What was wrong with The Order 1886?

[Fawz]

Limited screen with the forced black bars, low frame rate, slugish controls, short game length and overall no real depth to any of the mechanics means it was a pretty forgettable game that was bad value at the time and a dissapointment to many.

Looking back on it, especially with a higher end console and TV, the game has a number of good points (Namely the setting, characters and some visuals). I'm not sure interest is high to reivist the IP, but the game does deserve another chance for those with a higher end set-up. If they re-released it at 4K, 60FPS and no Black Bars I'm sure reception would be a lot better

 

[OneThirtyEight]

The lychan fights and the fact that there are no reflections in mirrors are my only complaints.

 

[Dekuman]

I think when you lead with 'graphics areincredible' followed by 'gameplay is fine' you have your answer.
Not to downplay graphics obviously, but there are short graphically impressive walking sims with 'fine' gameplay and they don't retail for $60 to start and those games probably also have better atmosphere.story to go with the graphics.

 

[zma1013]

The lychan fights and the fact that there are no reflections in mirrors are my only complaints.

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Maybe everybody is vampires!

 

[DieH@rd]

I a lot of it was great, some of it was mediocre, but the length the biggest bad point. It only had short SP campaign with no replay value.

I still recommend it to new PS4 owners as their first game, to see the potential of the console and then move to other more content-rich titles.

 

[zma1013]

Ahhhh dbl post

 

[srtrestre]

Idc that it was short. The gameplay was utterly mediocre.

 

[Ocirus]

There were lots of things I really enjoyed about the game, but I simply wanted more after it's short length, and instead of the feeling of "I want more, I can't wait for more" it was "I want more but I know there's no chance in hell more is happening."

 

[Boy]

The game ended when the story and action was about to pick up.

 

[Secretofmateria]

It feels like a giant tech demo or vertical slice.

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yeah, same issue as ryse on the one x tbh, even knack felt like a more fulfilling experience

 

[Strike]

Short. Not enough gameplay variety and what is there is too restrictive.

 

[Deleted member 35631]

For all "it was short" replies. I do agree. It was short, but like I said, that's something that could very well fixed in a sequel.

As bland as the game could be, I believe it had the right ingredients to make something much better. It's not like the setting, characters and story was bad to not even want to play the game.

IMO, it doesn't matter how many faults the game had. You may consider the game trash, but it left many things to improve.

 

[Duxxy3]

Not enough of an actual game. Gorgeous game though and I really hope we see a sequel one day.

 

[xir]

The gameplay it's fine

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It's this. It's fine. Just fine.

 

[dedge]

I played it last year for cheap and yes it has problems but I really enjoyed it. I agree a sequel to make it more robust and smooth out some of the issues could see it do really well.

 

[Deleted member 51539]

I don't know why y'all are complaining about the length. The fact it ends quickly and you don't have to play it anymore is by far its best quality.

 

[ohitsluca]

Besides the visuals, it was just very forgettable to me. Nothing about it was *bad*, but I didn't care much for the story, the characters, or the gameplay. If it wasn't so short I might have put it down and moved on to something more interesting

 

[Soap]

The length wasn't the problem. It was boring and peak "game trying to be a film".

 

[antitrop]

I quit playing after the Nth firefight that went on entirely too long.

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This is the biggest problem for me, the encounter design never goes past the most basic third-person cover shooting humanly imaginable. I don't understand people who say the game was too short, like 4 or 5 more hours of this woefully unexciting gameplay would have made it a classic.

 

[MrFox]

It was hit and miss with critics. Some really loved it, some really hated it, and then some people were literally angry at the story. Reading the strange emotional reactions against the game after launch made me think some elements of the story rubbed them the wrong way. I gave up trying to decode the arguments among the hyperboles.

I enjoyed the story and the world-building, it had great characters, voice acting, music, and an incredible art direction in general. The gameplay however was very simplistic and uneven at times, and stealth sections were boring. Also it was relatively short and too linear in the sense of extremely narrow paths throughout the game.

It deserves a sequel, but the amount of delays that lead to such a short game means the studio didn't have the team size required to make such an ambitious game, despite having the core team talent to do so. A sequel would be amazing if they had a much bigger team, and they really need a TPS gameplay expert to improve the general gameplay set pieces, and much more time in preproduction.

I have a 2.35:1 screen so I'm one of the few who was very happy about the widescreen composition. They should have made this an option, or make cinematics widescreen but gameplay optional 16:9.

 

[Eggiem]

It's this. It's fine. Just fine.

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The game is fun. If it's not fun, why bother?

 

[fontguy]

Wasn't it like comically linear?

 

[Lagamorph]

The letterboxing was unforgiveable.

 

[Brazil]

The game has like 2 different types of enemies.

 

[IMCaprica]

I can't stand how slow the game is. If the characters moved faster that probably would've been enough for me to play through the whole game.

 

[Ferdie]

Everything expect graphics.

 

[xir]

The game is fun. If it's not fun, why bother?

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It's fine fun, until it wasn't. I never finished it and it's a short game.

Feel like Hellblade is maybe a good touchstone, both feel about the same level of simple with heaps of graphix, but i felt more compelled to finish hellblade.

 

[Eggiem]

Wasn't it like comically linear?

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You could say it's a playable movie yes, and it was definitely worth the 10 bucks I spent on it.

 

[thebishop]

I don't think the gameplay is "fine". It feels terrible to shoot in the game, and the enemies are not fun to fight.

The story and world are pretty good, but not enough to overcome just feeling bad to play.

 

[antitrop]

You could say it's a playable movie yes, and it was definitely worth the 10 bucks I spent on it.

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In the playable movie category, Until Dawn coming out just a few months after The Order really showed off the game's failures even more.

 

[Calvinien]

To take your points into account:

That every positive you mention relates to presentation and the gameplay is merely fine is a big issue.

The game is like 4 hours long and is heavily padded. Once you beat the game there is no replay value. Resistance fall of man offered a bunch of collectibles, bonus weapons and detailed files on the weapons and enemies that built out the lore of the world it created. And that was a launch title. The order was a 4 hour game that clearly only had about 2 hours of content in it and wasn't even a launch title. Ryze had a longer campaign, skill trees and a multiplayer mode. And that was a launch title.

The story is indeed very interesting. Steampunk knights of the round tabel fighting vampire ans werewolves? Yes please. Pity there are no vampires in the game and less than a dozen werewolves and the rest is just random mooks. And the game quits right as it becomes interesting. And even then, it is clear that stuff was cut for time. The fact that the game introduces a warehouse full of vampires but then has you fight NONE of them is clearly an example of a big set piece that was cut for time.

The order is a really cool universe and arguably the most interesting concept sony has ever come up with. But the main game did nothing with it. it's a werewolf game without werewolves. And a steampunk game with little steampunk. The world of the order is excellent, but it feels like we got the worst look at it. how do you make an alt history shooter without more funky alt histpry guns?

 

[Sawyer]

Short.
Story fell flat.
Gameplay was too restrictive. Should've copied Gears more imo.
The lycan fights, which were the whole selling point of the game, were a joke.

Spoiler

And they sidelined the lycans for vampires towards the end

 

[Dog]

It was too short, that's the only problem I had with it.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

It's short and the gameplay was "just fine." Honestly, it was proof enough for a bigger, higher budgeted sequel to me, but maybe it didn't sell well at all.

 

[OneThirtyEight]

Maybe everybody is vampires!

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Well, we will never know will we?
:(

 

[CHC]

It wasn't so much what was wrong with it, more just about what the game was not. It was just really short and basic, and almost felt like a tech demo.

I played it immediately after getting a PS4 and overall I didn't really have a negative impression of it though. I think I paid 10 dollars or so, and it was easily worth that price to look at the pretty new graphics and blast through some competently made, straightforward third person shooting galleries.

No hard feelings from me, but I also think it's pretty clear why it fell short of being "great."

 

[Deleted member 3017]

It's not just short:

- Around a third of the game is cutscenes
- Around a third of the game is slow walking sections
- Around a third of the game is third person combat

When your game is 6 hours long, this is a problem. That being said, I got my $5 worth.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

It is short and the gameplay is bland.

I would like a more wide linear sequel though. There is potential still.

 

[Azurik]

It was a great game with amazing graphics, lore, setting and gameplay, but there just wasn't enough to do and it felt somehow empty and most of all short

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

The fights with the werewolves were awful.

 

[Van Bur3n]

An uninspired third person shooter that is half cutscenes and exposition and only amounted to five hours of play at a rip-off $60 price. Not that hard to understand.

The fact that the devs knowingly made the game to have a barebones foundation so that the then planned sequel could inevitably be better adds insult to injury. Developing a game with a sequel in mind instead of actually making a good game first and foremost will never not be stupid.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

It was like four hours long and almost entirely made of scripted setpieces.

 

[horkrux]

The game isn't even short wtf
Must have taken me like 8h

But the gameplay... it's not fine. And they stretch out the story to tell as little as humanly possible in this first installment of a series that would never get a sequel el mao

 

[lazerface]

I really enjoyed it but beat and platinumed the game in like 5 hours

 

[Tatsu91]

I got the game when it came out and I remember enjoying it a lot. I didn't play it again until now, and it still a great game.

The graphics look incredible
The gameplay it's fine
The story has a good twist building towards a sequel
The voice acting is great
The characters are interesting

I know the game got a lot of backlash from having the game being in cinema widescreen, which I think it's stupid and they shouldn't have done it. However, the game is great for what it is. There are several games that start being average, and become great. Uncharted started being a good game, but it was the second that made the franchise special.

Why didn't people and/or critics give it a chance?

Sony should give it a chance. If the problem was due to the developer, they can put another one in charge and turn this game franchise into something really special. I could even vote for Bluepoint Games.

It's really sad that games with potential, or even good games with potential don't get a chance because of a gimmick or something that could easily be fixed in a sequel. Fixable things should not be condemn so hard. Like, if people thought the game was "slow" that could easily change in a sequel, but as long as it has good characters, good story, etc. it can be done. I feel like people hated this game into oblivion because of the widescreen thing mostly (at least, that's the only thing I remember about the game getting hate on).

It's neither here nor there, but other good games with potential that people hated because of something stupid was LAIR and Heavenly Sword. For example: With LAIR, people hated the motion controls, and just because of that, people said the game sucked. They even removed the motion controls, but by then people didn't want to play it anymore. The game could be good or bad, but it was never judged by the game itself, it was only judged by the motion controls.

Sony should really take a look at their catalogue and make dust off those games that can truly grow. (although I hate that they gave Gravity Rush a chance and failed miserably thanks to stupid gameplay mechanics no one needed or wanted like stealth).

The point is: The Order was a very good game. It's no perfect by any means, but it was a game that could become something even better.

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how short it was tbh if they kept it maybe double the length with some sort of replay value it would be worth it the game was pretty and i liked the world and story so shame its likely done for.

 

[kitler53]

the game was solid imo. not anything to brag about but it doesn't deserve the disrespect it gets either.

a bit too short. the boss fights could have been better. all in all I'm disappointed they didn't make a sequel,.. it was a great world and all of the critisms was easily addressable.

 

[jaymzi]

Felt more like a prologue to the actual game.

 

[ToddBonzalez]

The gameplay is on rails to an almost comical degree. It's pretty but it basically fails at being a game because interactivity and player choice are so limited.

 

[tiza blanca]

I really enjoyed the game but I would have been furious if I had bought this for $60.
Great atmosphere, overall world design and I even think the shooting part of the game was actually quite fun.
There was just too much cutscene, too much 'detective' part were you mindlessly walk around at snail's pace just to pick up some stuff. Also, terrible boss fights.

I wish there were a sequel in development but now that Ready at Dawn is owned by Facebook it's very unlikely which is unfortunate.

 

[Trigonometrize]

The story has a good twist building towards a sequel

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The Order was terrible for many reasons but can we just focus on this one point. How is this a point for the game? I don't play games so I can get a nice setup for the sequel that never happens. I don't play games so I can be surprised by a twist. What did the Order actually accomplish with the story on its own?