Funcom has just released the first every trailer of Ragnar Tornquist’s uniquely styled The Secret World, which is shaping up to be a very different kind of MMO.
The concept behind The Secret World involves taking the real world as we know it, and overlaying it onto a contemporary dark fantasy world of warped horror. Urban locations, with a familiarity we all recognised, interspersed with fantastical elements of our nightmares and fears.
As an MMO, The Secret World be unique in that it has no classes. Characters will be freely definable from a large pool of unique skills… and not all of them will be based on combat. In fact, the game will blend elements of both fighting and puzzle-solving, which certainly hasn’t been seen before in the genre.
The Secret World is currently planned for release on the PC and Xbox 360 at an unspecified date. Don’t be expecting it before 2010 at least.
Enjoy the trailer, and be sure to click the HD button to see it as its best quality.
Holy hell that was exciting. I can’t wait for this game to be released.
There’s an interview with the director here (in Norwegian):
http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/04/07/kultur/spill/funcom/the_secret_world/onlinespill/5659578/
Summary:
- The secret world takes place in our world. Imagine Pandoras Box opened up during the polar expedition in 1923, and 100 years later an underground conspiracy is revealed.
- You start the game as a normal person and select what city you wish to begin in. (e.g. London, New York or Seoul)
- There are no classes or levels, everything is skill based. (I’m guessing they mean real-life skills, like most single player games)
- Active fighting is an important part. This is a fighting system based on reaction, but no autofighting by button pressing (I’m guessing they mean quick-time events).
- Several methods of fighting dependent on items and skills your character has: e.g. voodoo dolls, martial arts, swords, shotguns, black magic
- Heavily inspired by history, mythologies, urban legends and pop culture.
- Been in development since 2002.
Did any of you notice that her tattoos light up just before she uses her firemagic?
Gamereactor also has an extended interview with Tørnquist where he offers some more information about the game:
http://www.gamereactor.no/grtv/?id=4392&l=GDC
I am intrigued, I shall find some more out about this, as it looks very fun. =)