The Secret World delivers an MMO experience that's distinctly different from its competitors, and it's likely going to remain the standard for future games in the horror/supernatural genre.
If you've been waiting for a true challenge, a sense of adventure, genuine progression and a world that is filled with complex actions, real people and real threats, than you could do worse than entering The Secret World.
I do not know how the game was in the early games. I am just beginning my journey.
Yes, that's what it is all about: Exploring. Every single detail is thrilling. I find it highly impressive and of all the MMOs I've seen, the most original, being the least copy-cat to WoW (which in turn stole from Everquest and so on)
To details: You choose your role ingame, so you enter as a generic character. So the three-slot-limit (across ALL servers) shouldn't hurt. But as there are three distinctive factions with differing story lines, and a great way of visually customizing your char I guess it will hurt.
To this point it feels very much like a solo game. Although exploring the world together should be even more fun.
Character build seems complex though I am not very much into that now.
Great voice acting with every even slightly important NSC help creating an awsome atmosphere
Bottomline is, I am awfully impressed and I have to go back to the game right now :)
Edit: This review is about the classic TSW not the relaunched f2p Secret World Legends. Steam forcefully changed my game to the latter and it was awful. Awfully easy, awfully meaningless combat, dumbed down levelling system.
Boring, although the story apparently remained the same.
After some research I got back into the old game and everything's fine again.
Do not listen to a lot of the negative feedback around Secret World Legends. If you played The Secret world and found it overly confusing and lacking in combat well I strongly urge you to try Secret World Legends. It is extremely fun to play either alone or with a friend. Currently, my Man and I are playing and the creepy atmosphere, combat, and story will keep us playing this for a good while.
With a unique setting, immersive story and open-ended character system, The Secret World offers up a great MMO experience that's only held back by problems with replay and weak PvP.
An MMO that doesn't cuddle the player, The Secret World can be a great experience for veteran fans of the genre. Unfortunately, its dark and beautifully crafted world isn't enough to cover the numerous flaws completely.
The Secret World flirts with brilliance and – at least, during earlier zones – looks primed to seal the deal. But, as time goes on, its its seemingly bottomless bag of tricks starts to look a bit shallow.
Its mainstream, postmodern pastiche of gaming and nerd culture that ranges from John Landis and Edgar Allen Poe to alternate reality gaming is a welcome respite against the backdrop of Blizzard and BioWare. But The Secret World's successes have little to do with the MMO essentials, and though its trappings are unique and sometimes powerful, its core is undeveloped.
Less ambitious MMOs break less dramatically. But The Secret World breaks differently, crushingly, almost tragically. There are various explanations and workarounds and excuses, and it mostly comes down to the simple fact that making games is hard and making MMOs is even harder. Funcom is simply unable to make the game they designed.
I'll start by saying this game is underrated. It's a spectacularly well done game that you should definitely try if you like either RPG's, or MMORPG's. It has a really epic, mature narrative where you play a character in the modern-day joining a secret society and exploring the urban legends and myths of the world through out history from ancient to present. The storytelling, the voice acting, and overall presentation is phenomenal and holds up to what we've seen from other RPG's since it's release almost 4 years ago. The game also holds up graphically, they keep the graphical fidelity up to par with newer titles (and honestly in many cases better). The world is huge, it encourages non-linear exploration behind every nook, cranny, corner, alleyway, there's something to be discovered that can lead you on a huge variety of sub-plots all with their own epic narratives. They've updated the combat from back when I played it in beta, it's now more action oriented with dodging and quick skill reaction. The progression is some of the deepest I have seen in an MMO, and even many modern RPG's, allowing you to build and customize your character to play exactly how you want, with a huge variety of weapon and skill types you can mix, and match to your hearts content. This is a very atmospheric game, so I would recommend playing it with the sound settings for ambiance, and music maxed out, you will go on many missions that can be downright creepy and befitting of the horror genre. When I think of comparisons it's hard to come up with one in the gaming-sphere, as The Secret World is truly unique, and the closest thing I can think of is if you mixed Fallout 4 with Life Is Strange. If you've ever seen the tv show's "Supernatural", "Grim", or "Sanctuary" the game can remind me of those as well.
If you're like me, and are there feeling like the games on the market, and the RPG, or MMO genres are at a stale point, you should definitely try this game, you will be surprised, and you will love it.
The story and idea are intriguing. The letdown is in the grinding whether this is pvp or dungeons, or even mission grinding. In other words there is little replayability once you have gone through things the first time. Also I find it hard to believe how the secret world can remain secret for very long the way characters are flinging magical firepower around.
This game had such great potential, but the designers decided to make the focus clickies, rather than actually deepening the mechanics. What started out as a strong MMO petered out to a mediocre MMO with shoddy cheap attempts at progression. Look elsewhere for a deep engrossing MMO, at least if you plan on going beyond Issue 8, because everything after 9 is focused on a very specific build to progress.
Great game Idea, very poor execution. The concept and setting are fascinating, but the actual game play leaves a lot to be desired. Quests are buggy in spite of 1.5 years of complaints, the difficulty is very inconsistent and there is no in-game play/build guidance of any sort. I’ve noted that players who have written some of the most used guides have quit the game out of frustration. The emptiness of the zones outside of endgame and start up are highly indicative **** that causes most players to quit before they get too far. Overall, a real shame, this could have been the next great thing. Instead, its best just to leave it alone.
SummaryThe Secret World is a massively multiplayer online role–playing game. Taking place on our earth, in our times, The Secret World is inspired by history and mythology, modern conspiracy theories and ancient mysteries. For there really is a world within ours, a secret world, where magic exists, monsters roam and ancient forces are fighting ...