8 Video Games That Wasted Genius Ideas

5. The Order: 1886

the order 1886
Sony

Released in 2015, The Order: 1886 was a PS4 exclusive with an exceptional premise: The immortal Knights Of The Round Table fight off a werewolf uprising in a Steampunk Victorian London. Go ahead and come up with a more badass sentence than that, I'll wait.

Now that you've given up trying to top that setting, you'll be disappointed to hear that the premise was all that The Order: 1886 had to offer save for some very impressive graphics tech. For starters, the game was only about 5 hours long, which isn't a problem in and of itself if the game is well written or rewarding to play, and several of its chapters were simply extended cutscenes.

On the gameplay front, The Order: 1886 was a bog-standard cover shooter with no more to its mechanics than that of Gears Of War, which had come out 9 years prior.

When it did diverge from this formula players were treated to frustrating linear stealth missions where one wrong move saw the protagonist killed instantly; or frustrating hide-and-seek encounters with a running total of about 3 werewolves.

This brings us to the biggest insult: that for all its talk of werewolves and other monsters, about 99% of the enemies were just cockney insurgents with guns. It teased a unique and memorable world, but gave us a run-of-the-mill cover shooter instead.

Contributor

A self-taught video editor with nearly 25 years of experience, Joe worked in freelance videography for many years before joining WhatCulture in 2018. During that time, he has expanded his work to include both writing and presenting, and has been at the forefront of several new channel launches including WhatCulture Horror and WhatCulture Star Wars, largely defining their visual identity through the design and curation of their bespoke assets. As a dedicated WhatCulture Gaming staff member, he has spearheaded numerous new content strategies and formats, and has taken the lead on various charitable projects that have raised large sums of money for charities close to his heart. Bluesky and Instagram: @jjpinwheel