We went on tour with Funcom's Tor Egil Andersen, taking a close look at Egypt, Transylvania and the Darkness War Dungeon.

Transylvania Knights

While the sun and Sand of Egypt is great for a holiday, it’s not the final destination on our journey through The Secret World. That honor goes to Transylvania, an area with some of the greatest myths and legends ever created. We were lucky enough to get a guided tour from Funcom’s junior communications manager Tor Egil Andersen, who took us through some of the key locations.

Vampires do exist in this world, and it’s a crusade by these creatures that draws the attention of the secret societies. But don’t go in expecting any Bram Stoker or Twilight nonsense – the region is based around the tales of Vlad Tepes. Just as with Egypt and Solomon Island, this is just the top layer of something far sinister.

The playfields of The Besieged Farmlands and The Shadowy Forest are both endgame areas, designed for characters kitted out with a full complement of Quality Level (QL) 10 gear. It’s also expected that players will have picked up a range of abilities, providing a selection of builds that can handle different circumstances. Andersen explained that many monsters in Transylvania are immune to certain debuffs, making even normal creatures a challenge. We’ll need new builds with self-healing, high defenses and so on to handle certain situations, especially when fighting alone.

It’s clear that vampire society hasn’t been standing still since the time of Vlad Tepes. By wearing thick, heavy clothes, most can venture outside during the day. Some of them have deformed through experimentation during the Russian Occupation following World War II, becoming incredibly powerful front-line soldiers in the Vampire Crusade. Others rely on human husks, laden with blood, to restore their health during combat.

We weren’t alone in our fight against the vampires. The Draculesti, an order founded by the father of Vlad Tepes, still existed among the Romani People. From small, isolated camps, we’d venture out into the forests and desecrated villages, and go hunting.

Consumed By Darkness

We were also given a tour through The Darkness War, a five person dungeon aimed at players around QL 6 or 7. Found in the Wabanaki park on Solomon Island’s Blue Mountain, the six boss encounter provided us with a glimpse of events on the island a thousand years ago. We entered through a dream…

Although the modern-day Wabanaki live in trailer parks and build casinos, their lives were dramatically different a millennia ago. Mayans had invaded, butchering the native Indians in their search for a particular place of power. We quickly waded in, launching a volley of magic and gunfire. But these weren’t ordinary humans – a dark, corrupting influence was bolstering them.

Just like Hell Rising, The Darkness War includes very few trash mobs. Instead, the journey time between boss fights is filled with narrated whispers that unfold the story, the surrounding landmarks becoming a picture-book accompaniment. A stripe-sailed longboat marks the point where Vikings came ashore, throwing themselves against the corrupted Mayans, while rowed galleons mark where the Mayans themselves landed.

The bosses add to this, both in terms of the story and in terms of learning the techniques needed to defeat them. The earlier bosses charge up foot soldiers to explode if they get close to us, or become empowered by devouring their souls. Later on, Mayan Sorcerers create dramatic vortexes, forcing us to huddle or spread out, the spell markings written in Mayan script. Towards the end, we see these effects combined, making fights more challenging. That doesn’t mean we’re prepared for everything, as the final boss – a giant tar-dragon-voidbeast-thing – has several tricks up his ferocious sleeves. 

The Aftermath

While we recovered from The Darkness War, Andersen explained that there would be several versions available. All the Solomon Island and Egypt dungeons would have three versions available – one at a suitable entry level, one for QL10 characters and a heroic mode version available for players who crave a challenge. Heroic modes will require players with a wide breadth of abilities to meet the various challenges, in what Andersen describes as “horizontal progression”.

Andersen also explained the reason why there’s no resurrection ability in the game, either in or out of combat. Essentially, the team felt that if they had put the ability in, everyone would have felt the need to learn it. But with no ability resources such as mana, characters can potentially fight infinitely. It’s why there are several anima wells in dungeons, but they form a prison during combat 

For those who prefer the open world, there will also be a range of outdoor bosses that will require groups to take down. Known as Lairs, these creatures inhabit a particular region and will exist on a long respawn timer. More common monsters will also have “True” variants, which will have special properties, such as only taking damage while hindered, requiring special tactics.

Although players can form groups through their cabal, secret society or even a mix of societies, Andersen revealed that a group finder is also being worked on in order to make this content even easier to experience. He added that, although it might not be ready for the game’s launch in early July, it would appear shortly afterwards.

The Secret World continues to share its secrets, taunting us with rumors and shadows. But even though we’ve spent some serious time in this alternative imagining of the modern day, we still don’t know what’s truly going on. Behind every face, every villain, is another layer of mystery.

Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer, Staff Writer