The Therapist Gamer

The Order: 1886 is a third-person shooter that takes place in 19th century England - around the time and place of Jack the Ripper.  It features unique weapons invented by Nikola Tesla.  You play in an alternate universe where King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table still exist, and you are a knight.

 

The game itself probably has the "best" graphics of any game ever made (this will be less true as time goes on, obviously, but it still true a year after release).  I was constantly in awe throughout the entire game at the environments in general and the level of detail in everything.  The game has a "photo mode" so you can pause the game at anytime and move the camera around to get a closer look at things.  Many people don't care about graphics in games, but I think they are the "video" part in video games and can play an important role.  Graphics don't necessarily mean anything, but when they are exceptional I think they can add a lot to the experience, and this is probably The Order's biggest strength.

 

As I mentioned, you play as a Knight of the Round Table in 19th Century England.  There is a supernatural element to the game as you investigate why "half-breeds" are popping up around town.  The half-breeds are essentially werewolves, but they can transform at will and not just when there is a full moon.  Without giving much away I thought the story was pretty good, if slightly predictable.  The game itself is on the shorter side, but this results in a tight story without much fluff.  

 

I would agree with most reviewers who said the actual shooting and cover mechanics work extremely well.  There are some Quick Time Event sequences that aren't too obtrusive, but I think the game would have been better without them (I hate them and think they take away from virtually every game that they're in).  The main complaint of critics was the length of the story, but this wasn't a big issue for me.  I do think the story was a bit short and I was left wanting more, but it wasn't a big deal to me.  However, there is almost no reason to replay the game, and some tweaks might have given the game more replayability.  I replayed it to get the rest of the collectibles and to prove myself by beating the game on the hardest difficulty setting.

 

I think the weakest part of the game is the werewolf fights.  They really just weren't done well.  When werewolves are around, you are in a contained space with lots of objects to obscure your vision.  The werewolves will take turns running up to you and taking a swipe, and then they run off.  You avoid the swipe with a QTE button press and try to shoot them before and after the QTE.  And that's it.  I'm not sure how I would have structured a battle with a werewolf, but these fights in The Order are pretty lame, especially with how cool the werewolves are.  It was just weird that there were these supernatural, violent, terrifying creatures and they just ran around - they didn't seem nearly vicious enough.  There was a boss fight with a werewolf, though, and that was pretty cool.

 

Overall I thought The Order: 1886 was pretty great.  It has some flaws, but the good parts far outweigh them.