The Order 1886 Review

Let’s get one thing perfectly clear, The Order 1886 has amazing graphics and is probably the best looking game on consoles right now. With that being said, The Order 1886 is not without its downfalls.

The game is set during an alternate reality of Victorian London during the year *hint hint* 1886. You are part of the Order of Knights said to be descended from King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table. You are tasked with defending the peace against vagrants and ‘half-breeds”, who are basically lycans/werewolves. The game itself oozes a dark and brooding atmosphere and it’s great for really immersing you into this alternate version of reality. You get to meet some amazing characters including your equipment specialist, Nikolai Tesla himself.

The main selling point of this game is definitely its jaw dropping visuals. Remmember all those games that promised to have in-game graphics and cutscenes have equal graphical fidelity? Well finally we have a game that delivers completely on that promise. All cut scenes are in-game graphics giving that seamless transition from cut scene to gameplay, no pre-rendered stuff here. The game runs extremely smooth at 30fps and I’m happy with that. The developers decision to drop 60fps for better graphics was a smart move. I would rather have the game run consistently at 30fps rather than stick to 60fps and sacrifice the overall graphics of the game.

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Once you finally get to spend time with the game though you start to realize it’s just another generic cover-based third-person shooter. This on-rails approach of ‘cover-shoot-kill-move on’ gets old very quickly and you just wish you could explore this beautiful game even more. Interactions with items are all very scripted with some happening just once in the entire game even though you know you should be able to do them again. And yes, there are Quick Time Events. Nothing new here – melee attacks, stealth kills, and the occasional scripted scene, but it was at its best when you would face up against an elder half-breed which sadly does not occur as often as you would want it to be.

The story is great and the dialogue and voice acting is excellent but unfortunately the pacing can get a bit wonky. Shooting segments are separated by unskippable cut scenes and some dull walking/jogging while you and your companions spout out their scripted lines. The main story lasts about 7 hours or so and you can add a bit more to that if you want to grab all the collectibles.

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Conclusion

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Overall, the game itself isn’t that challenging, the combat is very old fashioned (pun not intended) and yet I found myself enjoying this beautiful game. This game takes a page out of interactive storytelling and does it really well; excellent voice acting, great story, and amazing atmosphere, but unfortunately they seem to have forgotten to make sure the mechanics of the game were actually engaging and fun.

The Order 1886 is a pretty good interactive movie. The game looks amazing and it really gives me hope to know that the PS4 has this much graphical potential to look forward to. Although, I somehow feel this is more of a tech demo for the PS4 rather than a full-fledged game. It will definitely give you a reason to buy that 4k TV just to see how amazing the game looks but there are fewer reasons to even play through the game a second time.

(You can get your copy of The Order 1886 on Lazada through this link – http://ho.lazada.com.ph/SHCzZL)