Fans of MMOs should give The Secret World Legends a shot if they want a break from hard fantasy and typical sci-fi experiences. Why, in this MMO, players venture into a darker version of the real world where they wage a secret war against the supernatural. In TSW Legends, conspiracies and supernatural creatures become the norm. Additionally, the safety of the world lies solely in the vested interest of three conflicting factions.
However, Legends differs from other MMOs not just in its setting. This gritty MMO boasts deep lore, intricate storylines, and a freeform "Class" system. In turn, players can see others tote their favorite firearms, wield their favorite swords, and amass the many forces of the universe to do their bidding. However, just what else should newcomers watch out for when getting into The Secret World Legends?
14 A Supernatural War Riddled With Conspiracies
Players interested to try The Secret World Legends need to remember the game's simple premise: the world's legends, myths, and conspiracies likely weave a story unknown to most of mankind. Story-wise, the player character's journey begins a month after a disaster in Tokyo's subways. In a dream, characters get a visit from supernatural forces that tell them they are protected from the impending End of Days. Afterward, they wake up with incredibly-powerful supernatural abilities. Moreover, they immediately get scouted by one of three secret societies.
London's Templars trace their origins as far back as Babylon's royal lineage. Of the three groups, the Templars remain steadfast in their crusade against evil forces. Meanwhile, Brooklyn's Illuminati focus on amassing power and wealth across all sectors of society. Lastly, Seoul's Dragon has slowly begun to rebuild their once-broken society as they have secrets even their own members don't know. Players can choose any society they wish, as their choice would only have cosmetic and minor thematic effects on their characters.
13 All Content Is Completely Free
Fans familiar with The Secret World might wonder exactly what The Secret World Legends has compared to the original game. To cut everything short, it's simply a direct "transfer" of the game from its paid model to a completely free-to-play (F2P) system. As clarified by the game itself, all content in The Secret World Legends - be it in the past, present, or even future content - is completely free to play.
In turn, fans can enjoy quests from the heyday of The Secret World and fully immerse themselves in the lore. Likewise, long-time fans who purchased the game can finally invite new friends to play the game and not worry about them having to buy anything just to play it with them.
12 Let Go Of Class Preferences
Most MMOs often force characters to stick to one Class for the rest of the experience. Some popular games also offer options to "diversify" options - such as World of Warcraft allowing players to switch Specializations (roles) within Classes, or Phantasy Star Online 2 offering Secondary Classes for players. However, TSW Legends moves away from this on the get-go.
Essentially, TSW Legends lets players choose one of nine Starting Classes in Character Creation. Previously known as "Decks," these Classes serve as a name for Weapon combinations that players use. For example, a player can start with the Ravager Class that specializes in Fist Weapons + Blood Magic Focus. However, characters can branch out by unlocking other Weapons and Abilities.
11 Weapons Dictate Roles
Whereas other MMOs have party roles within a Class Skill Tree, TSW Legends essentially lets players build these "Skill Trees" from scratch. Essentially, characters can specialize in any two of the game's nine weapon types, with one being a Primary Weapon and the other being a Secondary Weapon. The nine Weapons also split into three categories, being melee weapons, firearms, and magic foci.
Interestingly, each of these Weapons also has abilities that lean towards specific party roles. For instance, the Hammer, Shotgun, and Chaos Magic Focus generate Hate (aggro) and redirect enemy focus on the player. Meanwhile, Blade, Pistols, and Elementalism Focus specialize in dealing high damage. Lastly, the Fist Weapon, Assault Rifle, and Blood Magic Focus have buffs and healing abilities.
10 Gimmicks Dictate Playstyle
MMO fans might notice similarities between PSO2 and TSW Legends, as both games have Classes that rely on weapon combinations. However, while a PSO2 Class dictates the weapons a player can use, TSW Legends lets players choose combinations of weapons instead. Due to this gameplay option, Weapons in TSW Legends have unique gimmicks (called specialties) that cement their intended playstyle.
For instance, Fist Weapons have the Primal Wrath specialty, which builds up a Fury resource whenever they attack or heal. Likewise, players can use Fury to proc active abilities, such as Primal Wrath that removes two debuffs and activates a berserk mode, or the healer-intensive Invigorating Wrath.
9 All About The Gear
As players might expect from an MMO from 2012, TSW Legends retains the focus on Gear from the title's original release. In turn, players should prepare to pay more attention to what stats various Gear offers instead of the bare stats in the Character Sheet.
Essentially, aside from the two aforementioned Weapons, players can equip seven Talismans. Additionally, players can empower their equipment with Glyphs for extra bonuses and Signets for unique effects.
8 Power Is In The Stats
Building upon gear, players need to remember that Talismans have a Power Rating that generally increases Hit Points, Attack Rating, or Heal Rating. Meanwhile, Glyphs can further increase stats such as Hit Rating and Critical Rating and Crit Power Rating for DPS, and even Defense Rating and Evade Rating for Tanks.
Meanwhile, players can further customize what stats their Talismans improve via Anima Allocation. With this option, players can tweak the stat focus of future gear to fit Damage (DPS), Healing (Heal), and Survivability (Tank) stats. With this, players can now increase the odds of getting gear that suits their chosen build.
7 Cosmetics Rule
As expected for a modern dark fantasy game, players can kick supernatural butt in style. In TSW Legends, players have a Dressing Room where they can purchase and wear various types of cosmetics. Thankfully, TSW Legends has a huge selection of clothing types - from entire outfits, to basic necessities (torso, legs, feet), to minor things such as headgear, eyewear, and even earpieces.
Additionally, players can acquire various Pets such as cats and dogs to more mysterious types such as insects and goblins. Moreover, players can even equip various types of Sprints such as standard running, hoverboards, and even stylish motorcycles.
6 With Microtransactions, Without Pay To Win
Granted, given its nature as a free-to-play game, The Secret World Legends does have microtransactions. In turn, TSW Legends does have a myriad of currencies to use. In the game, all players earn Anima Shards as a standard currency - be it from completing quests or killing enemies. Likewise, Marks of Favor become accessible once players complete Challenges.
However, special currencies do exist. For instance, players need to spend real-world money to buy Aurum. They can use Aurum to buy special clothing items, unlock bank and inventory spaces, or purchase cache keys to access sets. However, TSW Legends guarantees that all content in the game can be attainable by playing normally, meaning pay-to-win isn't something players should worry about.
5 Missions Are Beyond Fetch Quests
Fans of TSW Legends admire the game for its focus on storytelling, and Missions easily become a reflection of this. The MMO has nine Mission types, each of which the game can delegate into various tiers.
Essentially, players have one overarching Story Mission. Aside from that, players can have one Dungeon Mission (which can come in the form of a Dungeon, Raid, or Scenario Mission), one Action/Sabotage Mission (which comes in either an Action or Sabotage Mission), one Investigation Mission, and three Side Missions (which come in the form of Side or PVP Missions) at any given time.
4 Monsters Come From Real Life
Players tired of the usual goblin and alien mob would appreciate TSW Legends for its faithfulness to real-world mythology in its bestiary. Granted, its dated graphics make some of the monsters less scary than other modern horror titles. However, the atmosphere and themes of Missions make encounters with these monsters equally unnerving and terrifying.
For instance, typical mobs include Cultists, Spectres, and Golems. Meanwhile, some elite monsters and bosses come from various cultures. These include terrifying renditions of the Djinn, Draug, and even the Wendigo. These monsters, when tied with the supernatural conspiracy aspect of The Secret World, greatly establish the game's atmosphere.
3 Missions Actively Immerse Players
Unlike other quests in MMOs, Missions in TSW Legends don't immediately point players where to go next. While Story Missions mostly require players to get on much higher levels, other Missions demand various levels of concentration from players. For instance, Action Missions focus more on combat while Sabotage Missions become the game's version of stealth missions.
However, players often turn into fans once they start getting into Investigation Missions. In these Missions, players often have to do literal research and puzzle-solving as most clues to progress exist in the background, in lore text, and even in cutscenes. Sometimes, some quests even need players to do actual research on hieroglyphics to progress. In turn, these missions define the "secret" aspect of The Secret World and really immerse players.
2 Cutscenes Weave The Game Together
In most MMOs, cutscenes simply happen in extremely special situations. For instance, cutscenes in WoW often appear when fighting bosses such as Illidan Stormrage or Lich King Arthas. However, in TSW Legends, all stories except Side Missions actually have cutscenes. Moreover, cutscenes form the core of the game - to the point where the script can lead players on how to finish quests.
Aside from paying attention to the lore text, the cutscenes attached to a quest often give clues on where players should go next to resume the storyline. Additionally, these cutscenes help immerse players in the rich world of TSW Legends, especially when players see their characters themselves actively converse with NPCs.
1 Tight-Knit In-Game Community
Despite its age as an MMO, TSW Legends does maintain a tight-knit community of players. Aside from having official forums on the Funcom website, there's also a dedicated subreddit for TSW Legends. Granted, there are only currently 9.1k users in the subreddit, it's still a pretty tight community of both players and fans of the lore.
Moreover, players with a keen interest in the paranormal and supernaturally-charged conspiracy theories would find a familiar community in TSW Legends. Thanks to its concepts tackling themes related to the paranormal, pseudoscience, and horror fiction in general, TSW Legends has and still maintains such a niche but tight-knit fanbase.