Editorial: Where is The Secret World

Back in May of 2007, we learned about a new project coming from Funcom. This new project would be called 'The Secret World' and would be "inspired by history and mythology, modern conspiracy theories and ancient mysteries." The game Is supposed to be releasing for both the PC and the Xbox.

Funcom has two major MMO releases on the market, Anarchy Online, and Age of Conan. AO is an MMO based on a sci-fi future, while Age of Conan reckons back to the past. The Secret World, one must assume in the interest of cosmic and genre balance, is based in today's world. There is, of course, a catch. Here's how the original press release described it:

"For there really is a world within ours, a secret world, where magic exists, monsters roam and ancient forces are fighting for the dominance of earth."

I am sure that as some of you sit there reading this asking why it is that I'm bringing this up now. After all, there hasn't been a whole lot of information available about the upcoming game. Not particularly surprising given the fact that Funcom's attention has been sharply focused on Age of Conan.

On January 18th though, the director of The Secret World Ragnar Tornquist project updated his blog at the aptly named RagnarTornquist.com.

"Another year?" Tornquist asks in the blog, addressing the question of how long we will have to wait for new information. "No, certainly not. 2009 will be the year where you learn about the secret world and begin to D2D (though I did warn you about that part) and play a role in unravelling the vast conspiracies that span oceans of time and space."

Tornquist also mentioned that the game has gone through some substantial changes in the last little while. He tells us that they haven't changed the setting or the story or the premise of the game, it's the gameplay that's getting a second look makeover.

"We want The Secret World to stand out and be remembered - obviously. To not be just another MMORPG, a WoW clone, of which there are already too many. We're going to play up the strengths of our universe and differentiate ourselves in both the setting and the gameplay - and particularly in how players can become exactly who they want to be, their secret selves, both visually and in terms of powers. Everyday adventurers and superheroes; guardians of the secret world; champions of Gaia. Warriors. Explorers. Cryptologists. Cryptozoologists. Mystics. Magi. Demonologists. Storytellers. Historians. Travellers. Lovers."

While we don't have any real new information to share on the game other than the fact that we can look forward to new information coming out this year, we thought we would present this editorial just to remind people of the game's existence.