ACTION-ADVENTURE - Follows Sir Galahad, a knight of the Order, as he uncovers a conspiracy within both the Order and London's elite, questioning his loyalty and the very nature of his mission.

PROS:

++ Visuals & cinematic flair. The game holds up incredibly well. I knew the game looked great, but I didn't expect it to look so impressive. From beginning to end, the game was incredibly cinematic. I often couldn't discern the difference between cutscene graphics and in-game graphics. And the camera work was equally great. I also really appreciated the highly atmospheric lighting in many of the locales and places you go. An easy 10/10 in this category.

++ Performances. The vocal performances of the different characters were also done well. Emotional and effective delivery of their lines. Sir Galahad deserves specific praise. I really think his voice actor did a fantastic job!

++ Worldbuilding & lore. In its four or five hours, the game manages to accomplish a pretty impressive feat: it built a world that is incredibly interesting and one that I would want to learn more of. Modern-day knights fighting against lychans and vampires in an alternate London? Sign me up for more! The characters introduced were fantastic and I grew fond of all of them, especially Sir Galahad who I thought was such a cool character. I really, really hope that a sequel is being made because I want to see how his story unfolds. Also, this game had two pretty cool weapons: the coil gun that can pop heads and limbs off, and the thermite gun, both of which were created by an alternate version of Nikola Tesla. Just talking about it makes me want more of the world they created.

++ Narrative. The story wasn't anything mind-blowing or innovative. But nevertheless, I found the plot's development to be enjoyable and gripping, mostly due to the characters to be honest.

++ Costume design. One more praise I want to give is the costume design of the knights. It looks so cool! Every time Sir Galahad and the other knights were on screen, I couldn't help but notice and praise the amazing outfit they were rocking!

CONS:

-- Length. The game was only about 4-5 hours in length. I really, really wanted more from the game. There were so many "chapters" that were just comprised of a cutscene and a brief walk. So much more could have been done to bolster the campaign, but unfortunately what we got was a very impressive, and slightly longer, tech demo for the PS4. The game also ends in a cliffhanger which I wouldn't usually mind. But given the fact that we'll probably never get a sequel, it left a sad taste in my mouth.

-- Limited gameplay. So much of the game is spent walking. And when there's finally some action, it's short-lived and lasts for only a few minutes. It's a shame because the gunplay was competently made. Other parts of the gameplay include two minigames, QTEs, and cutscenes. On the gameplay side of things, this game flounders because it rarely gives the player full control.

-- Replay value. After beating the game, there's really nothing else to do. And there's not much incentive to replay the campaign either.

-- Aspect ratio. Very small gripe, but the black bars at the top and bottom restricted my vision at times. I wish it came off during gameplay and was only present during cutscenes.

Fighting werewolves in a steampunk version of Victorian London is a nice enough idea. But on top of that, they put The Order and the Knights of the Round Table.

At first, I thought some of the characters were sharing the names. But it turns out they are supposed to be those knights, having lived for hundreds of years.

Then there are historical figures, such as Nikola Tesla, that, of course, supplies us with new weapons.

Gameplay-wise, it’s a cover-shooter. But at least the enemies are not as beefy as in Gears of War, and they respect headshots somewhat, so shooting is actually quite satisfying.

There is a strange mechanic for such a game to examine different objects. Something I’d expect in an adventure, but not in a shooter.

Maybe just a way to flex. Or “gun porn,” as you can also rotate some of the new guns that way.

I got excited when I received the Lewis machine gun. But it turned out to be a strange contraption that requires you to spray enemies with termite, then ignite them. The voice acting and cinematography are superb. To have a direct quote from Resident Evil was surprising.

Oh, there are not just werewolves but also vampires. Oh, Lord Hastings, whom we protected half of the game from rebels, is actually a vampire. He’s Jack the Ripper that was mentioned at the start of the game. And the United India Company tries to ship vampires to the USA. Why? I don’t know. Usually, those gaps are filled by Codex, but there’s none here.

Turns out the knightly names are codenames, and each Knight has also a first and last name. So Perceval is Sebastien Malory (Thomas Malory was the author of Le Morte d’Arthur). And when Sebastien dies in the explosion, Lafayette inherits his codename of Perceval. And they live for hundreds of years due to the Holy Grail they have.

The story is told in such a way that the characters have all the context and don’t try to explain anything to the player. “In medias res”? Which is good in terms of storytelling but leaves me with a feeling of missing something.

Surprisingly, I didn’t find the game short, and the ending lacking. Yes, it doesn’t wrap much of anything, and it’s a shame we won’t get to see the sequel. But then sequels rarely stand up to expectations anyway. Just ask Assassin’s Creed.

Alistair, the commander of The Order, turns out to be a werewolf. Interestingly, he refers to Lord Hastings as “my breed,” meaning that in this universe vampires and werewolves are somewhat related. Lord Chancellor knew that fact, but he was unable to kill a child. Instead, he tasks Galahad to do that for him.

I must say all this doesn’t make sense; stories about people that live for hundreds of years rarely do. For example, Lafayette is clearly meant to be the historical figure, as he “seen two Revolutions” and is “the most American Frenchman I know.” But that would mean he’s 86 years old with the look of 30, and that is without the Grail powers, as he’s knighted during the events of the game. Unless, of course, the American and French revolutions happened in this reality around 1860.

We end up with Galahad "I'm Galahad no more" and Tesla on the run, and martial law declared in London. It’s now clear who helped Tesla get Galahad out of the Thames. It credits he just appears as a “mysterious man.” Presumably, it could be either Arthur himself or Bots, one of Arthur’s knights, as Ravi mentions him, although saying that he may not be alive after all. But that would explain why Ravi has the same sword design and bottle as other knights.

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Let's call it like it is. This game does not feel good. It does not play well. It's not particularly innovative on the gameplay front. It just kind of is from a play stand point. However what it lacks in gameplay accolades it makes up for in world building and design. Alternate history London filled with steam punk tech for fighting werewolves may not be the most original idea but it is well executed. The game is nice to look at, even now 6 years after it's release. The voice acting is good and by the end I actually cared about several characters. There are some beats of the story that are little too tropey and you know they are happening before they happen but it is still a decent enough story. My biggest complain about the end of the story is that it ended in an unsatisfactory place. The games is kind of short and definitely feels like they just stopped where they did so they could ship.

So, at the end of the day I have a split opinion. You could make the argument that the game does not deserve a sequel and yet here I am wanting to finish the story. I think if the game play could get the same kind of polish as Naughty Dog's 3rd person action games, the visuals got the next gen lighting for the PS5, and the story picks up and actually wraps it up, it could be a really good game.

The Order: 1886 is a beautiful game that tells a compelling story in steam punk London. I really liked most of the characters (at least to start with), and I think it's a shame that we didn't learn more about them even though they're hundreds of years old. I thought the gunplay was adequate, if basic, and to my surprise I really enjoyed the quicktime based boss battles (never bring a gun to a knife fight). However, the game has a number a significant drawbacks and I would be cautious to recommend this game to friends.

My main causes for complaint are thus:

1. The slow pace. While at times I felt like a badass (casually walking after a rampaging werewolf, cape flicking as I stepped unhurriedly down the stairs), for the most part I hated the restriction in speed. Much of the game forced a walking pace, and even the "sprint" was a light jog. There were times when I'd very slowly approach a door and still have to wait until an NPC walked over and was ready to open it. It was maddening.
2. The collectibles were mostly trash. While I'm a fan of world building, the newspaper headlines just summarised game events, and the irrelevant audio files had to be accessed through the pause menu. This combined with the slow pace meant that exploration was punished rather than rewarded. In a way it was kind of refreshing change of my usual playstyle, and it was kind of nice not to explore every nook and cranny and just take the most obvious path. Yet I can't help but feel it was a missed opportunity to reward the player for their curiosity.
3. While I initially loved the characters, halfway through the game one of them straight up became an angsty homocidal asshat. Another threw reason to the wind and became a vengeful force of nature. Someone else helped in murder of a loved one when they could have very easily done the opposite... I just felt like pretty much everyone started acting out of character.
4. The forced stealth section was brutally hard. Being seen at a distance was instadeath, and you only had five bolts to take out like 20 guards. The rest was a painfully slow creep through the bushes and then playing a quicktime event to take them out (which was seemed needless - why not just show the melee button when they came in range?). This would have been less infuriating if the game hadn't glitched several times, frantically pressing the melee button to no effect until the guard inevitably noticed me.
5. The majority of the combat was basic - stay in cover, blind fire or peak out for a headshot, repeat. The coolest weapons had barely any ammunition, and the lycan fights were so straightforward they were boring: shoot a bit, press x to dodge, repeat until you press triangle to kill. Worst of all, occasionally an armour-plated enemy would come out and have 10 times more health than usual while being able to kill Galahad in two or three shots, making them close to impossible to defeat as they'd just walk around whatever you were taking cover behind, soaking up the bullets without being stunned. This all seemed horribly unbalanced, and honestly kind of boring.
6. Finally and most frustratingly, the excellent story was riddled with plot holes. I'll post the bigger, most frustrating moments in the comments to avoid spoilers, but it seemed like every chapter I was yelling at the game about how stupid everyone was being.

For me, The Order: 1886 is right down the middle in terms of whether I think it's an enjoyable or frustrating game. I'd give this a 5.5/10, and will be cautious about any sequel in the works.

This game, oh, this game... It's a launch title for the PS4, which like Ryse: Son of Rome for Xbox 1, means it could be called a glorified tech demo. I knew going in it wasn't a particularly long game, but it was on sale for a fiver & I liked the steampunk look.

To start with the controls, it plays like a clunkier Uncharted. There's actually a lot more platforming than I expected for this 3rd person shooter, but your player character, Galahad, is no Nathan Drake. It could be that the cumbersome climbing sections are hiding loading gates as there's no loading screens in this game. Galahad likes to walk slowly to places as well, again, maybe hiding loading screens. There's also a control to pick up and examine objects in the world. Examining objects doesn't usually advance the plot or really amount to much, it's just there to show off those fancy next-gen graphics. The shooting actually feels pretty good. Aiming feels good and the guns feel good to shoot. The cover system works fine. There's no real good way to corner around the edge of cover. Again, by PS4 times, Uncharted had set a standard for cover systems. It feels odd a launch title would then have such clunky cover movement.

Most of the game is made up of combat. These encounters aren't as bad as Ryse where you walk down a hallway, enter obvious arena, fight waves of dudes, leave down another hallway. There are a few instances of that in The Order, but they cover it up much better with the little bit of exploration in the levels. When in combat, it goes how you expect. There are a few quirks to combat that did aggravate me thought. As you advance in the game, you come across shotgunners. These guys aren't too big a deal until they start wearing armor. It only takes one shotgun blast to knock you out and the armor means they've become a bullet sponge, add in that they rush up on you at a sprint and you get a recipe for an annoying enemy. I get shotguns in real life are devastating up close, but getting shot by any gun at any range usually knocks you down in one shot, and that's not the case here. Anyways, you're supposed to be a superhuman who can take a gut shot or two.

Really, all the armored heavy weapon guys are a pain to fight. Besides being bullet sponges, they usually have either grenade launchers or "flamethrowers". The shooting galleries in this game are built to be static affairs. You have your cover spots to hunker down at on your side, a big open area for the bullets, and then the cover for the enemy on the other side. Mobility is not one of the linchpins of combat here. This is an issue when you have someone constantly tossing grenades you have to roll away from. When you are out of cover you get shredded by the machine gunners instantly and you barely have enough time to get off one shot before you have to dodge another grenade.

On a few select occasions, you aren't fighting armed goons, but werewolves. This only happens about three times, which is probably for the best. Fighting werewolves boils down to shooting while they charge at you, then finishing them off with a button prompt. Again, Galahad isn't built for mobility, so these fights are more annoying than engaging.

Towards the end of the game, there was a forced stealth section. I'm pretty sure that level is one of the 9 circles of Hell. This game is not built for stealth at all and there's no good indicator as to when guards will see you. There were times I tried to corner kill a dude just to have him see me at the last moment and insta-fail. The level has you searching for a key to get into a house, which means killing every guard to find it on the last one. You get a crossbow that helps, but still this level was a very bad idea. I guess it added in gameplay hours because I kept failing.

With this being a Steampunk historical fantasy game, there are some neat weapons you get to shoot occasionally. Unfortunately, this game never lets you keep the same weapons for long, I think you lose your guns at the end of every chapter. There's a lightning gun, a handheld mortar, and my favorite, the thermite launcher. It's a neat two-stage weapon, first you shoot out a cloud of thermite dust, then set it all ablaze with a flare. I just find it an infinitely satisfying weapon to use.

This game was advertised as sort of playing as Victorian werewolf hunters. And this is where I have issues with the story and the world. I wanted to say this was a unique idea of a world worth salvaging for a sequel, but when I really think about it, they just leave too much unexplained. You are a Knight of the Round Table, sort of like the FBI of Victorian England. They don't seem to be specifically werewolf hunters, they don't seem to have training or gear just for hunting werewolves, more that they're general peacekeepers. In this world, King Arthur found the Holy Grail, and now these knights have near immortality and super strength. Your Galahad isn't the original Galahad, he just inherited the title. A little narration at the beginning to explain the backstory of the Knights would've been appreciated. You don't know much about Galahad's history either, he's a few centuries old, but how many who knows. Apparently Whitechappel is home to a rebel faction. Again, this isn't real world London, but they never explain anything about all the quirks of this world.

How you piece the plot together is by guessing the cliche. There's an ancient organization who's leader you but heads with, well they're crooked and you'll end up siding with the plucky rebels. One of your knights is a traitor, probably the one that looks like freaking Draco Malfoy. There's werewolves and then vampires later, as they're trying to create half-breeds, basically a plot to one of the Underworld movies. They also try to stuff in a Jack the Ripper connection & a mysterious old monk. I think this game suffers from prologueitis, like they just made this to set up all these threads that get answered in a sequel. This is a short game, about 5-6 hours long. The gameplay isn't too awful that I wouldn't mind a few extra hours just to wrap up some freaking story beats. The game ends with Galahad going full Batman as London descends into anarchy & the fate of the Knights and their conspiracy unresolved.

A few notable figures from history show up in little roles here and there. A young Tesla serves as your head of Q branch and Sir Conan Arthur Doyle is the Chief of Police. One of the bigger roles is Lafayette as one of your Knights in Training. Now, I realize this is a historical fantasy game, but the history buff in my won't let this go unremarked. This game is set in 1886, Lafayette died in 1834. Now, you could say it's because he's been drinking the grail water, but one of the plot points in the game is him being bestowed with his vial of grail water for the first time. Again, fantasy world, maybe he lived longer or this is Lafayette Jr, like it's just a title not his name. Lafayette is one of the best characters in the game. He's serves as the audience in helping introduce us to this world, to some extent, and he's got a fun personality.

All in all, I wish I could say this is a world worth saving, but really it's just a generic Steampunk London world with little to no real lore built up and a predictable story. Any game could really do what's done here and maybe do it a little better. Still, if you like the Steampunk aesthetic and enjoy a good cover shooter I would recommend this game, but only for $5 or less.

I don't really know how to feel about this game. Overall I was left empty, but there were definitely good parts about it.

I haven't really played story-driven single player games at all lately, so the "movie" aspect was fun. It had an interesting story, the graphics were nice (although I hated the grain and motion blur), the characters were likeable, and I didn't mind the ending. Obviously it ended with a lot of things left to be resolved.

I wasn't fond of the gameplay, QTEs, or weapons. The gameplay was just a bunch of small areas where you would hide behind something then go for headshots when out of cover. You never had to leave cover either; you could just stay in the same spot. The weapons were cool, but you never got to use them. You'd kill maybe 5 people with one weapon then never see it again. Or, see it again but choose a different gun because you needed something better for your environment.

Everything was very linear. There was always only one way to go. I'd also go around and search for collectibles/audio pill container things but there was almost none. When there was, it didn't add a lot of backstory. I found that disappointing because I was hoping for more world-building through things you picked up/tapes.

I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone, but I got my $10 out of it. If someone wanted to borrow it I'd recommend it then, because it was enjoyable, but meh. Wasn't a fan overall.