Not much has been said about The Order: 1886 in recent years, but it would be great to see the IP become relevant once again. While gamers will look back on last-gen titles fondly if they were successful, like God of War or Red Dead Redemption 2, games that receive a lukewarm response are often forgotten about fairly quickly. Sadly, The Order: 1886 was one of those games, though the franchise has potential and deserves a second chance.
Plenty has been said about the game’s flaws, whether it be generic cover shooter gameplay or forced letterboxing. However, The Order: 1886 had a strong but brief story that felt deliberately unfinished, as it seems like developer Ready at Dawn had a lot more planned for its protagonist Sir Galahad. Though The Order: 1886 was not up to the usual standard for PlayStation exclusives, a sequel could fix the mistakes of the first game while expanding on its promising ending.
What The Order’s Sequel Could Be About
Alongside complaints about gameplay and the approach taken with The Order: 1886’s presentation, most critics highlighted the brief length of the title as a significant flaw. This was a fair complaint, as not only is the game around seven hours in length, but the final hours of its runtime set up many interesting moments that do not go anywhere. Unfortunately, instead of seeing the payoff in a third act, the game ends far earlier than one would expect, setting up a promising sequel for The Order that has been rumored but has never come to pass.
For starters, players have an encounter with Jack The Ripper that not only sees Jack getting the upper hand, but comes with the reveal that he is a vampire. Being able to take on a superpowered version of one of the most notorious real-world serial killers would have made for a great story, but unfortunately, players do not see Jack again before the credits roll. While this is meant to be a last straw for Galahad, as he realizes The Order is corrupt, players knowing that a killer is out there but never getting to deal with the threat is frustrating.
The post credits scene is even more of a tease, as Galahad is seen taking on a vigilante role and overlooking London. With the city under martial law, Tesla - an ally of Galahad - warns him to leave. However, Galahad is clearly uninterested, as it is implied that he will fight the various threats that still exist within his homeland. The concept seems very reminiscent of the iconic Batman storyline Gotham by Gaslight, and taking on a rebellious Galahad as he fights corruption and hunts down Jack The Ripper would make for an incredible game.
How The Order’s Sequel Could Be an Improvement
However, a sequel to The Order would need to do more than expand upon a cliffhanger ending, as the narrative is not what brought down the original game. In fact, it was one of the major strengths, as fans simply wanted far more story content than what was given to them. As such, a sequel should aim to address key complaints, such as the forced widescreen mode. Gamers have found ways to disable The Order: 1886’s widescreen approach, so there is clearly a lot of interest in a traditional full screen style. With a sequel, widescreen mode could be an optional setting in the game’s menus.
Even more importantly is the gameplay, as the series needs to move away from generic cover shooting. Though the unique weapons should obviously return, having more freedom when it comes to combat scenarios would be ideal. While an open world may be too much of a departure for the series, the teaser of The Order’s London being patrolled by Galahad seems too exciting to pass up on. Perhaps larger areas like The Last of Us 2’s first Seattle section would be the ideal approach, giving players several open areas to fight through instead of straightforward linear areas. This would inevitably lead to a longer game, solving another key issue with the original. Ultimately, another entry in The Order series deserves to happen, but it needs to be bigger and better than the first game.
The Order: 1886 is available now on PS4.