CREDIT: READY AT DAWN
It may only take up to 12 hours to play, but The Order: 1886 plants hope for a sequel.

There is only one thing that can be written about the PlayStation 4’s newest AAA exclusive that hasn’t been written on hundreds of gaming websites and forums: I actually liked it.

Announced in the early days of the PS4 – and promising a new level of graphics, presentation and cinematic action – The Order: 1886 showed off what many Sony gamers were hoping would represent the first true next-gen experience.

Originally slated to launch in November, it suffered a three-month delay in order to further polish the final product, finally releasing the game this past February.

Unfortunately for those anticipating the game, reviews were decidedly underwhelming.

Admirably, in a year of broken promises by developers, Ready at Dawn delivered precisely what it was the company had always said they would. The game was praised for its presentation, the world it created and the best graphics ever put on to a console exclusive.

Despite the indifferent consensus toward the final game, there is a minority of people, myself included, that actually found quite a bit to enjoy. This is not to say that the issues raised by the more professional commentators are irrelevant. Conversely, they are actually quite valid, but that, like any medium, the enjoyment is wholly subjective.

The most common complaints raised against the game were in regards to length, game mechanics, and the amount of time the players actually spend playing the game.

To address the first, the game’s length has been reported from anywhere between five and 12 hours, and being a purely single-player experience, that’s all there is to it.

My initial play-through clocked in less than eight hours, with maybe another two to go back and grab some things I had missed.

I found the story well-paced, but just as I was getting truly invested in the story, it was over, with an open ending that screams, “This will be a franchise.” The primary argument is the $69.99 new release price for the product and whether or not The Order represents value for the money. It’s a nice thought, but I can’t see gamers wanting a 200-hour RPG being measured on the same scale.

Mechanically, the game is sharp and responsive but absolutely nothing new if the player has experience in third person shooters such as Uncharted or Gears of War. Again, a valid – yet somewhat petty complaint – as not every title can be expected to revolutionize the gameplay tropes of the genre it occupies. The presence of quick time events in the game were also derided, yet I found them to be relatively unobtrusive, and much more Heavy Rain than God of War in execution.

The third complaint is perhaps the one that resounds the deepest with me, as it’s fairly indisputable that a good percentage of my eighthour play through was spent relatively passively, watching extended, unskippable cut scenes.

This is where the game failed the most, as while the length is not an issue, the balance between action and inaction was staggering.

Despite these flaws, I found myself absolutely glued to my seat during the whole story. The world that Ready at Dawn has created is truly fascinating. It is an alternate depiction of 19th century London, complete with Zeppelins, werewolves and guns made by Nikola Tesla. The obviously-planted seeds and hope for a sequel leaves me some hope that the developers will learn from their mistakes and turn The Order: [insert year] into one of the PS4’s flagship franchises in the years to come.