Ahead of the official launch, walkthroughs have already become available for The Order 1886. The game clocks in at just above a handful of hours if you breeze through it, but could take longer depending on your skill and play-style. The Order 1886 walkthrough covers the PS4 exclusive from start to finish.

The game looks way better than I thought. Graphically, the transitions between the cinematics and the game are smooth enough that it’s almost easy to forget that there’s a transition at all. Now this isn’t to say that the fidelity of the gameplay are spot on to the cinematics, but they sure do come close enough where the comparisons can blur quite easily between the two.

[Update: The original walkthrough had to be replaced with a new one because the YouTuber had their account suspended] The walkthrough below from MBadre covers the game well enough, but don’t expect nuance or exploration. Most of it is straight through, so you’ll have to buy the game if you want to fiddle about. You can check out the entire walkthrough below, contained within 21 videos, including the easter egg special.

If the video above doesn’t play for you, there’s also a walkthrough available from Righteous Progress that you can check out below.

The game plays out very much like the PlayStation’s long awaited version of Gears of War… save, it’s a bit more tame. The controls are pretty clear cut with no real maneuverable mastery to consider (opposite of games like Bayonetta 2 or Warframe). Also, there’s no chainsaw melee gore or 300lb human-refrigerators barreling through war-zones like linebackers turned into soccer players, where there’s very little need for finesse and a whole lot of ultra-violence.

The Order 1886 is cleaner, more streamlined and… more refined in its gameplay depiction. I certainly wouldn’t say it’s better than Gears of War; but if you’ve been a PlayStation fanboy for life and desperately wanted something like Gears, well this game comes a lot closer than say, Quantum Theory.

I do have to say that graphically, The Order 1886 looks really, really good. The close-up animations for the faces are superb.

It’s just too bad the game is such a bore at times. If you can suffer through playing a third-person shooter where the environments are just static set pieces – this is despite them being extremely well designed and rendered with immaculate detail – and you play games more-so for the story than gameplay depth, then The Order 1886 might be up your alley. And yeah, the story is enough to help carry the game for those intrigued by the fictional yet violent world setup by Ready at Dawn.

Also, I do have to admit that the whole werewolf angle works quite well and the first encounter with them is handled with some pizazz. I just wish the game wasn’t so… mechanically stiff.

The Order 1886 would make a great movie, though. Too bad it lacks co-op and is as linear as it is, because more freedom and co-op would have made it a potentially great game.

The game launches on February 20th, exclusively for the PS4. You can learn more about The Order 1886 bv paying a visit to the official website.