Remember what I said last time about actively avoiding a game? Well, I avoided The Order 1886 purely based on word of mouth. Friends warned me that the game was a short, unsatisfying mess. So I stayed away.
What changed and made me want to try this game? Probably morbid curiosity, but a part of me wanted to give the game a chance. I’ve liked playing games that others didn’t, most recently LittleBigPlanet 3. Granted, Sackboy’s latest game wasn’t as unloved as today’s subject, but I have had more than a couple of people chide me for my decision to play it.
It was with that optimism that I popped The Order 1886 into my PS4. Ten minutes later, I already regretted my optimism.
The one thing you can do to make me lose interest in your game immediately is take away my agency. The game does that from the very beginning, reducing me to completing quick-time events and following basic instructions to progress the story they wanted to tell me. Once I did gain agency and was able to control Sir Galahad, the game’s protagonist, I still felt that the game was leading me by the nose, showing me how beautiful everything looks.
And The Order 1886 is indeed beautiful. It’s obvious that developer Ready At Dawn worked really hard to bring its alternate vision of Victorian London to life. The visuals were a major selling point for the game, and they do not disappoint. And the story begins to form nicely as you move along. Your interactions with The Order – this alternate world’s version of the Knights of the Round Table – flesh out characters. Your interactions within the city really bring it to life. From the murmurs of a killer named Jack the Ripper to your investigations into the infamous East India Company, I did get pulled in a bit.
Of course, the game kept pulling me out of it. Everything feels heavily scripted, as if the developers want you to notice every flawlessly-rendered street lamp and photograph and gasp. The amount of times I felt in real control was less than the times I had to watch a cinematic or deal with more quick-time events. Honestly, this was more like a slightly interactive movie than a game.
Sir Galahad and The Order are equipped with fantastical weapons designed by Nikola Tesla, an in-game NPC and their version of James Bond’s Q. Using the Thermite Rifle and Arc Gun is satisfying. However, they’re not necessarily needed during regular combat. Too much of the gameplay is reduced to cover-based shooting and stealth as you fight human guards with small-arms fire. The few times you actually fight a monster – the purported mission of the Order – are nothing more boring patterns of shooting mixed in with more quick-time events.
Worst of all, the story the game tries to weave ends unexpectedly, leaving many plot and character threads dangling. It reeks of sequel bait, something especially galling to me since I didn’t feel like I got a complete first part. Maybe if I spent more time actually playing and less time just pressing buttons when instructed, I’d have felt more satisfaction.
To me, The Order 1886 deserves all the derision it received. It really is a shame; the possibilities for a good game were present. It just seems they wanted to make a beautiful game more than a good game. The result was thoroughly unsatisfying. Oh, well. At least I can go back to finishing LittleBigPlanet 3.
