What The Order: 1886 did right

The success of The Order: 1886 has proven a few things to the industry.

With its 5-hour campaign, deep narrative, and spectacular visuals, it is one of the best titles I have played in a while, and I hope that other developers use it as an example of how to make games.

Despite its Metacritic score of 65, The Order: 1886 became the top-selling game in the UK for two weeks in a row – proving that reviews sometimes don’t matter, as long as the game is appealing.

Why did The Order: 1886 make such an impact? This is what I think.

No DLC

The game lacked a common feature we see in gaming today – DLC.

With no DLC it was a solid experience that you paid one price for without the fear of missing out on “value added extras”.

This was a breath of fresh air in an industry where season passes have more content than the initial game.

The Order: 1886 did the complete opposite of that: it had two custom costumes that were only available via pre-order incentives.

Visually appealing and fast

The game was spectacular to look at and had almost-zero loading times.

The game’s visuals was its biggest weapon against the critics, as everyone found it easy on the eyes. I honestly could not tell a cinematic clip and gameplay apart, and at times it was actually the same thing.

The reviews did not matter

When it comes to PlayStation Exclusives the fans really don’t care what the critics have to say.

Fans still went out and purchased the game, regardless of the reviews that dropped two days before launch.

Critic Scores

Gamespot – 50
Destructoid – 60
IGN – 65
Metacritic – 65
Game Informer – 78
Gametrailers – 82

Regardless of reviews, The Order 1886 still managed to reach number one in the UK, and kept that spot for two weeks.

We need more games like this

At the end of the day we need more games like this.

The Order: 1886 reminded me of the PlayStation 2 days, where a game was less about poor progression systems, DLC skins at launch, and day one season passes, and more about the narrative, gameplay, and spectacular design choices.

Sitting down to play The Order: 1886 was a single-player experience where you knew that it was going to be about you and the game.

This is something that the industry has been lacking since the release of the PS4 and Xbox One.

We need more compelling single-player experiences like The Order:1886.