Set in an alternative steampunk England that is governed by
The Order, a legion of knights based after King Arthur and the Knights of the
Round Table. Having found the Holy Grail, they have achieved a sense of
immortality by using Blackwater, a liquid that prevents aging and heals wounds
with amazing speed. As a member of The Order, you play as Sir Galahad, sent to
deal with a growing uprising of rebels against The Order and the Monarchy.
Things aren't as they seem as some of the rebels are lycans, humans that can
turn into werewolves.
The plot thickens later and becomes the usual ordeal of
rebels actually not so bad, corruption in government and vampire subterfuge.
The story is decent, but it plays it safe and doesn't make any surprise twists.
It progresses slowly though, and it feels very drawn out. Despite being cliché,
the story does hold the game together well and is engaging enough to not leave
you bored.
Visually, the game is amazing. It clearly demonstrates the
graphics power of the PS4 and is amazing to look at. It has the grungy look of
1886 London, but the steampunk design adds a flair of colour and brightness to
most levels. The motion capture and character design is probably the best
feature of the game. It is amazing and beautiful to look at, completely
faultless.
If I had to compare the combat system to another game, it
would be Gears of War. It is incredibly similar, warts and all. Right down to
the cover system, health regen and combat variety. It doesn't hurt the overall
experience, but it doesn't help it either. It tries to do other things, like
stealth sections and environment exploring, but it's spread far too thin. The
stealth is a clunky quick-time event charade and the environment is messy and
cluttered and I often couldn't find my way. The detail put into some areas that
were completely inconsequential was astounding. I walked into a room that was
so well detailed, but didn't lead anywhere. It was confusing and annoying to
repeatedly get lost because of an over-complicated environment.
Although it features vampires and werewolves, it sadly
overlooks any unique encounters with these creatures. Werewolves do a
hit-and-run tactic repeatedly, easily overcome by sitting in a corner and
waiting for them to charge you. The elder werewolf encounters are reduced to a
quicktime fight, and the only werewolf you actually kill is trapped inside a
cutscene. You will kill lots of human enemies though, oh so many. The AI is
pretty average by today's standards, and it's easy to predict their movements.
Shotgunners will charge you, snipers will sit at the back and everyone else
runs for cover or tries to flank. Combat encounters are broken up with short
environment crawls or cutscenes, often completely ruining the pacing.
The game wants to show you how pretty it is really badly.
You can look at inconsequential pieces of paper, closely examine items in your
hands or listen to audio recordings. I was so bored by the jarring and slow
pacing that I ignored the audio files, eventually stopped looking at the papers
and yelled in rage every time I was forced to spend ten seconds looking at
something in my hand that I didn't really care about.
Visuals and mediocre story is the only thing holding this
game together. Even with that said, the game gives a giant middle finger when
the story ultimately doesn't resolve in any way and finishes with a disappointing
quicktime fight. The combat is more of the same, but is horribly broken up by
bad pacing and illogical encounters. I hated playing The Order so much, but
thankfully you never have to pick it up again since it has no replay value, unless
you're a completionist, in which case I feel sorry for you.
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