotion brought on to you by this game is thanks to the immersion that it throws you into immediately. You feel the struggle of the characters, you feel bad for what they've gone through and continue to go through. You realize just how important you are, and how easily things can turn when you aren't there to help. This is made possible by not only the INCREDIBLE graphics of this game, but the voice actors who were behind it. Honestly some of the best I have ever heard in my life. I felt like I was in London during the late 1800's and that is exactly what Ready at Dawn wanted to do. It wasn't just me either, I was live streaming my play-through and had people in my chat actually feeling sad for certain parts of the game. This game will hit you right in the feels and it will show you many different types of emotion along the way.
The Order also delivers in terms of gameplay. I will admit when I first saw the E3 2014 gameplay I was worried. It looked like the guy playing the game was having trouble shooting his gun, I am here to clear the air of that. This game handles incredibly well. That doesn't mean its easy though. When an enemy shoots, you will flinch, when you are shot you will get knocked off target. The AI is very aggressive (hard mode) and very accurate forcing you to use the cover system that handles like a dream. One of the downsides I have to say is that there are a decent amount of "run" parts where the game forces you to chase. I understand why they are put in games (suspense) but honestly, there is so much to look at and admire sometimes I just wanted to stop and enjoy what I was seeing but couldn't because the game wanted me to track someone. This game is best played at a walking pace and I recommended keeping your finger off the sprint button as much as possible because The Order is meant to be admired in its attention to detail. When I think of The Order: 1886, it reminds me so much of the Uncharted series. The first game in particular. Which was 6-10 hours long, and had no multiplayer. A game that took risk and ultimately became one of Sony's beloved IPs. I could see that same thing happen with this IP, and I think it will. We will see an evolution of this series in the same exact way we did with Uncharted and that is something I am extremely excited for.
Is The Order: 1886 a 10/10 game? No it is not. I honestly think the score has to reflect off the person playing the game, and that's what makes the reviews so lop sided. A game like this, one that comes around every few years and is so good (to some) and so bad (to others) makes rating this game pure bias. Usually when I approach a review I try and do so with others in mind, but honestly this time I am reviewing this game for myself.
I am a gamer who grew up during the late 80's and early 90's I played everything I could get my hands on and tried to appreciate what the developers were trying to accomplish. Ready at Dawn had a vision for their game and it was a vision i completely and wholeheartedly agree with. This game took me back to a time when I didn't have a Ethernet cable plugged into my console, one where I got to be immersed in a world for a set amount of time, a game where I got to enjoy it for all it had to offer and not expect more because of the news media. If anything at all this game does so much right, and all I want is more. If that's not a good thing at the end of your play thorough, well then...I am sorry for the people who are so jaded to think that $60 dollars is too much for a game of this caliber even if its just in terms of graphics alone.
That being said. This review I took my time to write, was written for me, and for people like me.
A sequel to Sony and Ready At Dawn's action-adventure game, The Order: 1886, would have featured larger-scale battles as well as multiplayer.
I missed it when games use to have a multiplayer to them.
Hope Sony revives the game at one point
Killzone, Resistance, Uncharted, TLOU, Motorstorm. Great times. Its a shame how far they've fallen this generation
Why add multiplayer when the single player (despite enjoying it for what it was) had flaws?
You'd work out the issues with how you craft the single player then once you’ve perfected it do multiplayer after.
https://www.videogameschron...
"Two sequels were planned for the franchise, The Order 1891 and The Order 1899. While the third game was never in development, Weerasuriya says he had planned where the story of the franchise was planned to go, if he had been able to develop the full trilogy."
...
Alas, we'll also might never get the PC version of 1886, which is currently residing in some dev's hard drive, nearly ready for a release if required.
It’s a shame we didn’t gave its chance to this franchise.
Game world was very interesting, and gameplay could have evolved to a major hit with sequels.
Not even speaking about graphics that were way ahead of their time.
If "we" is sony, i agree. I liked the game but it was metacritic that contributed to it's death. It's a shame.
No, we are "us," the gamers who rated it so low on Metacritic, hurting... Killing its sales. I agree it is a shame. I loved this game.
No it is not, it is us has a community which crucified this game, which is happening much too often.
I think MP being co-op would’ve been awesome. Essentially, I always viewed this as Sony’s take on the Gears series.
However, it really failed to measure up to what I expected. I definitely saw the potential but there were some things that really bogged it down for me like the forced slow walking segments (which I know was to hide loading), the repetitive warehouse werewolf fights, not enough variety in enemies, oddly we fought more humans than Darkstalkers, and the stealth sections were infuriating.
One thing there’s no denying though, this damn game was a looker. Such a shame at the wasted potential.
WTMG's Leo Faria: "After finally playing the now decade-old The Order: 1886, what do I think about it? Is it really worthy of all the hate it has received over the past decade? Or is it some kind of hidden gem? I honestly think it falls somewhere in the middle. I loved the setting, the story is initially fine, the combat isn’t half-bad, and the potential for some awesome world building was there. It was all bogged down by too much ambition against a tight deadline, as well as poor marketing. As a result, it’s short, full of plotholes, infested with QTEs, and not exactly memorable as a whole. As a game you can grab for less than ten bucks today, I absolutely think it’s worth checking out. It’s one hell of a wasted potential, but for such a discount, I had some fun with it, and I’m sure you will too."
Great setting, great graphics, even decent gun play, but what a trash of a game. The fuck were these people thinking? We could've had something like an Alan Wake 2 meets Mass Effect 2 style game. With investigations, creepy locations to uncover and explore, people to talk to and even recruit, clues to uncover and connect, monsters to slay, side quests to get lost in, and a more expansive lore to go with it.
Instead we got a shitty AAAAAAAAA Third Person Pew Pew snoozfest. Awesome.
The order 1886 was one of the best games I played on ps4. Within a top 5 best ps4 games I'd put the last of us 2, the order 1886, days gone, horizon zero dawn and God of war.
"The order 1886 was one of the best games I played on ps4. Within a top 5 best ps4 games..."
Jesus H. Christ, bud. You just sound like a Sony apologist. What the fuck? Anyways. Good luck with that or whatever.
God. The "what could've been" you're describing would've been way better than just being the most empty cinematic shooter slop of that generation.
Right? I mean, I can understand people enjoying this thing ironically. Knowing that it sucks but still enjoying it for what it is. I get that. That's fine. We all have our guilty pleasure no doubt. But to come here and actually pretend that this is a top 5 PS4 game? Wow!
To pretend that this barely there game is anything more than an "empty cinematic shooter slop of that generation," as you said, is beyond ridiculous. But I guess Self-Awareness is some expensive ass DLC still.
I really enjoyed this game and also think it was one of the best PS4 games. It’s weird to me that this makes you so angry. I’m not a Sony fan at all by the way, very much pc player.
"and also think it was one of the best PS4 games"
"I’m not a Sony fan at all by the way, very much pc player."
Yeah, OK. You want to lie to yourself? You do you, bud. But like I said to the other Sony apologist, "good luck with that or whatever."
Jesus, it had some flaws but you're acting like it was unplayable.
It built a foundation, a rocky one but a sequel is where they could have refined things.
Personally my only issue is I feel like the "Gears of War" like over the shoulder gameplay, especially getting into cover and the like didn't really fit the game as much. In Gears you understand that kind of gameplay because they are wearing super heavy amour and guns but in the Order these guys are super human, they should feel more of a breeze to control, easily jumping over things and being allowed to climb whatever similar to Uncharted.
Im back again to simp for The Order, if ya like games well grounded in their reality with consistency in everything it does then I recommend it if ya haven't played it. Play it thru emulation or on your PS it don't matter just play it.
A great game run down by the media for it's price vs length - Which was understandable, but it shouldn't of been the be all and end all.
At the right price this was a great game & deserved a sequel!
Exactly. What a weird metric that suddenly was important and then, within a few months, no longer mattered.
I enjoyed this. I think the complaints were the length if I remember. Nothing wrong with a short good game, at least to physical copy owners 😅
Co-founder thinks bad reviews were to blame.
Ready at Dawn co-founder has revealed the now-shuttered studio pitched a sequel to PS4 exclusive The Order: 1886 to Sony, but was denied the chance to make it.
I can't believe sony turned down a sequel to the order 1886 which ended basically on a cliffhanger. The game is amazing and I would love a ps5 pro enhanced version just like I'd like a driveclub ps5 pro enhanced version.
About 2 million sales and not the greatest of reviews, I can believe it.
Tbh there's a lot of dormant Sony exclusives that are more deserving of a sequel.
2 million probably wasn’t enough to make a strong profit on, and the mid reviews didn’t help, even though it was a solid game just short, and could have expanded way more on the creature mythos.
Days Gone: +7 million / mid reviews (no sequel)
Infamous SS: 6 million / mid reviews (no sequel)
Killzone SF: +2 million (4 mo.) / mid reviews (no sequel)
Driveclub: +2 million (2015 / leaks say 5m) / mid reviews (no sequel)
Basically it looks like for the PS4 generation budgets were getting out of control and Sony made the decision
sales + reviews - budget = sequel or no sequel
Two million in sales for a new IP is pretty impressive. The world-building was in a class on its own. Any moron could see this IP had mad potential and the fact that Sony balked on it makes one question their competence and leadership.
Nothing to do with sales. It’s all about the broken vision that Sony is having lately.
Days Gone sold great but they still don’t want a sequel to it.
Sony wants Easy money and they saw it in gaas and lazy games like lego horizon and countless remasters..
Idky you can’t believe it.
This game was shitted on by everyone besides some PS fans.
Don’t blame Sony on this one. Blame everyone who wanted to see this burn. Sony does a lot of stupid shit with their IP and waste a lot of them like bloodborne and days gone, but don’t be surprised with this one.
Exactly. I came to post exactly this. The game was torn apart upon release. It's not shocking that a sequel was denied.
Not “upon” release. There was a whole campaign “prior” to release.
In my opinion they should have made it a bit less linear and it would have been great. I did enjoy it. But the reception it got makes sense that Sony wouldnt want to risk a sequel if it was going to open up a can of worms with people who wanted the first one to fail.
Well pretty obvious when it was left on a cliffhanger. Many sequels get turned from companies as someone else said above blame the SOB's that always whining.
What's so hard to believe? Don't you remember this game was crucified by the media.. it was DOA. It's a shame because it was a really fresh new IP it was gorgeous and a play really well . it had some issues but it wasn't the only game with qte repeated bosses and a playtime under 10 hours.
It was panned because of the graphics hype. Kind of similar to Ryse and hellblade 2...although the story was pretty interesting in all 3.
As a matter of fact I think Indy's success is partially due to the fact the graphics were not hyped up pre launch.
It’s strange though Sony would be so proud about their work and overall quality but wouldn’t give them an extra year to, give them that quality.
Anyway he talks about if it was in the 70s they’d have had their sequel but Days Gone is at 71 on Metacritic and we don’t have a sequel.
Both games should have one, I think they deserve a second chance at refining and building onto that foundation already laid out.
Definitely days gone 2 should happen. Who knows maybe now Sony will let them make it since bend had to cancel its live service game. Days gone 2 for PS6 sounds amazing
As far as order 1886 sequel it would be have been interesting. I think if this game was a RPG with 15 hour story it would have done so much better. Don't get me wrong game is great but you can tell the potential is there if they were allowed to make some drastic changes
Sadly this new Sony is not the PlayStation they are suits and spreadsheet guys. Playstation has lost its touch with gamers. I miss Shawn jack Andrew house etc
At the launch of PS4 Playstation was at its full strength with gamers running the company but not anymore. No we have a guy who loves horizon above every thing else and is willing to fund projects based on that IP
So an IP that actually sell? Sony moved away from the type of games you saw during the launch of the PS4 because many gamer didn't support them. I hear people crying more about say Japan Studio closing than actually supporting their games when they were open. Wasn't it shawn layden who said many of these games fail and you hope a few like horizon to make up for the failed games. Maybe if gamers actually supported these games there would be more of them. Shocking right?
There is no sequel for Days Gone because it didn't sell. The director himself said "If you love a game, buy it at f****** full price. I can't tell you how many times I've seen gamers say 'yeah, I got that on sale, I got it through PS Plus, whatever'.”
Majority of the sales from days gone came from when it was heavily discounted, and I have seen many gamers say they will not pay full price or the game isn't worth full price, but they will buy it when it's discounted. Yet they get triggered when the studio decides to move away from a game they refused to support at full price
What this is showing is that the majority of people don’t like the price. It doesn’t mean they don’t like the game. Two different dimensions.
Example: The company Take Two took advantage by selling NBA 2K at $20, completely undercutting NBA live to become the most popular basketball game. High priced games isn’t the only way they can make money.
Well. If we are going to go off that director apparently Days Gone hit 8 million sales around the same time frame that Ghost of Tsushima later did.
https://x.com/JakeRocket/st...
One was considered a failure, the other a massive success so I don't think it just boils down to sales.
@Foxtrot
Hey, maybe you clearly know more than the director/writer. If memory serves me right, Days Gone went on sale faster than Ghost. Also, please know budget is a major factor. There is a huge difference between Ghost with a budget of $60M selling 8M, vs Days Gone, with a budget of $250M selling 8M after major price cut. One can be considered a success, because it had a much lower budget.
Don't Complain If a Game Doesn’t Get a Sequel” If You Didn’t Buy It “At F-cking Full Price, clearly shows the game didn't make the money it needed to make within the time frame it needed
@jwillj2k4
What is shows is majority of gamers didn't think Days Gone was worth the $60 price tag and clearly Sony agrees with them. You can like a game, but if you don't think it is worth the price tag, why do you complain when the company decides to not invest in a game you don't think is worth what they are charging? They should release the game, lose money, cut the price and then you will support it?
Reading is fundamental. I said start with a reduced price not cut the price after you’ve already released it. It was an example to show how there are other ways they couldn’t make money. The idea is that number of buyers is much greater at $20 than $60. I didn’t think I had the point that out to you.
@jwillj2k4
The number of buyers being greater at $20 than $60 does not equate to more money. You literally have to sell 2-3 times more to makeup the difference. Starting with a reduced price for an AAA that costs say $250M is pure stupidity and again would have to sell 2-4 times more depending on the reduced price break even. Or include micro transactions. They can make it into a free live service game with mtx. Yeah, you are right, maybe they should follow the route 2K NBA took
Clearly many don't think the game is worth $60. Who knows maybe the remaster can give it hope. But it would be funny if they get a sequel and people refuse to buy it at full price. Highly doubt those who think the game isn't worth 60, will be lining up for 70.
Days Gone deserved so much better than 71. I’ve noticed that some PlayStation games get attacked and it feels generated. Like money is behind the hate campaign.
Days Gone was that one game which wasn't really attacked by gamers but by journalists.
As soon as it was revealed they really didn't like it for some reason, it was made out to be because it came across as a generic looking open world game or another generic "zombie" game but at the time we had plenty of open world games and a fair few "zombie/infected" games that these journalists didn't bad an eyelid towards.
When the game released broken before the Day One patch it just gave these journalists a massive excuse to slaughter the game in their reviews.
On one hand, a game shouldn't have released in that broken state or at least they shouldn't have given journalists a copy without the Day One patch HOWEVER these are the same journalists who usually gloss over that kind of stuff with so many other games, take Star Wars Outlaws for example, the game was a buggy, broken mess at launch with plenty of issues, bad AI, some clear performance issues and a lot of quality of life improvements needed but it still did a lot better than Days Gone at launch.
Personally I think they knew they could get away with it more because Sony Bend weren’t that high up and respectable, they knew calling their game out as much as they did wouldn't hit them with any major consequences unlike if they hypothetically were like this towards NaughtyDog, Sony Santa Monica or Insomniac.
Yea and there was/is a PC version of 1886 too in 2016 ... but now maybe collecting dust in some dev's hardrive.
That's lame. It's not perfect, definitely a flawed game, but deserves a sequel. You already have the first game as a starting point just need to improve upon it. This could have been a much better sequel like the jump from Assassin's Creed to Assassin's Creed 2. The IP has potential.
10/10 Good job grave didn't read it but good job
I agree, but I think the characters' relationships need more depth at the beginning
" a game where I got to enjoy it for all it had to offer and not expect more because of the news media".
Nailed it...journalists don't do this anymore. They review games based off of what they don't have.
Good review
Thanks for an honest review, not one to stir up people for clicks. When I saw the score you gave, I had to read it. I also gave the game a high score, 8.5. I loved every bit of it, there wasn't much to complain about. I knew what I was getting in to and took me about 8 hours to beat it on hard, I explored the world presented to me and found hidden chests and items along the journey. I hope they do male a sequel and expand on the Knights story in London and possibly beyond. Glad I bought it and the experience was definitely worth my time and money. Pity these so called "gamers" listen to shock journalists and will skip this game. So many reviews I read had false information within it meaning they didn't actually play the game. Seems as if they read other reviews and jumped on the bandwagon and rushed to the Internet to write a fake review. Gamers need to get back to the definition of gaming, that is to play games and have fun doing so.