Insomniac Games may have taken a half-step outside of the House of PlayStation, but Sony may have already found the studio’s replacement in Ready at Dawn. Much of the conversation surrounding Victorian adventure The Order: 1886 has centred on its storyline and steampunk art style, but after a short hands-on demo, we came away more impressed with the release’s weapons than anything else.
The early chapter that we got to play – which, perhaps to the game’s detriment, has appeared at every convention under the sun since E3 2014 – serves as an introduction to the Thermite Rifle, an olde-worlde weapon that fires flammable powder out of its main barrel. The twist here is that, contrary to expectations, you’re meant to shoot the gas above your enemies, and then light it up using a flare which is assigned to another button.
There are a couple of different ways that you can work with this: setting fire to the explosive particles sprays inferno all over your foes, bringing them down in arguably the most inhumane way imaginable; alternatively, you can use the flare first, and ignite it with the powder, resulting in a more explosive option. Both actually work well, and separate the game from standard third-person shooters – even if the developer hasn’t effectively communicated that.
The problem is that it’s a gimmick, and there’ll need to be a lot more of those to keep the game interesting over the course of the campaign. The studio’s already teased an outrageously overstocked shotgun and, of course, a Tesla manufactured lightning weapon, so we’re hopeful that the full release will deliver the goods. Perhaps the bigger question is whether the studio will stray from its partially believable universe in order to give you a weapon wheel a la Resistance: Fall of Man.
If the jury’s out in this department, however, there’s one area where everyone can agree: it looks incredible. Despite being several months old at this point, the demo that we played is still light years ahead of anything else currently available on the PS4 from a pure visuals perspective. Cut-scenes and gameplay segue seamlessly, without any judders or noticeable changes in quality. It’s a cliché that’s been used many times before, but here it really does feel like you’re playing a cinematic.
Of course, that could end up being the game’s biggest downfall as well. One section sees you dragging one of your allies out of the line of fire, with the camera quickly switching to an Uncharted-esque over the shoulder viewpoint, where you need to pick off approaching enemies on a nearby balcony. The aiming is a bit fiddly here, with the studio clearly attempting to simulate both antique weaponry and your character’s current struggle. Fail, though, and you’ll face an instant death.
And it’s this kind of thing that the developer desperately needs to avoid. The cinematic approach works in titles such as The Last of Us because it’s complemented by a lot of gameplay variety; from stealth to all-out action, you can approach the encounters in Naughty Dog’s seminal survival horror in several different ways, and you’re rarely penalised for any of them. Here, it does feel like you’re playing a shooting gallery at times.
But we’re not giving up hope just yet. The imagination that’s gone into the Thermite Rifle alone proves that the outfit is prioritising gunplay alongside story and visual fidelity, even if its pre-release marketing plan has struggled to reflect that fact. If it can dream up a few more equally entertaining firearms, and some encounters involving both humans and the ancient enemies known as the half-breeds, then this could be a jaw-dropping roller coaster ride through Victorian London.
Are you desperate to glide across The Order: 1886’s painstakingly rendered cobbles, or is the cinematic approach making you feel a little uneasy? Doff your top hat in the comments section below.
Comments 13
Hmmm probably will rent this title at the very least. I really like the time period so that alone will get me to play it.
Im still super hyped for this game for some reason.
Don't let the doubt fool you for this game, it will probably be better than most of the AAA games out on PS4 so far.
I tried the Order at EGX and more or less agree with the above. The demo was too short to judge the entire gameplay, but I enjoyed the way the thermite rifle worked. I managed to beat it on the first try so the part where you drag the guy wasn't too annoying.
The biggest flaws with most of the big games coming out on PS4 so far(Watch Dogs, Destiny, Infamous SS, BF4) is the story but not the gameplay. So if developers want to give us a great story for once with just ok gameplay then that would be awesome.
It has great production value and the story interests me. The gameplay does seem shooting gallery-ish though, something progressive needs to be done with the TPS genre that would pull it out of the old routine.
@drpepperdude100 I thought Second Son had a pretty good story, so did the DLC.
I think this is really nothing more than a tech game showing off the graphics. I don't expect the gameplay aspect to be amazing, but rather dull. I could be wrong and I hope I'm wrong, but I think this is really Sony's graphical answer to Xbox One / Ryse. In which it's already clear that The Order is graphically superior.
@Shellybird27 I think the story wasn't laid out that great and it was too short. Plus they didn't make Delsin that appealing as character, he was too much of a punk kid who argued with his brother for no reason until the end when you know what happens. The DLC story with Fetch was about the same story quality except her neon powers were so much better than Delsins.
I rate an immersive world and a quality narrative more highly than other aspects of games...the world in The Order looks lovely and well designed, so if it has a good story I'm in.
@get2sammyb Hmm. My comment for this article has vanished without a trace?! Any idea what happened? Edited (wouldn't have thought it was controversial). Issue with the server the other day?
There was even a reply from Fenriswolf which has gone too. Something's not right.
@Ginkgo Yeah, we had an issue overnight which meant we lost all articles, comments, and forum posts from 8AM on Monday. We managed to recover all of the articles and most of the comments, but some of them are lost in the cyber ether, I'm afraid.
Sorry about that. There's a little more info here:
https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=17962#p17962
@hadlee73 you have lost me. what possible similarity is there between this and gears?
@get2sammyb no harm done. just good to know what happened.
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