ORDER 13 - PC Review

The background shows a warehouse with seemingly endless shelves stretching back into darkness. In front of this on the left is an orange striped cat, sitting and facing a severed, bloody arm loosely holding a torch on the right of the image. White text above the severed arm reads ORDER 13.

Read Time:3 Minute, 35 Second

Well, thanks to the team at Cybernetic Walrus, I’ll be fulfilling orders in ORDER 13. A new horror game where we navigate a dark (yet clean) warehouse, while avoiding what lurks in the shadows. Is it monsters or just the lazy colleagues who refuse to work? Who knows? But it looks like I’m gonna find out. If you’re interested, then you can check ORDER 13’s Steam page here.

Might need to order some new trousers.

A door with a blood trail leading through it as if something/someone has been dragged. There are three signs each with a different colour. Blue, yellow, and red. In my hand is a scanner used for packaging. — And what is behind door number one?

Gameplay

ORDER 13 doesn’t have a story. All we know is that we get a daily quota, which we must fulfil. You’ll start off by printing out an order with various numbers and letters. These indicate which section/shelf the product is held in. As you head out onto the warehouse floor, you’ll see just how dark it is, which makes navigating kinda difficult. But not overly. On the bottom left is a symbol of a cat’s head and bar. This is your pet cat’s happiness. While you are out exploring, it will degrade over time and when it hits zero, then game over. The only other way to get a game over is by dying. As you complete orders, the game will become more horror and creatures will walk the aisles.

Several brown boxes with a mascot which itself is a box. A shelf with a printer and more boxes are visible. Two post it notes are stuck to the shelf one is green with an arrow pointing to the printer while the other has instructions for the player. — But sometimes I ask myself, is the pay really worth it?

Now, after you have retrieved the product for the order. You can now package it up and ship it, which will award you with money to fill the quota. Once the quota is fulfilled, there is a bed in your office (don’t ask me why), which will trigger the next day. Upon starting the next day, you will receive money to purchase stuff upgrades for you and your cat.

Upgrades & Happiness

ORDER 13 has some useful upgrades: a scanner to help remember codes. I found that very handy as I always forgot the password to the shelves. In comparison, other upgrades will allow more orders to come in. The cat’s happiness bar can also be improved via purchasing cat toys, a bed, and food for them. Lastly, not so much an upgrade but kinda the whole point of the game are the certificates. There are three of them to get and each unlocks a lower floor where darker, creepier areas are. The positive, however, is that new orders with better rewards come in.

A computer which is displaying various items the player can purchase. Two have already been bought with one more below still needing to be. — Upgrades people, upgrades!

Graphics & Audio

There are some positives to mention about the visuals and audio in ORDER 13. Lighting is well done, and it’s suitably dark where it counts, but the flashlight does its job and the normal lighting in the game is great. The weird squelch of the monster’s footsteps sounded weird, but it was cool and somewhat different from what you’d usually expect. Textures and item models seem decent and despite these and the physics aspect with items in the game, I didn’t suffer from frame rate issues.

A pair of pinkish legs are seen ahead. I'm currently hiding under a shelf next to two blue barrels. The area is flooded and is visible thanks to the ripples and lighting of my flashlight — Thank god they are blind.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, after completing ORDER 13, I was disappointed. There was no set-up, no story as you journey deeper into the warehouse. And even worse, the actual ending of the game doesn’t exist. ORDER 13’s store page says there is a mystery to uncover, but it was non-existent in the game. The warehouse didn’t seem to change when I died, and the only things that are truly random are the orders you receive. The cat, whose happiness we have to maintain, has no reason for being there either.

I wish I could have spoken more positively about the game, but there really isn’t anything in the game worth mentioning or that stands out. And anything positive was I’ve already said in the graphics & audio. Sadly, I’m gonna have to give it the Thumb Culture Bronze Award.

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

About Author

Kyle McGrath

I’ve enjoyed video games for as long as I remember and I don’t think there isn’t a game I wouldn’t play. For reviews, I try my best to make them simple and easy to understand. With so many games released daily, I attempt to play them all.

See author's posts

ORDER 13 – PC Review