The Secret World to be revealed at GDC

By Oli Welsh Published 10 March, 2009

Funcom finally lifting lid on next MMO.

Funcom has announced that it will be revealing the first concrete details on its next MMO, The Secret World, at GDC this month.

Director Ragnar Tornquist - creator of respected adventure games The Longest Journey and Dreamfall - will be meeting the press in San Francisco to "share his vision" of the game. Little is known about it at present, other than its setting, which is said to combine present-day locations with dark fantasy and ancient conspiracies.

Tornqusit recently revealed on his blog that the game's design was undergoing "big changes", and that it would not be "a WOW clone". (Our report on this led to Tornquist calling Eurogamer "the Eye of Sauron", but we won't hold it against him.)

All eyes will be on The Secret World after Funcom's Age of Conan stumbled at launch last year. We'll be at GDC, so check back in a couple of weeks for the first info.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Branoic #1 3 years ago

    If their last effort is anything to go by, they should probably put the lid back down for at least another two years...

  • Entity #2 3 years ago

    "which is said to combine present-day locations with dark fantasy and ancient conspiracies."

    That's me out! I want flowers and fluffy purple bunnies in this credit crunch time

  • Domovoi #3 3 years ago

    It's not a WoW-clone, because the NPC's want you to kill 20 shoggoths instead of 30 wolves.

    Yeah, yeah, cynical. But with every new MMO claiming "not to be a WoW clone" and then offering the exact same gameplay as WoW, it's hard to get excited about statements like those anymore.

    Here's hoping somebody is finally going to drop those DikuMUD/Everquest mechanics WoW and every other MMORPG is based on, though.
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 14:37

  • JahB #4 3 years ago

    "which is said to combine present-day locations with dark fantasy and ancient conspiracies."

    yeah because that worked so well for hellgate london...

    oh wait

  • mkreku #5 3 years ago

    But I need to know the ending of the Longest Journey trilogy!!1!

    DAMN YOU, RAGNAR!

  • Farfarer #6 3 years ago

    Sod the MMOs, just give us Dreamfall Chapters :(

  • Slabbathepave #7 3 years ago

    Where is iokthemonkey? Come on man dont let me down.....

  • ChthonicEcho #8 3 years ago

    Aye, Dreamfall, if you please. Couldn't care less about this MMO. Ragnar promised to bring the story to us through whatever medium, whatever it takes; the man even said to share his story in its rough form on the Internet, if he has to. Three years has passed, and not a single word.

  • iokthemonkey #9 3 years ago

    Where is iokthemonkey? Come on man dont let me down.....

    ----

    Well, seeing as I've been summoned...

    I look forward to seeing this. I'm interested in seeing what my AoC subscriptions funded, as they certainly didn't pay for any work on THAT game!

    BADUM-CHA.

    Thanks, I'm here all week.

    Unfortunately.

  • Evolution #10 3 years ago

    Yes Funcom hurry up with this so you can get to working on Dreamfall Chapters!

  • Eraysor #11 3 years ago

    I know it's going to fail, but I have so much hope for this game. Lovecraft for the win!

    EDIT: Was anyone else around here when they had that rather epic alternate reality game featured on EG to advertise this game? It had a puzzle and a picture of London destroyed by some cataclysmic event.
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 16:29

  • ZuluHero #12 3 years ago

    Yeah, yeah, cynical. But with every new MMO claiming "not to be a WoW clone" and then offering the exact same gameplay as WoW, it's hard to get excited about statements like those anymore.

    Well believe it or not WoW didn't reinvent the wheel - mmo gameplay has been formulaic for sometime now... :)
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 17:06

  • Spekingur #13 3 years ago

    I don't know what some of you are complaining about. I'm starving for a new MMO.

    Also, Hellgate London is cool. The hype that surrounded it was very misplaced because it promised "London in hell" with places that you'd know. Which wasn't true, of course. The game was fun nonetheless.

  • Domovoi #14 3 years ago

    Well believe it or not WoW didn't reinvent the wheel - mmo gameplay has been formulaic for sometime now... :)

    Yeah... I think I mentioned DikuMUD and Everquest in the part you chose not to quote. :)

    I don't know what some of you are complaining about. I'm starving for a new MMO.

    Me too. Too bad we're only getting WoW with different skins and quest texts.
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 22:20

  • space_ace #15 3 years ago

    yes, dreamfall plz

  • SleepyMagpie #16 3 years ago

    Everybody loves the Lovecraft it seems, and I'd really like to see how this would turn out, but I just don't understand how they'll be able to fund further development..? Here's hoping.