Funcom, the studio that created the critically acclaimed MMO game Age of Conan and adventure classics like The Longest Journey and Dreamfall have been developing a new, exciting, and ambitious MMO called The Secret World for four years now. Until this moment, we had only two cinematics and a small amount of information… We have with us Ragnar Tornquist, producer and director of The Secret World to answer some of the questions we have and explain exactly why we should be hyped about his latest project.



UGDB: When you announced the game last year, the basic idea of the plot was to tell a story about the mystery year 2012, the Illuminati, world conspires, great secrets and stuff like that. There was a strange riddle leading to a Flash page with a countdown timer that presumably will reach zero on December 21, 2012. After that you stopped talking about this date. Is the storyline of the game now changed and what is the plot in The Secret World right now?

Ragnar Tornquist: The storyline hasn't really changed since production began back in 2006. It's actually still surprisingly close to our original idea from 2002, although the setting and time period did go through some radical changes before we started production.

As for the plot, I can't say much at this point. It's deep, it's involving, it's surprising, and it's the most fun I've ever had with a story. Hopefully we can talk more about that soon.



UGDB: How you have come up with the ideas behind The Secret World? Is it fair to say that the setting of the game was inspired by The Longest Journey series, where both magic and science exists? Are there any gameplay features, which were inspired by April Ryan’s adventures?

RT: I guess you could say that both The Longest Journey, Dreamfall and The Secret World have drawn inspiration from similar sources, although the dual reality in TSW is quite different from that in TLJ. In TSW, the two worlds are, in essence, one and the same, but the magic and the mysteries are concealed from most of us to protect us. TSW's world is the real world, but with the veil drawn back to expose the hidden truths: that there are monsters, that all the myths and legends are true, that gods and demons walk among us, and that the world is controlled by powerful forces. And that evil is rising from the dark places.



UGDB: In some of the previous interviews, you said that the battles in the game won’t be static and the players will move, jump, etc. around their enemy. What can you tell us about the combat system? Is there going to be a lot of button mashing? Will it resemble the one in Age of Conan or it will be something completely different?

RT: It will be something completely different, but still grounded in recognisable RPG rules. You'll have to move, you'll have to keep your aim, you need to be more vigilant and involved than in other MMORPGs - but at the end of the day the mechanics will also be quite familiar to most PC players. It's definitely 'pick up and play', but with enough bells and whistles to make it look and feel fresh and new. As for button mashing? That depends on your choice of powers and weapons, but if you're wielding a shotgun and fighting zombies - there's definitely going to be some frantic mashing of buttons! In a good way, of course.



UGDB: The constant grinding for better equipment and XP is the plague of modern day MMORPGs. We already know that there will be neither levels, nor classes in The Secret World and the player’s character will be build through a skill-based system. What can you tell us about this system and if there is no grinding, then what are we going to do in this game?

RT: You're going to have fun! Our goal is to make sure that players can sit down and play this game and enjoy themselves from the very beginning. You don't start out fighting rats with a rusty sword. You get cool firearms, black magic, occult weapons from the outset - and you're fighting demons and the undead, not wild boar or petty criminals.

There will be tons of missions, spread out across an open world - there's PvP if that's your cup of tea, there's weapon upgrades, there's exploration, achievements... If you want to focus on going around and killing monsters, you can do that, and if you like the grind you can do the grind, but you don't have to - and that's the point. You get to create your own experience, and you get to have fun with it. This game isn't a full time job. It's entertainment, first and foremost.



UGDB: There is not so much information about the PvE and the PvP part of the game. Are there going to be instance based dungeons for example? What are your plans concerning the PvP gameplay?

RT: There will be 'dungeons', though we'll probably call them something else. The word dungeon conjures up images of dark castles and dank cellars, and our dungeons are far from that. These areas will be instanced for your party, and provide more intriguing scripted experiences than we can do in the massively multiplayer world.

We've talked quite a bit about our PvP lately, and revealed that there are three secret societies battling for control over resources inside the Hollow Earth - a place called Agartha. These battles take place on a persistent map consisting of lots of smaller cells, and involve taking control over individual cells and protecting them from the other factions. Players gain both resources and other benefits from these cells, which again helps them in both the PvP and the PvE - things like weapon upgrades, for example, or bonuses and buffs.



UGDB: What can you tell us about the recently revealed three main “secret societies” (the playable factions) Illuminati, Dragon and Templars? And since we’re talking about secret societies such as the Dragon – is it just us or there are references to Annunaki, the ancient lizard-like Gods (called Nephilim in the Bible)?

RT: I would suggest that your readers take the personality test to find out which secret society they're best suited for! That way, they'll get to learn more about each society's philosophies.

We have three playable factions: The Templars, who are based in London and who are on a crusade against evil. They don't let anything stand in their way, and they're willing to raze a city to the ground if it means defeating the evil within. Then there are the Illuminati, based in New York, and these guys are more interested in gaining occult power and wealth. They're more secretive and prefer working behind the scenes to control the world. Of course, they're also fighting evil, but their motivations are different from their mortal enemies, the Templars. Finally, the Dragon is the joker in this deck of cards. They're based in Seoul and appear quite innocuous on the surface, but they like playing the other guys up against each other, and they believe in creating chaos in order to achieve balance.



UGDB: Once you finish development on The Secret World and the game is ready to be shipped, what are you going to do next? Are you going to have the whole team working on the future content for the game or the creative core will be transferred to another project. Dreamfall’s sequel, for example?

RT: There's a core team of people that I've worked with on previous projects, and that I plan on working with in the future - the guys who have been with TSW from day one. Most of the team will stay with TSW beyond launch, for as long as it's needed, but eventually this core group of people will get together and find out what we want to do next.

UGDB: A part of the game’s story is pure fiction, but there is a chance that some part of it is actually based on real events that were hidden from the general public. To what extend do you believe of the stories about the year 2012, the secret societies, world conspiracies, etc.?

RT: There's definitely stuff that's based on real events. How much of it? That remains to be seen.
As for what I believe? I believe there's much more to this world than most of us are aware of...