The Order 1886 is quite simply the first major game from Ready at Dawn, a studio that has made a small reputation in the industry by adapting famous licenses on a portable console. Daxter, the two God of War on PSP and Okami on Wii, it's them. But after 10 years of working behind the scenes, it's time for these Naughty Dog and Blizzard Entertainment alumni to show us what they're truly capable of. Ready at Dawn was also one of the first studios to enjoy the support of Sony Computer Entertainment, which therefore gave it the keys to develop one of the first PS4 exclusives. This mutual trust between the Japanese manufacturer and the young Californian studio has given birth to a new license, The Order 1886, an ambitious game whose primary interest is to tell us a great story. So here we are in the heart of the XNUMXth century in an alternative and uchronic Victorian London which is living its darkest hours. As the Industrial Revolution looms over Britain, a new kind of enemy emerges and threatens the established order. To counter the show of the rebels but also of the Half-Breeds (who are none other than these famous Lycans, and even perhaps more...), the government has called on elite soldiers, baptized the Knights of the 'Order. Guardians of the city, ready to defend the noble cause, these overtrained men and women will quickly understand that evil does not hide only in the slums of the city.
GOLDEN MOUSTACHE
Unlike classic action games, and Gears of War to make the comparison with its direct competitor, The Order 1886 is a title where the scenario and the narration have been the subject of particular care. If the Ready at Dawn game has already made a good reputation thanks to its fantastic plastic, it will now become a reference in terms of story-telling in the genre, even if it means ignoring on other aspects of the game that we will obviously discuss later. In the meantime, The Order 1886 has at least the chic – and the nobility – to offer us a story that is both captivating and holds up. The Order 1886 merges real historical figures and events with elements from familiar legends and myths to create an alternative story that is believable and gripping. Because in this gloubi-boulga where steampunk atmosphere, Arthurian legends, romantic adventures and folk references mix, we could have perfectly fallen into cliché or pure fantasy. This is fortunately not the case here and the screenwriters (including Ru Weerasuriya, who is none other than the CEO of Ready at Dawn, but also the Creative Director of the game) knew how to play perfectly with the codes of the thriller where climax, twists and an end that I would describe as positively frustrating contribute to this feeling of having been immersed in a long interactive film.
Unlike classic action games, and Gears of War to make the comparison with its direct competitor, The Order 1886 is a title where the scenario and the narration have been the subject of particular care.
Obviously, to be able to tell its story, The Order 1886 opts for game design choices that will not be unanimous, that's for sure. Like David Cage's games (Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls), the title of Ready at Dawn has relied heavily on interactive cutscenes, dotted with these famous QTEs that are still debated within the gaming community. This bias, Ready at Dawn fully assumes it; in his very soul and conscience. Proof that the developers have gone to the end of their ideas, some boss fights are essentially played through these Quick Time Events; as a nod to other reference games, for which we had cried genius when they were released. We think of Resident Evil 4 for example and the famous fight between Leon and Krauser, which was also played only with QTEs. It was 10 years ago, it's true, and The Order 1886 pays homage to it today, on this beautiful day of February 20, 2015. An old school side that didn't really bother us, even if we fully understand the reaction of these players who will have the feeling of stepping back 10 years.
IT'S IN THE OLD POTS...
Either way, The Order 1886's gameplay mechanics are far from revolutionary. On the contrary, the game only takes up what already exists in the neighbor, without ever transcending it. We are therefore dealing with pure Gears of War in terms of shooter, with a cover system, gunfights and the way of regenerating which are very similar to it. Where The Order 1886 differs from Epic Games' game is in its infiltration phases and its few moments of escalation. Nothing crazy either, we are far from the acrobatic prowess of an Ezio or an Arno, especially since the path is always very marked. So much so sometimes that we find ourselves in grotesque situations where it is impossible to climb on a simple crate a few centimeters high, since the script asks us to climb over this 3-meter-high palisade, and not a another, simply because the game was designed that way. #Dealwithit.
Either way, The Order 1886's gameplay mechanics are far from revolutionary. On the contrary, the game only takes up what already exists in the neighbor, without ever transcending it.
This overflow of scripts is also felt in those furtive moments when Sir Galahad can take his enemies by surprise. Here again, we find ourselves in these situations where the game is at the service of the narration, with the obligation to be in the perfect timing for the stealth kill to be validated, under penalty of dying stupidly and having to start over. Very frustrating moments and far too vintage for us to be able to share this vision of the developers, especially when we know that games like The Last of Us have managed to transcend the video game by offering different ways to kill an enemy, without ever forcing the player in a narrow vision. Even if it is quite difficult to put aside these enormities at the end of gameplay and more generally of game design, The Order 1886 has other qualities, capable of tipping the scales on the other side.
THE ENGLISH CLASS
First of all, there is the visual aspect, which is obviously the other great strength of this game, in addition to the story and the narration. From this point of view, the title is unassailable and turns out to be even the most beautiful next gen game of the moment. Whether it's the fabulous artistic direction, the – exceptional – modeling of the characters, the richness of the environments and the atmosphere that emerges from the game in general, we are immersed in almost flawless. Proof that we have passed a milestone in terms of graphics, The Order 1886 is the first game that manages to distinguish between the different materials used in the game. Fabric, canvas, leather, brick, wood or even scrap metal, we almost manages to feel the texture of each of these materials. The animations also benefit from quality work, with gestures and natural movements, aided by the use of performance capture but also the acting of the actors. Special mention also to Steve West, who managed to breathe a real identity into the character of Grayson, alias Sir Galahad, and not only because he wears a mustache. On this subject, we strongly advise you to switch the console to the US language in order to take advantage of the incredible dubbing in VO and benefit from the subtleties of language of the Marquis Lafayette who mixes small French words in his fluent English. Too bad on the other hand that no French subtitles are offered in the game, especially since the VF is frankly not terrible...
Proof that we have passed a milestone in terms of graphics, The Order 1886 is the first game that manages to distinguish between the different materials used in the game. Fabric, canvas, leather, brick, wood or even scrap metal, we almost manages to feel the texture of each of these materials.
We know it now, The Order 1886 is an insolently beautiful game, endowed with a captivating scenario but handicapped by a gameplay too classic and too old school to be unanimous; but what about the lifespan of the game? Is it really 5 hours as we can read and hear on the Internet? As far as we are concerned, we took between 6 and 7 hours to get through the game, cut-scenes included, by going there quietly, without ever trying to speed run. It's short, let's not be hypocritical, especially since the game has no replay value, let alone coop or multiplayer modes to lengthen the experience. Does that make it a bad game though? Not at all. It's true, for the same price, you can perfectly afford the latest Assassin's Creed Unity, Call of Duty Advanced Warfare or GTA 5, each of which offers significantly more content. Nevertheless, we didn't have the feeling of having been robbed and the experience offered by The Order 1886 is sufficiently intense and original for us to recommend it to you. In fact, The Order 1886 is the typical game suitable for players over 30, who no longer really have the time to play video games and who will find in The Order 1886 an experience halfway between a video game and a cinema. , without forgetting that he can boast of having finished it.
