Preview by: Toni Schwartz

Funcom has slyly been leaking drips and drabs of information on its upcoming MMO The Secret World. Staying true to the game’s title, the developer has remained relatively mum about its most ambitious title yet, using some clever viral marketing in the form of blogs and websites based on a fictional town in the game. But at this year’s Game Developers Conference, Funcom has lifted the veil of secrecy a bit higher and invited us to view some in-game footage and talk more about the game.

Currently, most MMOs fall into two genres: sci-fi and basic fantasy. In contrast, The Secret World takes place in the present day, with characters that look like regular, real people – not a single elf or alien in the mix. And while there are some fictional locations, TSW also features real cities like London, Seoul, and New York. Of course not everything is as it seems, or it’d be a pretty dull game. Sinister and primal creatures lie beneath these modern-day cities. The game mixes realism and fantasy—think X-Files combined with a dash of HP Lovecraft and you get a better idea of what The Secret World is like.

The presentation began with a trailer detailing the downfall of the fictional New England town of Kingsmouth. (Not to be confused with Innsmouth…) A voiceover explains that one day a fog rolled in and took most of the townspeople, who returned as zombies. The trailer ended and the in-game footage began. TSW uses the same engine as Age of Conan and like that game the graphics look sharp and crisp, with a nearly seamless transition from the cutscene to the in-game footage.

Story is a primary focus in TSW as opposed to the standard MMO format. For example, when you speak to a quest giver, you activate a mission cinematic rather than just read a piece of text. While this surely improves immersion, it may be a turn off for players who just read the last line of text to know what to kill or where to go. Furthermore, some quest givers are a little vague in that they won’t just tell you to say, kill ten zombies. It’s up to you to figure out what they want.