Durham, USA – April 7th, 2009 – Dark days are coming. The words are now everywhere. After deciding to make the development its next massively multiplayer online game a little less secret, Funcom have now released information, artworks and the first ever trailer video for ‘The Secret World’. Journalists across the world recently had the chance to sit down and talk to game director Ragnar Tørnquist about the new game and hear his vision, thus generating reports on websites everywhere such as Eurogamer, GameTrailers, and MMORPG.com.

“It is great to finally be able to talk about The Secret World, after several years in the dark,” says senior producer and director Ragnar Tørnquist. “The real world is such a rich and fascinating setting for an MMO, and we are able to draw inspiration from ancient history, stories of lost cities and forgotten civilizations, folktales, urban legends, conspiracy theories and pop culture. We are building a game that mixes modern day Earth with terrifying monsters, dark and occult magic, cool weapons and awesome powers – and it’s unlike anything you have ever seen before in an MMO.”

‘The Secret World’ takes place in our own, modern-day world. Players can explore locations such as New York, London, and Seoul, as they unravel the mysteries, legends and myths that make up our world and its history. But the real and realistic will clash with the unreal and fantastical, as the darkness of the secret world approaches. Not only will ‘The Secret World’ offer a setting never before experienced in an MMO, Funcom is also expanding on the genre standards by introducing gameplay that is not based on classes or levels. Players will have the freedom to become whatever they want to be and play however they want to play, allowing them to explore the world at will and master anything from voodoo and black magic to martial arts and modern firearms.

By following this link you can download a fact sheet, artworks, and the first ever trailer video for ‘The Secret World’. These assets are meant to capture the spirit and vision of the game and its world, giving the viewer a small, but significant glimpse into what can be expected when the game is launched. Funcom have also made updates to the official website – www.darkdaysarecoming.com – and gamers are now invited to leave their name and e-mail. In the future, exclusive information will be provided to those who choose to sign up.

IGN is the latest site to show up with a preview for The Secret World. In their preview they confirm that there are other videos which have not been seen by the public yet. There is a longer version of the HD trailer that was released today, which we will have to wait to see.

“The gist of the videos goes something like this: a normal human in the real world is going about everyday tasks when they suddenly encounter something completely supernatural or paranormal. Then the gloves come off. This is a game that’s going to be centered heavily on combat. It’s also interesting because it’s an MMO that will not have rigid classes or even experience levels. Instead, you can amass different abilities into you character and, if you want, you can respec your character at any time. Instead of creating a new character from scratch, just take your existing character and modify abilities as needed.”

Here’s another little bit on budget and voice actors:

“This is also a big budget project. Ragnar said that the game currently has a voice cast of more than 100 actors, and that they’ve recorded in cities around the globe, including New York and London. This sounds similar to Funcom’s adventure game Dreamfall, which had a stellar voice cast that was also assembled from around the globe.”

CryGaia has posted the fact sheet for The Secret World. The poster covers the very basics of the game. You can also find links to the trailers and screenshots in the forum here.

Nyte of CryGaia has started a thread in the official TSW Forum for fans of the upcoming game to post potential interview questions. Ragnar Tornquist will be fielding the questions for this community Q&A.

MMO Hub takes their first look at The Secret World, along with the rest of the GDC 2009 press. Here’s a snip on the subject of platforms.

Right now, “The Secret World” is planned for 360 and PC, and both versions will remain unique; so no playing on a PC with your 360 pals. The developers are trying to keep the games basically the same, but obviously issues of control, chat, etc. will differ. One thing that they did make clear is that, since some people will prefer to use controllers given the realtime, skill-oriented combat, the PC version will offer full Xbox 360 controller support, and settings to make it play just fine with one.

As for a PS3 or Mac version? Those are in the air until they see how other titles do with their launches on the two consoles.

The GDC 2009 The Secret World trailer kicks serious butt. And I do mean SERIOUS! So if you haven’t seen it yet, stop by VE3D for a look! This should get everyone’s blood pumping for TSW pretty good.

Head over to Eurogamer.net for a look at their GDC 2009 experience with The Secret World. Over the course of three pages they bring us what they got out of the presentation. Curious about loot? Here’s a tiny snip:

It’s not going to be loot in a traditional sense, but there will be a lot of really cool items you can use to enhance your character. It’s going to be a lot about the skills you get, but it’s also going to be a lot about the weapons.

If you haven’t stopped by recently, check out Funcom’s Dark Days Are Coming site, where they have given it a bit of a redesign. You can now sign up for The Secret World mailing list, which I assume will shoot us newsletters eventually!

MMORPG.com has posted a TSW video interview with Ragnar Tørnquist, while at GDC 2009. Ragnar explains a bit about the concept of The Secret World. In Part I they talk about the setting and character development. Part II goes on to talk about similarities and differences between The Secret World and Age of Conan.

Massively features their preview of The Secret World from GDC 2009, and an interview with Funcom’s Ragnar Tørnquist. Here’s a little chunk on gameplay and travel.

I want to emphasize that this won’t be something like Grand Theft Auto with magic, with a focus on huge, huge open cities. They are reasonably small places where you will start out and take the adventure from there. But one very important thing to note is that this sounds like a very fragmented world. London, New York, Seoul, those cities are a long way away from each other. But we are creating, or at least trying to create, a pretty seamless world. This means there are ways of getting from London to New York very quickly, and we are focusing on that. You won’t be just walking up to a plane, clicking on it, and getting a red line that quickly points to where you’re going and boom, you’re there. You will be moving in real-time from London to New York, just a lot quicker.