The Secret World is an upcoming MMORPG Game from Funcom, set in a modern day in which every myth, urban legend and conspiracy is real. Three secret cliché societies emerge to fight the supernatural that threatens the balance of our planet.
The selling point of this game is the mature, dark and gritty setting where players fight unmatched horrors by join one of the three factions available, Templars (EU), Illuminate (US - America), Dragon (Asia). Each faction is at war with each other but they will be more interested in to fight together the common enemy (in PvE), the supernatural dark forces that lurk every street and location you explore.
The combat unfortunately is the same as in your typical MMO, with no levels or classes but with a wide variety of choices to customize your character with a neat system, in which you can learn passive and active skills related to your main weapons. You spent skill points to further develop your weapon skills/damage and anima points to acquire new active and passive abilities, it works well and you can explore other forms of combat or weapons with some limitations.
The PvE content is made with the "cinematic" feel under the hood, which means that every time you meet an important NPC there has to be some cut scene that can be annoying, but it works for those that want to immerse themselves into the story. Most of the quests are standard MMO fetch, kill, find quests, but some have multiple layers for diversity and a better background than you usually find in MMOs.
The graphics are good enough for a MMO with DX 9 and DX 11 options, having detailed environments and diverse monsters along with a simple but good interface. It reminds me of the Resident Evil series.
Overall I am not sure if this is enough. The combat is too common but it works well. The PvE doesn't impress me at all, but it's fun for a while to fight some horrific monsters or a band of zombies. The environment and the feeling of paranoid, desperate times brings me that feeling of unknown and adventure, but is just not enough. It’s basically an upgrade of today's MMO, but with a new setting and some interesting skill set. But is it enough to justify the existence of subscription? It could be if you only go for the setting, but after so many standard MMOs, I think as veteran MMO gamer I want a better combat and dynamic PvE content. Still, I believe many will find this interesting enough for a month or two after release, more than that, time will tell.
Dark Days are coming!
