Since the first announcements, I was intrigued by The Secret World. The premisses, the multiple references to horror stories and the intention of breaking with the grind of MMOs made it very appealing. The fact it was Free to play didn’t hurt either.
So I finally broke down and gave it a try.
After a very cinematic introduction, the game was indeed full of charm and mystery.. at first at least. Lore notes were to be found everywhere. The storytelling was rich an engaging. Everything was going smoothly until the first action sequence.
A glitch in the quest in the Illuminati dream sequence underground (confirmed by a visit in the forums) forced me to abandon the quest stuck in an endless loop, miss the conclusion of that sequence and jump to the next step in the game. OK… not ideal but I was motivated enough to continue.
The first area to explore was full of zombies, dead sea men, and tentacular Lovecraftian monstrosities. The storylines were haunting enough to last a week.
I should have known I was in trouble when one quest required me to be dead in order to be completed. After running around in circles and skipping more broken quests, I still thought that was pretty clever.
What ended the game for me in the end was a combination of a very delicate maneuver on-screen (that I still could not complete correctly after dying a dozen times) and a convoluted conspiracy story relying on too many offline clues to be playable – bible verses, latin sentences to translate, paintings to look up.
I am sorry I had to quit The Secret World after a week. As if the time commitment to a MMO wasn’t enough, adding offline research and twisted mind games ended up being too much for casual gaming. I don’t mind a challenge and I am willing to soldier on when a game gives players a fighting chance but this wasn’t the right game for my level of engagement.
I’ll take my chances on Mars next time…
What is it with accounts and games?
Why is it so hard to handle personal information in a reasonable way?
Starting with useless check for age. Is that to comply with legal requirements? Really? What kid cannot guess they can enter 1/1/1901 and get in anyway?
Then comes account registration time.
Username is always taken. Can’t check as I type?
Character name is always taken. No suggestion?
Password invalid. Have to retype most of the form, including credit card information.
5 … 6 times before getting it right.
by then, you forget which account and password you are using.
Finally you can log in… after a few EULA to check.
Of course, game is not patched yet… so it is update download time.
A few hours later, ready to start?
Oh no… Direct X to check… then drivers to check. And more downloads.
Why do I have to jump through these hoops as an adult?