How do you tour Solomon Island? With a montage video and a detour through Hell! We tried out a 5-man dungeon, before paying a visit to Blue Mountain.

Mountain Blues

As we emerged from the mountain tunnel, it rapidly became clear that the situation on Solomon Island was deteriorating. The sea-dwelling Draug had invaded most of the western shoreline, fortifying their position with slimy, pulsating, organic structures. The zombie infestation was present here as well, along with the Ak’ab pushing forward through burrows in the mountain.

Yet none of these horrors dominated as much as The Filth. This sentient biohazard was like an oil slick given life, its thick, chaotic tendrils corrupting anything it touched. Although we’d seen isolated pools of The Filth earlier in our travels, in the shadow of the Blue Mountain it coated the landscape. And we were being sent into the thick of it.

It was also here where the armed forces finally decided to put in an appearance, together with representatives from Homeland Security. Our first impressions of the Office of National Paranormal Security Management and Intelligence (OMPSMI) were inept loudmouths who had no idea what they’d arrived in the middle of. There was talk of forces “beyond the fog” that would purge Solomon Island if needed, but we doubted it would bring an end to the evils.

One of the few untouched places in the region was the Wabanaki Indian Reservation, home to a small trailer park, craft store and living history museum. Whether it was their rapid defense or some form of natural ward against evil, the group appeared to be holding its own against the zombies and wendigo. Either way, they fared better than the powerful Ororchi Group, its nearby outpost now occupied by uniformed undead.

Dark Days Are Coming

Demonstrating that this is still a beta, the game engine itself is undergoing a few enhancements. Funcom has teamed up with Nvidia to incorporate DirectX 11 features such as tessellation, giving further detail to objects on hardware that supports it. It’s likely that the game will look better than current screenshots and videos show.

As further beta weekends approach, we’ll leap back into Agartha and find out which new locations open up for us. And while The Secret War Facebook game may have ended, new missions have emerged for each secret society. The tasks are unclear, the rewards unknown, but the puzzles are intriguing.

The Blue Mountain marks the final chapter in the tale of Solomon Island, with the central storyline spurring you onward through the zone. While there were plenty of side missions to keep us busy on our travels, we never lost that sense of being part of a persistent thread. Though our adventure on Solomon Island might be over for now, it’s only the beginning of our saga in The Secret World.

Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer, Staff Writer