The Order 1886 (PlayStation 4) gaming review

Right from the start of The Order 1886 one thing is immediately apparent - this is a beautiful and visually stunning game.

In production for three-and-a-half years, this Victorian-era PS4 exclusive from Ready At Dawn has a story centred around an order of Knights who battle against supernatural and deviant forces that plague London.

But while it is amazing to look at, and has some inspiring gameplay elements, it does fall short of sky-high expectations. That isn't at all to say that the game is not solid, but while graphics play a huge part in current gen games, if the gameplay to match it isn't there it leaves a distinct empty feeling and in this case, The Order leaves you hungry for more.

You've seen that mouth-watering dish on the menu, ordered it and when it arrives it looks just as you hoped. The disappointment hits you just after you've had that last mouthful. "Have I already eaten it all?" you think, it just wasn't as good as you had hoped, something could obviously have been added to make it even better. This underpins how I feel about The Order, it's stunning to look at, and can be fun to play at times, but there are quite a few aspects that just aren't as well polished or are just missing completely.

To start with, the AI isn't as good as I had hoped - the NPC enemies aren't really that intelligent and you do expect something a bit more dynamic and responsive. It leaves the periods of what should be intense action a bit dull. Your foes are more likely to stay put whist waiting for you to flank or pick them off one by one than attempt any sort of offensive action beyond a straight charge down the front, and your first experiences with the more notable opponents are also a disappointment. There are a few encounters that show a brutal side to the game and these are welcome additions.

Leaving the enemy AI aside, the game world is a wonderful place to walk around in, the objects you can pick up and interact with are incredibly detailed, and show just how much effort, time and thought has been put into some of the more secondary elements. It actually makes you want to look for them for no reason other than to see what they are, which is a far cry from most games where you're only doing it because you're effectively forced to for some achievement or trophy. However, whilst they are good they don't add enough to the rest of the game.

The cover mechanics are familiar if a bit awkward at times, and the overall controls and interactive elements don't throw any surprises. The missions themselves aren't complex, but it isn't always obvious where you need to go, this makes a change from other titles that stick arrows everywhere as if you were a three-year-old running around. Unfortunately that doesn't mean you can get lost easily, in fact there isn't really any chance of that unless you get disorientated and end up where you started - yet it still leaves you scratching your head in some instances as objectives and their locations aren't always abundantly clear.

You can find yourself restarting from a checkpoint, if only because you weren't quite paying attention after you started opening that door and failed to save that guy who got shot in the face, or a forced stealth mission where getting detected by the enemy automatically sets you back to the start if you get spotted - it's frustrating and to be blunt, sucks. This slightly typifies each mission, you can only do them one way and take a single path (even if the fantastic scenery and overall quality of the environment gives you something to admire along the way). The grittiness and unforgiving scene that the game presents adds a tinge of brutality to everything. It keeps you intrigued and wanting more even if it doesn't totally engage you and make you feel too involved in the overall story.

So do I think it's worth picking up? In short, yes. It doesn't meet expectations, but if you rate it on the whole package then it's pretty good and is something to experience, but sadly you'll be playing it knowing it could have been more.