In the dark fantasy MMO The Secret World, one of the mission designers shares insights into his unique relationship with the creepy quest “The Black House” and dreams of a grand haunted house.
The Secret World has long been praised for its deep, atmospheric, and brilliantly written quests. In a Q&A session with mission designer “Ebon”, he opens up about his experiences. Especially the question about the quest he likes the least gets him chatting. “The Black House” is both one of his favorite quests and one he struggles with. It’s a classic ghost story about a cursed, completely burned-down house – heavily inspired by the Ocean Hotel from Vampire: The Masquerade.
Here is a video from the Ocean Hotel scene in the cult game Vampire: The Masquerade that inspired the designer (Explicitly: The gameplay is not from The Secret World):
The Black House: Difficult to Add Horror Multiplayer
It was one of the first missions where he experimented with “non-combat” oriented gameplay. The problem, however, was that the multiplayer aspect was not manageable. If two players entered the bathroom, both would see the door slam shut with a bang, but only one would have the hallucination of the room reverting to its pre-fire state. The other does not see this hallucination.
The mission designer explains that he is a big fan of horror movies, which usually adapt well into games, but rarely with multiplayer in mind. He wishes he had more money and time to create a large “Haunted Mansion” where groups of players have a different experience than single players, constantly wondering: “What is real? And what am I just imagining?”
We found a playthrough of the mission on YouTube; the “Black House” is located in the second area “The Savage Coast”:
