Secret World Legends
Secret World Legends is a story-driven, shared-world action RPG that plunges players into a shadowy war against the supernatural, where ancient myths and legends cross over into the modern day. Armed with both weapons and superhuman abilities, you will build your powers, solve deep mysteries, and destroy terrifying evils to uncover a dark and captivating storyline that traverses the globe. Can you reveal the truth? Fight in a Secret War against the Supernatural: Where will you stand in the secret war between good and evil as supernatural forces threaten the modern-day world? Use a wide range of weapons and superhuman abilities to destroy the sinister evils that are threatening humanity’s existence. Unravel the Mysteries of the Legends: Dive into the innovative Investigation Missions, where your wits are as important as your skills. Solve mysteries while battling evil in unique missions and quests never before seen in a game of its kind.
Steam User 100
So, I decided to kill some time and try this game out, the idea of a game fueled by myths and conspiracies intrigued me enough, about 40 hours' into (so far) playing this game and, eh, it's not half bad. Word of advice though: Treat it like a single-player game. Forget the MMORPG part. If you're a nut for myths, legends, or conspiracies AND good storytelling, well...buckle up, buttercup. It's like a 'Da Vinci Code' fever dream, and who doesn't love a little Templars and Illuminati action?
The peeps I've met in-game are mostly lore-junkies roleplaying their hearts out and everyone's max level, playing dress-up, hunting shiny trophies, and cooking up unique builds. Yawn, right? Literally on my second day playing, I bumble into a gaggle of players doing their own little text-based improv show, roleplaying, in the middle of a haunted carnival, it was pretty entertaining to read while running around the amusement park completing my quests in the area.
Once you ditch the MMO mindset, this game pulls you in like a chimichanga at lunchtime. The lore? Amazing. The voiceovers? Muy caliente. The quests are no mere FedEx runs, kiddos. They're rich, like Tony Stark rich, with plots and narratives that'd make ol' Stan Lee proud. Feels like you're doing something different every time. Not that repetitive, 'kill 10 rats' MMORPGs usually feed you. Runescape, eat your heart out.
Here's the twist: this game doesn't hold your hand. You're gonna need to do some thinking, detective-style. There are times I've had to scribble notes or take screenshots for clues. Got puzzles and enigmas to solve based on all sorts of lore, background, and cutscenes. I'm talking full-on Indiana Jones hieroglyphics deciphering here. Cutscenes are the cherry on top, a bit like breaking the fourth wall - they connect the narrative dots, dropping hints, and well, the voice acting could give Nolan North a run for his money.
Anyway, Pros and Cons time:
Pros:
- Crazy deep lore and intricate storylines - it's like gaming Inception.
- It's free! Not even 'first hit's free', all of it.
- Cosmetic system's as unique as a unicorn, lots of dress-up options.
- Class system that is open wider than a hooker's legs. Seriously though think Runescape or an any topping pizza. You can do it all with one character.
- Mission variety: way more exciting than your usual mob slaying and pizza delivery quests.
- Beastiary's packed with all sorts of real-world mythos monsters.
- And the community? A bunch of ghost-chasing, tinfoil hat wearing loons. My kind of people.
- Almost forgot... You dont need to endlessly grind mobs to level. This is a Story focused game.
Cons:
- Microtransactions: "I'm touching myself tonight."
- In-game currency is tougher to earn than my respect.
- Quests and Missions demands engagement like a needy ex.
- Graphics are a bit ‘yesteryear’, less boo, more meh.
- Combat's a bit old-school, but so is getting hit in the face, and that never goes out of style.
So, if you're into riveting voiced stories, pretty landscapes, and putting on your detective hat, this game is your huckleberry. It's like those niche single-player games but you get to bring friends along. Go solve some mysteries, Scooby-Doo style!
Steam User 79
The Secret World (the original, not Legends) is the best MMO and best game I've ever played.
The original trailer that made me buy the game :
I have played TSW from September 2014 to April 2017 (right before TSWL launch) and spent over 6 000 hours on the game. 9 months to get through the main story until Tokyo (what a journey !)
I have been part of the best PVE and PVP teams, was considered one the best players of the game and have explored pretty much everything the game had to offer. I also went very deep into the game knowledge in every sense of the word.
The Game
A secret war between Templars, Illuminati and Dragons, with a greater threat above them all, set in our modern world.
All myths and legends are true, lovecraftian monsters are everywhere.
Mystery and danger is at every corner.
You could travel to London, New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Egypt, Transylvania, etc...
Some locations were incredible, like Kingsmouth, Savage Coast, Valley Of The Sun Gods, City Of the Sun God, Carpathian Fangs, Tokyo...
I did all the story with a friend (Baobei), and we met the friendliest people ever all along the way who invited us in their cabal (In Vino Veritas), and the family kept growing... Overall the best community ever. I have met so incredible people in this game.
The game was unique, very ambitious, the most clever and most captivating MMO universe/story/lore ever. I have never been so immersed in a game.
Amazing art and game design, amazing musics...
Clever missions that needed you to think, travel, investigate and even use a web browser in the game to search the darkest places on the internet to solve mysteries.
An incredibly clever combat and skill system, hard dungeons in which you needed all the team to be in synergy, work together to success.
No levels, no class, and you could perform any role and rearrange skills the way you wanted. No other MMO managed to do this before and after TSW.
A single server.
Also something very rare in games, the modern / realistic setting and the character personalization / modern clothing / general design, enabled a strong character identification by the players to their characters and in game friends. You could feel things (friendship, hate, love, joy, empathy) just by looking at the other players characters.
PVP was also incredible and so addictive, even if it lacked population as time was going. (Stonehenge 5v5v5, Eldorado 10v10v10, Fusang Project no limit, Shambala random 10v10)
.
This golden gem died before its time. A niche game, bad timing release (right before GW2), the economic model (the game was not making enough money), some performances issues, the departure of Ragnar Tornquist a few years after launch was the beginning of the end. The game managed to live a few years without Ragnar, but it ended dying slowly (Tokyo expansion was really amazing though).
You can still play the original game (even if Funcom tried to hide the original game at TSWL launch) but you will not find many people.
I have not been able to play any other MMO since The Secret World. It was just too amazing.
I can't write a good enough review for this game. A game with a soul.
I will have memories for my entire life. Every now and then I feel huge nostalgia for the good old times.
Maybe one day The Secret World will raise from its ashes.
WE HAVE DUG TOO DEEP
EVERYTHING IS TRUE
SECRET BONUS
Here is the very personal 'film' I made in 2016 of this Secret World amazing journey, in order to keep these memories forever.
I tried to recreate The Secret World ambience and my experience of it, with my partner in crime Baobei and the people we met along the way.
The film is made out of the screenshots we made throughout our journey and music, mainly from TSW / funcom games.
Thus I hope you can glimpse what I felt playing this game.
I initially did not intend to publish it, but hey, time goes and I think people enjoy looking back at The Secret World from time to time.
The video might be blocked in some countries, link to download the video
Steam User 43
I'm not gonna look through nostalgia eyes and compare Legends to og TSW. I'm not going to bash the corporate decision to not produce more content. Likewise, I will judge only what I have experienced.And for the price of nothing, I have experienced one of the most unique storylines and quests design in mmo space, pristine UI, friendly community and no game breaking bugs. It gave me 200+h of pure fun and for this reason alone, I highly recommend.See ya around, bee.
Steam User 39
Veteran player here from old TSW. It's so sad to see this game dead without proper player base and no updates. I know many mechanics have been changed and simplified from the original version. But this game still holds very special memories to me and I hope one day it sees a true revival. If you can get through the stuff that makes it for you bitter to play, you will definitely reach some well made enjoyable stories and content. The stories are packed full of interesting information and the game is like playing through a book. Don't let it die, Chuck.
Steam User 36
I miss this game so much. I have the fondest memories playnig it, sunk many many hours into it. I love the story. Yes, the combat is clunky... in the predecessor and not much better in this game really. Thing is, no other MMO has ever captured that feeling of urban fantasy (a niche genre, sure) like this game did.
I am so sad that it is being abandoned like this. Please Funcom, please, reboot this game properly, give it a rebirth and bring more content, give us more of the story.
I don't care about the "free to play" aspect. Hell I would be happy to pay like 40 Euros for the base game, and a little on top every expansion. Or a subscription model, as long as you would continue to give me a good game with a great story. I mean, I am currently paying for an FF14 subscription and pay for each expansion there. If you would give me a good game, I would pay for it, and play it, and enjoy it! Maybe give a free trail for beginners to see if they like it, and if they do, they can buy the full game or whatever.
I am sad to see the story just... stop. This game had such potential with it's story!
Please Funcom, don't let this game go the way of the dinosaur....
Steam User 22
This is a difficult recommend but definitely would say to give it a go. Why the hestitation? Support. We were promised an end to the story but it stops with no new content added for several years as of posting this. I played the original but started the whole thing again for Legends with the promise of the story finishing at least, the devs just don't care unfortunately...
tl;dr Don't let negatives on combat hold you back, that's a side feature. Play for an immersive world with an amazing (albeit unfinished) story.
Good Points?
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The story: Absolutely fantastic level of lore, great NPCs, huge variety of locations and missions. Love it!! From Cthulhu inspired Eldritch Horrors, to vampires, werewolves and corrupt tech-corp organisations. Collectable lore really fleshes out the world. The Tokyo storyline imo has some of the best MMO story content out imo, hands down.
Missions: I am a HUGE fan of the investigation missions - sitting with a notepad, internet browser opened (yup, integrated research?? HELLS YES!) They don't assume you're an idiot so some fantastic cerebral experiences from code breaking, investigating websites for specific information, using book ISBNs to locate authors, there is SO much to offer here. It's also optional, so not your thing? Don't do those missions. For me though, this is the ABSOLUTE highlight of the game.
Customisation: A fairly decent character creation tool with lots of outfit options. I hate that they removed the shops (actually walking into a department store in London to try on outfits was such a great experience) but there's a lot that you can pick up during events and in-game currency to give your character their own look, and customise on the go.
Locations:
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The varied number of places make this world believable, immersive and a fantastic place for role playing experiences - hidden away little rooms, dance clubs, fight clubs, cafes, the theatre (customisable environment) As an avid role player, this feature is SO good!!
The Museum:
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Hear me out...the British Museum is such a good concept - an instanced personal museum exhibition based off your achievements and collections that you can invite people in to. It's such a nice take on the "home" system
The OK?
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Combat: It seems to be socially acceptable to rag on the combat in Secret Worlds; I really like the improvements made to the interface. Lots of different weapons to combine in pairs however you want, good range of moves and the interface is simple enough. Not gonna revolutionise MMOs but it works. The magic is fun, the guns have varied mechanics. It's fun.
The Bad?
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...not really anything I consider bad but some gripes as an OG player:
Unfinished Story: End of Africa the story...stops...repeated seasonal events, rehashed every year.
Removed Combat Features: Less hotkeys? Removing subweapons?? Why cater for consoles at the cost of content and PC gamers??? Why can't we have the boom box back??? SERIOUSLY!!!???
DLC: Weird one this, upset at losing DLC? I loved the way that new content would be released as comic books, that could be bought using free currency or real currency for extra content - it gave something to look forward to, new content, new cosmetics and equipment unlocks...RIP Secret World...
Steam User 19
Atmosphere and Setting in this game are still unmatched still to this day.
I simply can't find anything to fill this very unique void that SW left.
A modern day Lovecraftian, Secret Society, Horror, Conspiracy filled Magical world.
This game will always feel special, hopefully I'll get to play something similar before I die.