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The Secret World goes free to play

That's right, you no longer need a subscription to save the world as part of a secret society.

Nic Healey Senior Editor / Australia
Nic Healey is a Senior Editor with CNET, based in the Australia office. His passions include bourbon, video games and boring strangers with photos of his cat.
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Nic Healey
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That's right, you no longer need a subscription to save the world as part of a secret society.

(Credit: Funcom)

It's not exactly surprising news — we were predicting it back in August — but the brave new MMO The Secret World has finally gone free-to-play. And there appears to be no restrictions, unlike Star Wars: The Old Republic — in fact, buy before 31 December, and all the content from the upcoming Issue 5 will be included.

However, being a games developer, Funcom still wants your money, so there's an optional subscription model. According to the website, if you keep giving them the same monthly fee as before, you will also get the following:

  • Time Accelerator (a clickable item that increases experience gain for defeating monsters by 100 per cent for 1 hour, 16 hour cool-down — only usable by Members and Grand Masters)

  • $10 worth of Bonus Points (given out every month)

  • Item-of-the-month gift (given out every month)

  • 10 per cent discount on everything in the in-game store.

Plus:

The Grandmaster pack includes all these benefits and gets an additional 10 per cent discount to everything in the in-game store, for a total bonus of 20 per cent. So being a Grandmaster is better than ever! Through the month of December, we have a special offer where we give 30 per cent off on the first purchase on the three, six and 12 month membership plans.

We love The Secret World — it's a genuinely clever and bold style of gaming, and we recommend that people have a go. So, for just US$30 — and no more to pay — you can grab a copy and see for yourself.