The Secret World: Beginning Impressions

The Secret World: Beginning Impressions

The Secret World
PC
EA
MMORPG

Right from the beginning The Secret World presents you with intrigue because of its style and storyline, but that quickly wares off as you dive into the game. In fact, it’ll take hours upon hours before you are actually able to really get into the game. It always take you a long time to get use to any game that offers up something new as you learn the ropes. However, the entire game feels so slow paced that when you’ve passed the 10-15 hour mark you still don’t feel as if you’ve gotten anywhere. Obviously it is a really deep game, but what causes it to feel so long right from the beginning is its very slow pace. What this slow pace does is capture the setting of the game a lot better than it could have at a quicker pace. It’s at this point that you begin to understand the game and get into its style.

Launch Trailer

Advancing into The Secret World becomes more and more addicting. Curiosity will set in with the storyline as it slowly progresses. You won’t be able to move the story along to quickly because you will need to do a good amount of side quests. If you don’t, you won’t be able to upgrade your player and then you will, of course, get smacked down quite often as you get further into the game by more difficult enemies. The side quests, which focus on mystery and solving puzzles, are another example of why the game is slow paced. This part becomes a lot of fun because the game has a browser built right into it – hit the B button and pull up Google to search the internet for a clue to a password. This is just one example of why the browser becomes important. The side quests range from the rather tedious to slightly more interesting, but the main quest, of course, is the best part. That deeper storyline is one that will peak your interest a lot of the time.

Still, learning the story of what has happened in a small town that is now populated by the living dead can be quite interesting as well. Your first main quest will send you to a small coastal town where mysterious things happen as the fog rolls in. Learning the story from some of the characters and by completing some of the quests can be intriguing. Dealing with the walking dead in a foggy town right from the beginning is also a perfect setting for this game. This is where the slow pace really sets in well with you as you solve these mysteries and fight off the “zombies” in this particular setting.

Before it all begins, as you create your character, you will choose between three different secret societies to join. Each society has a different and interesting backstory and you will be able to watch an introductory video for each before you make your choice. These secret societies include the Illuminati, the Dragon and the Templars. You will also build up your character which will be a very average looking human with average clothes. You will be able to purchase additional clothes and accessories though, through the store. You can even get a pet to follow you around.

Pre-Order Trailer

From the beginning you will make your way to a training ground where you will equip yourself with a weapon of your choice. Weapons include pistols, rifles, swords and magic. In fact, there are hundreds of weapons and powers that you will be able to use. Magic seems cool and all, but for fighting zombies and other strange creatures, it was going to be either a katana or a gun, so I equipped myself with a nice assault rifle.

The combat is simple enough – find your target and push the button assigned for what attack you would like to perform. I usually went with the bullets that could heal me and the grenade launcher attached to my gun. Both of those worked lovely for me and it’s nice as you continue to level up and see what additional things you can unlock for your character and increase the effectiveness of your abilities. You can certainly say that the combat is not exciting at first. Heck, you can even say that the entire game is not exciting at first, but it gets better as you go.

The enemies are pretty accomplished and I found myself to be fairly satisfied with them. At first you will deal with some basic zombies who are scary, yet fun. You will then become a little braver and test yourself against the bigger guys. You feel the progression really well when you see the enemies and when you stumble upon a boss, it’s both a scary and intense moment. I enjoy the enemies in this game and even when you’ve taken out some of the more powerful enemies, you still need to treat the zombies with respect. If a large group of them gets on you or is combined with a different enemy type, they can deal you a good amount of damage. If they inflict too much damage, you should hope that your re-spawn point is not too far from your body. You will then revive yourself from where you died and have to escape or try your luck at defeating the enemies once again.

The Secret World is set in the modern day and you will have the opportunity to explore cities and locations from all over the world. It looks fantastic as well and the areas are very well laid out. The real world feeling is certainly there and this builds for a unique experience within the game. There is so much to explore and so much playing in order to unlock your character’s full potential. There is a character wheel full of many options to slowly unlock and you can easily put hundreds of hours into this game. The game has no class or level system either. It’s all done by your character wheel and how you build upon that. It also contains your weapon and character progressions such as amount of health, damage and all of the basics.

The story is intriguing right from the beginning and continues as you slowly progress along the main storyline. It’ll take you a long time to get through the first part, but as you make your way through I think you’ll be interested in what you see and what you find out. I would certainly recommend this title to anyone looking for a unique MMO to play. You should be fine with this game as long as you like the idea of it being set in the real world revolving around mysteries and puzzles to solve as you slowly progress through. Once you get into the game, and I mean really get into it, it will grow on you.

Please ask if you have further questions about the game and I will do my best to answer those as I continue to slowly progress through the game.

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