With the head start of the relaunch of The Secret World into the new Free-to-Play Secret World Legends happening on Friday, June 23rd, and the official launch of Secret World Legends happening on the 26th, there isn’t much time left. Anticipation levels are running quite high as Funcom has been relatively tight lipped for the past couple months on complete details on the new game, including keeping beta testers under NDA up until launch and eschewing an open beta entirely.  Still, in true Secret World fashion, a new ARG has come into play as a lead into Secret World Legends’ launch entitled “Kiss of the Revenant”.

If you’ve never played The Secret World then let me be the first to tell you about the game’s famed ‘investigation missions’. They are on a complete other level of devious. You think you’ve encountered tricky puzzles in other games, have you? Have those puzzles needed you to translate Morse Code from flashing headlights, research passages in the Vulgate Bible, or brush up on your Romanian? Didn’t think so. Solving these puzzles is a complete head rush, and the sense of accomplishment is like no other. Sure, you could just look up the answers, but you’d be shorting yourself of one of the best experiences in gaming today.

With that sort of history to live up to, this lead up has to be smart. To that effect, Funcom had the makers of one of the game’s previous tie-in ARGs, Alice & Smith of The Black Watchmen fame, set to work creating a new ARG to celebrate the release. According to a June 16th press release from Funcom, Kiss of the Revenant will have participants “Focusing on the solving of intricate puzzles and mysteries” where an “unsettling storyteller invites players to take a second look at a tragic love story on the Savage Coast”, the second zone of the game, which is also the location of The Secret World spin-off The Park. “Players will be challenged to decipher and perform a ritual that crafts an exclusive set of weapons for use in ‘Secret World Legends’.”

The ARG is currently up and running with participants helping to unlock milestones to release further content as the game progresses. It will run up to the launch of Secret World Legends on June 26th, 2017, and is free to participate. Just head to www.KissoftheRevenant.com to join. Also, be sure to check out the relaunch of Secret World Legends, starting Monday, June 26th, 2017. Details can be found at www.SecretWorldLegends.com. I know I’ll be checking it out and streaming it often as it has been hands-down my favorite MMO to date, and I can’t wait to see where the story will finally lead, to Tokyo and beyond.

Sidenote: Come check out the premier Secret World podcast Beyond the Veil’s live broadcast this Thursday, June 22nd, on Twitch. The show’s hosts, including myself, will be interviewing Andrea Doyon from Alice & Smith as well as Romain Amiel, Game Director of The Secret World and Secret World Legends.