The Secret World
Gameplay
Little is known at present about Funcom's 'The Secret World' beyond what the company has chosen to divulge. From what has been told, it does not contain a traditional system of classes or levels to dictate how to progress through the game, or what a player can choose to do when progressing. According to the company, this means that there will be a lack of level grinding; a feature of many role playing and online games that can put players off by making them feel like they are not making any progress and will never get anywhere in the game.
Player characters can also be customized, much like in Mass Effect and Dragon Age. The degree to which customization can be taken is unclear, though Funcom have stated that characters will be "highly customizable". As well as customizing one's physical appearance, a player is able to customize their weapon loadout and powers. The system of powers, as yet, is not clear. What benefits it will provide are not yet certain but options include both martial arts and black magic; presumably meaning that they could have a hand in sculpting your character as someone who is good or evil within the game world. Weapons available are standard fare for most MMO titles, consisting mainly of swords, axes, and other medieval weapons as well as spells.
The manner in which the game is designed is also intended to be less punishing to those who prefer to play as 'lone wolves', as most tasks do not demand team-work and co-operation in order to stand a chance at completing them. The manner in which missions are designed allows for three main formats. These formats are as follows:
- Investigation
- Sabotage
- Hunting
With the format the missions are laid out in, it is clear that the game will be story driven. This is relatively unique due to the fact that most MMO titles place their focus upon player interaction as opposed to story progression. During the game, players will take on the role of a customizable modern day hero, and select the formats of missions they want to complete. Whether a player should prefer to kill monsters or discover the world around them, or perform other tasks in the game world is entirely their choice. Missions can also devolve and chaos can erupt, with monsters lurking the street being able to ambush the player.
Setting
The Secret World incorporates more than one world, as would be expected from the name. It holds two different worlds; the real world, and a parallel world incorporating mythology, legends and pop culture. The secret world of the title is described by the game's director as being "dark fantasy", containing vampires, demons, and zombies. The usage of the term 'world' is accurate, as players are able to travel between different locations. The locations currently known are London, New York and Egypt, though time travel is also possible, and due to the different groups it seems probable than an Asian location will be included. Another trait that is relatively unique for an MMO title is that all NPCs in the game are voiced; the director for the game's production, Ragnar Tørnquist, has stated that over 100 voice actors have been hired to play a role in the game.
Factions
At the official site for the game a quiz exists, in order to gauge your compatibility with the three different factions should you not know which faction you intend to align yourself with. The importance of factions in the game is currently unclear as their usage has not been defined. However, there are three known factions. It is possible that more will be available when the game releases. The factions are as follows:
Dragon
The Dragon faction are an ancient group originating in China. They are highly intelligent and philosophical in their work, with their logo resembling the traditional design of a dragon head. The Dragons believe in chaos and only through the natural chaos of life, can the world be in harmony. There can be no fixed structure or territory and so the most mysterious of secret societies have been broken up only to rebuild itself once more throughout time. The rebuilding starts with the silent monks striving to find the order's new leader, always a child who they will guard fiercely. The order uses a variety of mental and martial arts to fight its enemies. Lactation Korea, Seoul.
"Change requires chaos, and chaos is ours to orchestrate."
Templar
The Templar are a secret society in the world that aim to rid the world of what they deem evil, and will pursue their goals single-mindedly with no consideration of the cost or sacrifice needed to achieve the goals they have set out. Their society's lineage can be traced back to the days of Babylon, that includes royal families, private armies and members of parliaments.
The templars hail from Europe and have set up headquarter in London, here templars resides in plain view for all to see in the grand marble mansion.
The loins of the old world is a fierce force to be reckoned with, who through 1000 of years have fought evil where they perceive its darkness, never backing down. It is said that as a templar you "are" the war on darkness. The military might of the templars can be seen in the vast occult libraries, accumulated knowledge earned throughout history in the hard won battles against the darkness. The templars use magic, the old mysticism of sorcerers and priests, of life and death to obliterate evil in all its forms.
“There is no purpose greater than ours”
Illuminati
The Illuminati are synonymous with the term 'secret society'. Represented by the 'Eye of Providence' they are assumed to be one of the most secretive groups ever, boasting members such as Benjamin Franklin according to conspiracy theorists. Their main goal is financial prosperity of a nature that could barely be considered, with the group being linked to the United States government and the Federal Reserve by other conspiracy theorists.
Trailers
The first ever trailer was officially shown on April 7th 2009, and the second was shown at PAX09 on September 5th. The trailers displayed characters from each of the factions as well as probable enemies. Due to the large gap between the game release and the trailers there is a good chance of the game enemy models as well as key character models changing. The in-game trailer also displays combat against bosses, and cooperation among teammates. These trailers were available at the official site.
Marketing
The first piece of information given about the game was intended to coincide with the release of the first piece of media for the game, on April 7th 2009. Forum members at the game's official website were able to participate in an alternative-reality game in order to help promote the game. Inside the community, different members received email from someone named "Adeline Belmont". Adeline asked these users who were contacted to help her. These users, and other users, were then contacted by someone called "A Friend", who deceived some of the users in order to find out her 'location'. The conflict was not a real event; merely being simulated by Funcom in order to advertise and market their game to these users. The user called "A Friend" then vandalized the website in order to try and remove information uncovered by users, who discovered a site named Sanctuary of Secrets. Adeline Belmont also has some codes to crack and wants the users to crack a code that she believes will give her some information about her family. Should anyone crack these codes they receive a code presumed to be used for a beta, or redeemable in the full game when it launches.
