There really is no better MMO to play during Halloween than The Secret World. I’m even lucky enough right now to be playing in Kingsmouth thanks to Murphy’s Lawbreakers. Kingsmouth is of course forever stuck in Halloween. Not only is it actually Halloween there, see the pumpkins sitting on porches and a roadside stand as evidence of this. But the entire setting screams Halloween horror.
You’re trapped in small town USA. Ok, sure in reality you could walk back through to Agartha anytime you wanted. But you feel for the people, the NPCs trapped in that town with no way out. And of course there is the zombie apocalypse which has come to the small coastal town. It wouldn’t be so bad except they’re fast zombies, the kind nightmares are made of. If Zombieland isn’t enough to get you in the Halloween spirit then you’re also treated to sea monsters and your first sightings of creatures with tentacles coming out of their heads. This is of course something that is a running theme throughout The Secret World.
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Need even more proof that Kingsmouth should be renamed Halloween Town? Forget the monsters, forget the zombies and just look at the town. It’s a creepy little town covered in Illuminati symbolism with streets literally named after H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe. Kingsmouth is the town that every horror book or movie has. Small coastal town with a friendly as can be sheriff, a crazy junk collecting gen-i-us, and strange goings-ons that no one is quite sure what to make of. Let’s also not forget Norma, the unassuming housewife with a shotgun and an itchy trigger finger.
Moving beyond the first zone you’re treated to a hotel with connections to hell almost immediately. Deeper into the Savage Coast you come up to the Atlantic Island Park. Basically, the themepark from hell. Every ride could be your last and they aren’t afraid to make you jump. This is one of those areas you don’t play in the dark with the lights off. The Savage Coast also offers you a treehouse of horrors and a horror novelist living in a lighthouse. These are just the first two zones in The Secret World and already they set an amazing tone.
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Blue Mountain is the last part of Solomon Island. It has mystical Indians, Kraken, a haunted house, and even Sasquatch. Though it is a little less in your face about being Halloween-scary-land than the two zones that came before it the theme still carries on with the scary monsters and ghosts. Never in my life have I looked at a house in a game and just said “Nope” like I did the first time I saw the Franklin Mansion. And oh boy did I have a good reason to be freaked out by it. Maybe this is a good time to say that I scare easily. Movies like Signs and The Forgotten are on my do not watch list. Despite this I love Halloween, which is why it makes me so sad that so few take on horror in an MMO.
But the feel of the game isn’t the only thing in The Secret World that is perfect for Halloween. They also have a fantastic Halloween event that grows every year. It began with The Cat God in which players travel to ancient Stonehenge to find out why all the cats in the world are acting odd. This was the first Halloween event The Secret World ever held in 2012. Last year they added Spooky Stories of Solomon Island. In it you track down spooky stories and take a book filled with them to Danny Dufresne. They also brought back The Cat God once again. This year we’re being treated to another new mission chain. Conspiracy Theorist Dave Screed who finds that the dead are listening to a radio broadcast from an age gone by. Though the event doesn’t begin until after this article has to be submitted we know that we will be hunting down this broadcast, not only looking for its source but looking for the reason its there. As if new content weren’t reason enough to be excited we’re also getting new loot! This loot will be tradable too which is great news as everyone really wants to be able to give things to their friends.
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On a final note to all of Murphy’s Lawbreakers out there I will not be attending our regular weekly meeting this week as I will be taking part in Extra Life. I’m playing to raise money for UC Davis Children’s Hospital in Northern California. I won’t be livestreaming or anything crazy like that. But I will be on Twitter for those 4 AM complaints about being tired and anything else that might come up. So if you’re interested follow me, @Lvrfmsc! The weekend after that is Halloween weekend so come dressed in your craziest outfit! Don’t forget the hat.
