About the game
Secret World Legends is an action MMORPG set in the present day, built on one simple, potent premise: every urban legend, myth and conspiracy is real. It's the free-to-play relaunch that Funcom released in 2017 of The Secret World (2012), rebuilt for a fresh audience. Its true signature isn't the combat, but the story and the atmosphere.
A present day where the myths are true
You start by joining one of three secret societies —the Illuminati, the Templars or the Dragon— and from there you travel through settings inspired by real places: a New England town overrun by the undead, the Egyptian desert, the Transylvanian countryside. The tone is Lovecraftian horror, dense and grown-up, a long way from the genre's usual epic fantasy.
What really sets it apart are its investigation missions: puzzles that push you to hunt for clues, crack codes and even leave the game to find the answer. Add to that careful voice acting and writing well above the genre average. Combat is action-based, pairing two equippable weapons at once with an ability wheel that lets you build your own "class" with no fixed roles; it works, though today it feels more like the vehicle for the story than the main draw.
How the free-to-play works
The game is free to download and play and, most importantly, the entire story campaign is accessible without paying. The economy runs on two currencies: Marks of Favour, earned by playing, and Aurum, the premium currency bought with real money; the two trade for each other in an in-game market. The store mostly sells conveniences and cosmetics —character slots, inventory space, progression boosts, vanity items. There's also an optional subscription, Patron, that grants some bonuses and perks, but you don't need it to access any of the content.
Where it stands today
Secret World Legends is still online and playable from start to finish, but let's be honest: it's in de facto maintenance mode. Funcom keeps the servers up, runs seasonal events and maintains the store, but it hasn't shipped new story content in years and the roadmap has stalled. The population is small —on the order of dozens of concurrent players, with spikes during events— so in practice it plays better as a narrative adventure, solo or co-op, than as a growing MMO.
Who is it for?
If you're drawn to strange stories, a setting steeped in conspiracy and modern horror, and you don't mind a small-community MMO, there's an experience here that's hard to find anywhere else —and it's free. If you want a living endgame, a high population or active development, this isn't your game. You can start from the official site or straight from Steam.