Despite a unique setting, inventive quests and genuinely creepy vibe, Funcom’s supernatural MMO The Secret World doesn’t get a lot of play, so they’re taking all of the content from that game and putting it into a free-to-play online action RPG called Secret World Legends.
Funcom is calling it a relaunch, but traditionally relaunches involve shutting down the original game, then launching it again. That isn’t the case here. 2012’s The Secret World will continue to run, and players who still enjoy the more traditional MMO flavour of that game can continue to do so.
Secret World Legends, launching later this autumn (beta signups are open now) takes all of the content from The Secret World and presents it as an action RPG. The combat system has been revamped to feel more natural. Systems have been retooled to be more intuitive. The structure’s been shaken up a little to make it more accessible to new players.
But at the heart of Secret World Legends is the same exact content that already exists in The Secret World. From the FAQ:
Secret World Legends will relaunch with the original eight adventure playfields, scenarios, and dungeons available immediately. In the time following the relaunch, we will release Tokyo, Nightmare Dungeons, Raids, and the rest of the content that is currently live in The Secret World.
Same shit, different game.
Otherwise there’s no real crossover between The Secret World and Secret World Legends. There will be no character transfers — everyone starts the new game fresh.
Unlike The Secret World, which did away with subscription fees a while back but still requires and up front purchase, Secret World Legends will be completely free to play. Once the game launches, anyone will be able to download and play. There’s no game content locked behind a pay wall, though players will be able to use currency purchased with real money to buy cosmetic items, account upgrades and such.
The whole thing is just weird, which I suppose fits quite nicely. For folks who’ve played the original, it will be like visiting an alternate dimension where everything is the same, only different.
Secret World Legends launches later this autumn. You can read more about the game at its official website.
Comments
10 responses to “Funcom Relaunches The Secret World As A Free-To-Play Action RPG”
I’m actually pretty keen for this, ive played TSW since closed beta and LOVE the game by far the BEST MMO for lore and storytelling IMO, the strange collection of quest types and overarching story of Myth mixed with real life religion and the twisting of actual historical events.
The target audience for this game has always been more focused on people who want the ride not the ending, shit I had to learn Morse Code to complete a quest.
The combat has always been janky and a bit of a let down, in fact probably the main let down so will be good to see what they do with it.
have you played Lord of the Rings Online, that is some storytelling and Lore right there.
I felt LotRO started falling apart when you got your warhorse. Game was basically on rails from there, and there wasnt much you could bypass. Up until there though, the openess of it, along with that storytelling and lore, was first class.
Later levels just felt too constrained and turned it into an un-fun grind, at least for me.
yeah i can see that point of view. i never got a war horse. i had to stop due to the sheer amount of hours i would spend in game, that and i didnt have any friends that played and wasnt part of a kin anymore. i still love jumping in every now and again and just running around killing stuff.
I was playing solo most of the time, popping in for a couple of days every 6 months when I had nothing to do, but a recent run saw a couple of old friends jump in so we at least had someone to talk to or call on for help, and that made a huge difference.
Pretty sure I wouldnt have stuck around if it was a guild of one.
I played this for a while at launch with a couple of friends and had a great time. Fantastic setting, great story, atmosphere and lore. Only reason I stopped playing was because friends quit. Shame, it was a really tremendously underrated game.
I was super excited when this game first came out, then I picked it up (along with a copy for my friends too so we could all play) and then I remember the control scheme being really awkward. If I remember correctly, I think they had tank controls for movement, you used the mouse to look around and aim and to use your special attacks you had to use the number keys. It felt like you needed three hands to play, and so my friends and I ended up playing a lot more Defiance instead. I’d be interested to jump back in because the story seemed really interesting.
I really liked this game but I think it came out near another MMO so there wasn’t time. It felt a bit dead too. It’s a shame because it’s a nice break from the usual cliche worlds and themes.
Played this game for about two years.
My primary complaints were/are:
controls
combat
travel
Controls always felt clunky, like there was just something slightly off about them. Seemed like they were halfway between First Person and Third Person controls, getting neither quite right.
Combat was confusing in that the talent wheel meant you could be quite far in the game and still doing really weak damage.
The travel times compounded the effect of combat. I heard they introduced vehicles later on, but when I was playing there weren’t any, and it took FOOOOORRREVVER to get anywhere.
Is this PC only? If it’s an action RPG I imagine buttons on a controller would do fine, would definitely dive into this o PS4