We’ve discussed in the past how Ready at Dawn is nailing The Order: 1886’s cinematic purpose. The lines are blurred between gameplay and cutscene, which flow into each other seamlessly and sometimes invisibly. My picture of its moment-to-moment gameplay as a third-person adventure was less clear before sitting down for a lengthy hands-on session with Chapter V, “Agamemnon Rising,” at PlayStation Experience. Within this chapter, three distinct sections demonstrated what may come to be The Order’s gameplay pillars. I’ll discuss each in turn here.
The first involves what we already know: the blurring of gameplay and cutscene. The chapter begins with the infiltration of an airborne zeppelin by The Order—our playable protagonist Galahad, alongside Percival, Igraine, and Lafayette. Mid-cutscene, control was subtly handed to me as the troupe began to repel down the zeppelin’s side to platforms below. As I went, the angle stayed cinematic, inverted with a constant reminder of our incredible height over sprawling London. Landing on metal framework below, Lafayette and Igraine meandered ahead, weaving through openings and across thin railings. For a few moments, I was unsure whether Galahad would move on his own or needed my direction. This was the only spot of momentary confusion; my control of the action was generally well-communicated through tooltips subtle enough to not break the moment.
Other touches of cinematic control are peppered throughout. Galahad and Lafayette’s takeover of the zeppelin’s cockpit quickly transitioned from over-the-shoulder control freedom to a quicktime battle reminiscent of Telltale’s episodic games. At the game’s prompting, I tossed a smoke grenade into the small compartment. Without cutting or fading, the camera panned from behind my right shoulder to the left as Galahad tentatively entered. Elegant transitions like this hinted that, though what’s happening is ostensibly a cutscene, I shouldn’t let my guard down.
From the cockpit, Galahad needed to move toward the zeppelin’s ballroom. The story began to develop: rebel forces had seized control of the ship in an effort to assassinate a dignitary onboard. The focus here was almost exclusively on a second gameplay pillar: stealth. Galahad automatically entered a crouched state as I moved between walls and bits of cover, out of sight of nearby guards. Stealth kills are important, but harder to pull off than merely pressing a button. The button press is timed with some exactness; hitting Triangle too early had the guard turning around, shaking me off, and instantly killing me.
The stealth sections were suitably tense, partly because Galahad’s movement options were limited. I couldn’t get out of my crouched stance in case a hasty retreat was necessary. If a guard caught sight from afar, triggering his tentative curiosity, I could only meander behind the nearest obstruction to try and put some distance between us. Meanwhile, the game’s highly zoomed-in camera really reduces your field of view, with Galahad filling more of the screen than most third-person adventure heroes. This camera worked wonders immersing me in the game at large, especially during shootouts, but it felt like an unintended obstacle to stealth.
In the ballroom, after identifying rebels disguised as guards watching over a party, my first big shootout ensued. The ballroom’s verticality and destructibility made for a non-linear conflict that could have played out in a number of ways. Without being able to swing the camera much while in cover, I could use the spaces in the upper railing’s ornate decoration to keep a blurry eye on enemy movements below. The aforementioned zoomed-in camera is a better fit for combat because it puts visibility high on the list of tactical advantages. Combat as a whole is weighty—even a bit sluggish—and supported by animations that pare back your superhuman mobility in the name of realism and intensity. Guns kick back with thunderous force, while the slight looseness of aiming effectively simulates Galahad’s unsteadiness without erratically moving the reticle. The guards put up a serious challenge, too, rarely popping out of cover for more than a couple seconds and nearly always hitting me if I was exposed.
Besides its outstanding graphics, borrowing cinematic tropes like film grain and depth of field, The Order’s shooting is the best thing going for it. It’s a strong gameplay core on which to try interesting things like “controllable” cutscenes. They blended well with my demo’s moment-to-moment action for an experience that, despite its varied feelings of play, never felt disjointed. The Order: 1886 manages to combine disparate gameplay aesthetics for a cohesive adventure that’s ever-engaging. The biggest question remaining is whether Ready at Dawn’s vision for this alternate history will hold up throughout the adventure. We know little of the rebel’s cause, why the Order must fight them, or what role the horrific Lycans have to play in all this. This gloomy, anachronistic world is a fine stage on which to set the ensuing tale. We’ll tell you whether that tale is any good in our full review of The Order: 1886 early next year.
