Video games aren’t what they used to be. Great strides have been made in recent years. Not only in terms of graphical fidelity, but in scope and story. Beautiful worlds are created and placed at our fingertips for exploration. But how much do we really need? In my experience, there is often too much to do. Too many side quests or random events to distract me and take me away from the actual story. From what I was supposed to be doing. I find myself buying game after game…and never really finishing anything. That’s a problem, for me at least.

The Order: 1886 could honestly be viewed as a throwback of sorts. Before rich and luscious worlds could be traversed and before overwhelmingly complicated upgrade systems were required at every turn….before I started losing interest in mainstream games. The Order is simplistic, and beautiful. It’s exactly what I needed.

You play as Galahad – a member of an old order of knights dedicated to protecting humans from “half breeds”, or Lycans for all you Underworld fans out there. The story is legitimately good. I definitely find this alternate history of London far more fascinating than what we have in reality. That’s important, because that’s mostly what you’ll be getting from The Order – Story……well and graphics…beautiful BEAUTIFUL graphics.

I have never seen a game look as absolutely jaw-droppingly good as this one. It seemed as if every time I stepped into a new surrounding, I was blown away all over again. I know we are early in the development cycle of the PS4, but I cant imagine it gets better than this. It’s unfortunate that there has been as much controversy over the linear nature of the game from others. As that is likely the reason that they were able to pull these visuals off. It’s a very controlled environment. It HAS to be for this level of detail to work.That being said, it’s not without a few technical glitches. I experienced very few of these, but in a world as beautiful as this, they were jarring to say the least. But this is a video game, not a movie. So how does it play? Very well, actually.

Controls felt tight. Navigating Galahad was comfortable and accurate. When all out war broke out – I found that I was able to hold my own quite well. The game is challenging. Some battles certainly felt longer than they should have been. I would work through several minutes of battle just to be killed in enemy wave 5 or 6 and have to start all over again. That was frustrating.There is more going on here than cover based gun play though, and that’s where things get really polarizing.

Mini games are spread throughout the campaign. From unlocking a door to converting power boxes – these moments were sprinkled in at just the right times. They generally provide a nice break from gun fights and quick time moments. Yes, quick time moments. Love them or hate them, The Order is full of them. This is where I will lose a lot of you, but I love these moments. They keep you just engaged enough to enjoy the scripted brilliance of what is happening on screen. There’s really no better way to capture those moments. Would you rather a tired combat system from the likes of the Batman titles or Uncharted series? Many would, I’m sure. For me though, the quick time moments nailed it almost every single time.

So how do I look at The Order: 1886 holistically? I’m sure you could have guessed it by now, but I think it’s wonderful. It takes history and alters it into a darker, and somewhat scarier reality. It takes the tried and true cover based shooting system and spruces things up with some truly fun and unique weapons courtesy of Nikola Tesla. Then it takes everything you know about console graphics and throws it out the fucking window. People will complain that it is too short. It took me around 9 hours to complete, and while that is significantly shorter than most games, that’s okay. Ready At Dawn has created something very special, and I hope to see future games set in this universe. They have earned your $59.99.