“Men were never meant to live this life.” — Baron Augustus D’Argyll
There’s no video game entity on the planet that’s a stranger to failure, and despite a stellar overall track record, PlayStation is no exception. Yeah, failure is a loaded word, especially in terms of creative endeavors, because first of all, how do you even define it? And what is failure if not an essential and evolving roadmap that’s gradually leading toward some kind of success?
That said, we do have to acknowledge specific hardware tragedies like the Vita, and especially the Vita TV, even though I loved both dearly. There was also the botched, overpriced launch of the PS3, and from a modern standpoint, the PlayStation Portal could end up sliding into Sony’s ‘it never happened’ abandonment category sooner rather than later. I hope it won’t, as I might pick one up, but you never know.
In terms of software exclusives, Knack and its sequel proved divisive on PS4 and weren’t nearly the mascot second coming that Sony and Mark Cerny were hoping for, I’m sure. Like with the doomed line of Vita devices, I weirdly really enjoyed Knack, but enjoyment—like a sticky, Cheeto-dusted controller—is in the hands of the beholder. Going back even further, Blasto on PS1 was another swing-and-a-miss for in-house PlayStation development, as even the beloved Phil Hartman couldn’t save it.
The bottom line is this: If you’re making things, you’re going to fail sometimes, whether that means personally, professionally or critically. That’s just how creativity works. Every outing won’t be a homerun (most of them won’t!) and what is deemed a ‘homerun’ is completely subjective anyway. Let’s go back to 2015 to dissect this further, shall we?
First-party cinematic historical fantasy thriller The Order: 1886 was released on the PlayStation 4 over eight years ago, and based on both poor critical reception and general gamer backlash, I decidedly ignored it. Not because I wanted to look the other way, per se (the gritty alternate past London setting and macabre art style tickled my dark fancy, for sure). Rather, it was because, well, could that many people be wrong about a video game?
IGN gave it a middling 6.5, basically saying it should have been a movie instead of a game:
“Though absolutely gorgeous and wonderfully atmospheric, The Order: 1886 is a deeply conflicted thing. Even more than its secret battle against the monsters of legend, The Order’s greatest struggle is ultimately its own internal tug-of-war between telling a beautifully presented story and granting the level of interactivity we’ve come to expect from a game. In the end, a lopsided commitment to perfecting style and plot comes at the cost of sluggish pacing, a look-but-don’t-touch world, and paint-by-numbers gunplay.”
GameSpot was even less kind, giving the game a bastardly 5, which is essentially an ‘F’ grade in the gaming industry:
“What, then, to make of The Order: 1886? It is, at best, perfectly playable, and lovely to look at and listen to. But it is also the face of mediocrity and missed opportunities. A bad game can make a case for itself. A boring one is harder to forgive.”
I remember all of this criticism vividly, which is why after buying a digital copy of The Order: 1886 years later on deep discount for like $10 (because why not), it sat neglected, totally un-played. That is, until I caught a random Tweet from Warner Bros. Games writer Mitch Dyer (nice name, Mitch).
Apparently, he’d been playing the game and was coming to the conclusion that journalists probably got it wrong, and this opinion piqued my interest to the point where I, after many moons, suddenly found myself at The Order’s title screen.
A few play sessions later and, well, I have some thoughts. To start, I completely agree with Dyer’s take here. This game is a work of art, and I say that sincerely. The visuals rival today’s best-looking titles, the cutscenes are beautifully written and acted, and the gunplay is tight and fun. I’ve heard some complaints about sluggish movement, but I adjusted to it just fine.
The excellent motion capture, by the way, reminds me of Supermassive Games’ The Quarry (another cinematic letterboxed game), plus the attention to detail in this expertly crafted mysterious world is second to none. A little grainy, but that’s by design, I think. I did do my playthrough on PS5, though I’m unsure what kind of boosts this specific game has. Upscaling, maybe? Not entirely sure. Looked amazing, however.
Is the game linear? Like many of Sony’s current big titles, definitely, but the straight-forward progression felt like a breath of fresh air in a modern industry where more is always considered better. Zero fluff, zero padding. Every second of The Order feels hand-crafted and fine-tuned to perfection.
This is an experience, and it’s also one of the best video game portrayals of werewolves I’ve yet seen. Genuinely terrifying, plus there was a certain moment when, in utter disgust, an enraged lycan called a struggling human ‘swine’ and the old-world-ness of that insult gave me old world chills.
Audio design is amazing, notably when you’re in firefights with Nikola Tesla’s brutal science weapons. These are devices that can vaporize enemies’ heads on the spot—the zapping and booming chaos that results sounds entirely epic on a good surround system. Music is incredible too, nicely complimenting the moodiness of Jack the Ripper’s hunting grounds.
Yes, The Order: 1886 is quite short, clocking in at around six hours. But unlike criticism I’ve read, I absolutely loved the ruthless ending, and I simply wanted more. I could have spent another 30 hours in Ready at Dawn’s wicked world, and I could have easily jumped into a sequel had the game’s sales and reception warranted one. I will return for trophies, mind you. I always do!
Other than the lacking length, and perhaps a now expired ‘does this warrant a $60 purchase’ argument, I have to support Dyer’s assertion. PlayStation has put out some true stinkers over the last several decades, but this isn’t one of them. This game is good. It doesn’t have the 100-plus hours of alternate routes and side-quests that current gamers have come to expect, and see the recent complaints regarding the upcoming Spider-Man 2 for confirmation. But does a game need to last for months to be moving, to be important, to leave a lasting impression?
Maybe it simply released at the wrong time, a bygone era when people were over Gears of War and its myriad cover shooter copycats. And that’s a real shame, because The Order: 1886 is a gaming masterclass in story, pacing and atmosphere. Pick up a copy if you can. You can finish it in a single sitting and you’ll be engaged the entire way through, at least if you can put aside all the ancient internet negativity.
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