The Secret World has been out just shy of a month now, at least for those of us who pre-ordered. At this point I have racked up roughly 170 hours, including some played when Raptr was not watching. As of last night, I have completed the main storyline of the game. I still have a good chunk of Romania to complete, but as we got into the last bits of storyline it was like reading a book that you just couldn’t put down. I had to keep moving the main quest along to see the conclusion.
I am not sure what all I can say without giving anything away, but I will suffice to say I am looking forward to the monthly episodic updates. To point if you divide it out, I’ve put in a bit longer than 20 hours of gameplay per zone. All through Solomon Island, I was running about 35 hours per zone. So why did my time spent in a give zone get shorter? Well honestly the story just kept getting better, and I felt the drive to see the next tidbit all the faster.
As a result I’ve left a good chunk of content to go back and experience in every zone since and including Blue Mountain. I have lore and quests to find, places to explore, and buckets of AP to earn. I am still extremely happy with my shotgun/swords build, and as a result I am pretty much chasing down the various other decks now to get the outfits unlocked. Currently I have Paladin and Puritan, and will likely finish out Executioner tonight if I get the time.
Normally this is the point at which I get the desire to start an alt. Odd thing is, this time, the way that Secret World is set up, I feel like I still have so much more of the world to see and do. I’m slowly working on getting the various Elite dungeons done with some friends, and am still miles away from being able to challenge the Gatekeeper and unlock Nightmare modes. One of my guilty pleasures right now is running around the world, soloing Lair and Nightmare content.
I think more than anything the thing that is keeping me absolutely hooked is the lore and atmosphere. This is the first time in a long time, that I want to know everything I can about the game world, its settings, and the characters. So much of the game feels familiar to me, as I spent years playing the various World of Darkness games, renting B horror movies, and reading up on as much occult lore as I could get my hands on. Stepping into The Secret World has been like discovering an old friend that I somehow neglected along the way.
I completely blame MMOGC for this post, because she talked about going back and watching the various trailers that were released for the game. Of course I had to go back and do the same. What shocked me the most is just how accurate a view of the in game atmosphere they give you. Looking back I found myself noticing little places like the Horned God Bar in London, that how have become rather familiar. This is the first time in a long time that a series of pre-launch videos give a really accurate portrayal of what the player can expect.
So now I will break for the gratuitous videos!
If these videos don’t make you want to go home and play, then nothing likely will.
If you still want more of The Secret World, you should totally check out the Enochian Frequency podcast. I’ve long been a fan of Petter Mårtensson and his podcasts Claims of the Normal (with Breki Tomasson and Arkenor Oakshadow) and The Three MMOsketeers (with Arkenor Oakshadow and Teppo Tastic), and this one brings the same kind of “not too hardcore, not too casual” mix to The Secret World. You should add it to whatever podcast program you use and listen frequently (as well as to the other podcasts, though Claims is winding down sadly). These are pretty much the only podcasts I try and make a point of listening to each week.
That’s awesome, I needed this post this morning when I was searching for trailers. I think there’s a couple I haven’t seen either.