Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The Secret World (Of Ladies And Birdmen)

By Jim Rossignol on September 7th, 2009 at 11:23 am.

Eeek! It's made of birds!
FunCom is soon to release a wad of new information about its MMO The Secret World (check out psychological profile for your faction recommendation), after being shown at PAX, but currently it’s still being kept secret by The Man. The moment we can kill them all we’ll have all the details, but until then you’ll have to make do with this really rather pretty CGI trailer. Clearly it reveals nothing of what happens in-game, but it suggests a lovely spooky atmosphere. And a pretty girl fighting a weird bird beast. Which is enough.

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67 Comments »

  1. 07/09/2009 at 11:34 phil says:

    Shotgun first, then start messing around with inaccurate area of effect attacks, has the girl not played Bioshock?

  2. 07/09/2009 at 11:35 vasagi says:

    im a dragon apparently after taking their crazy psych test

    this game is my real high hope for a change in mmo’s screw starwars, let the scandinavians lead the way.

  3. 07/09/2009 at 11:48 CMaster says:

    The thing about Secret World is that while the setting seems really interesting, I always end up thinking that the combat looks like it will end up being classic MMO click-and-wait, with hordes of abilities with cooldowns to throw in every so often.

  4. 07/09/2009 at 12:16 Pzykozis says:

    Looking good, (CGI atleast)

    I have to be honest, I’ve been following this game for ages though definately looking forward to it.

    Also, Jim were there any of the RPS guys at PAX? Since there seems to have been some press stuff thats currently being kept hushed until the 10th it’d be great if there’d be a RPS look on it all.

  5. 07/09/2009 at 12:16 Ian says:

    The test gave me Templar, but Dragon sounds more interesting.

  6. 07/09/2009 at 12:22 futage says:

    The test gave me Illuminati, but Templars sound more interesting.

  7. 07/09/2009 at 12:26 Bhazor says:

    Dragon here too.

    I’m a big fan of Tornquist and this world sounds exciting and new. Just a shame its a MMORPG, so all the interesting bits will be padded by 50 hours of grind and filled with people. And I hate people, they’re all bastards..

    What I wouldn’t give for this to be single player.

  8. 07/09/2009 at 12:36 dan says:

    I came out Illuminati too. I even downloaded the special wallpaper pack they email you, and had one as my desktop background for, ooh, a whole ten seconds.

    Excited though. Want gun and magic powers.

    And in the game!

  9. 07/09/2009 at 12:44 TheBlackBandit says:

    I *hate* To Be Continueds…

  10. 07/09/2009 at 12:58 Dominic White says:

    It’ll never happen in a million years, but I really hope they take some inspiration from the Monster Hunter series. There’s a game that gets the ‘Humans vs Supernatural Monsters’ concept absolutely right. You’ll win if you’re smart, prepared and experienced. You can’t grind to magically do more numbers worth of damage, and even with the best armor money can buy, you’ll still die in just a few hits.

    It’ll almost certainly be a standard MMO combat system, but I’d love to see another game with a combat engine that emphasizes player knowledge (just being able to read when a creature is going to strike, and where the attack is going to land can make all the difference) and skill, rather than raw stats.

  11. 07/09/2009 at 13:00 Jayt says:

    Supposedly I’m a templar. This sounds pretty exciting, I hope it isn’t some wow clone/grind fest.

    It s a really cool premise.

  12. 07/09/2009 at 13:01 MacBeth says:

    Impressive video – is it all CGI?

  13. 07/09/2009 at 13:06 futage says:

    CGI as opposed to what?

  14. 07/09/2009 at 13:30 Tei says:

    I still think Hellgate London was awesome.

  15. 07/09/2009 at 13:31 Alec Meer says:

    Let’s not have the CGI-means-everything scuffle again. Regardless of its literal meaning, it is accepted shorthand for pre-rendered footage and we’re happy to use it and see it used as such here. RPS FACT-O-LAW = LAID DOWN.

  16. 07/09/2009 at 13:37 suibhne says:

    As opposed to in-engine, I presume.

    I’m pretty sure Tornquist has come out and said there’s no grind – that it’s more like Guild Wars in that respect. (There might have been “a grind” in GW, or even several “grinds”, but at least it didn’t force “the grind” on players like other MMORPGs.)

  17. 07/09/2009 at 13:41 Radiant says:

    I’d love for this game to be like Monster Hunter how has that game not crossed over to pc?

  18. 07/09/2009 at 13:43 Bobsy says:

    Every raw snippet of a glimpse of an idea of this game makes me inwardly excited. Ragnar Tornquist is gaming’s Joss Whedon.

  19. 07/09/2009 at 13:50 Jockie says:

    It looks like they’ve got the atmosphere and art styles down nicely. Still though Hellgate London looked and sounded cool, until it was actually played. Here’s to hoping for something a bit more fun.

    Good marketing though, teasers that actually tease and know how to stop at just the right point to make us want more.

  20. 07/09/2009 at 13:54 Dominic White says:

    @Radiant – It was, actually.. in Japan only, and it’s appraently the best version so far. They sadly put up an IP block to stop anyone else getting in though.

  21. 07/09/2009 at 14:16 Matosh says:

    This is stupid. And you know why it’s stupid? Because it’s cool. Cool trailers like this one piss me off because I know after three or four of them the game will come out and it will feature your avatar standing in one place, whacking a critter with a bat in the same canned animation over and over and over again.

    CUTSCENE RULE 1: DON’T OVERTLY FEATURE YOUR CHARACTERS DOING COOL MOVES THEY CAN’T DO IN-GAME. IT BREAKS IMMERSION, AND ALSO POINTS OUT HOW MUCH YOUR IN-GAME COMBAT SUCKS.

    (See: World of Warcraft cinematics/World of Warcraft gameplay)

  22. 07/09/2009 at 14:24 DarkNoghri says:

    @Bobsy

    Speaking of Whedon, did anyone else get reminded of River at the end of Serenity in the first half of the video?

  23. 07/09/2009 at 14:25 Basil says:

    The test gave me Dragon, but Illuminati sound more interesting.

  24. 07/09/2009 at 14:33 Dominic White says:

    @Matosh – that’s why I again invoke hopes that someone, SOMEWHERE notices the (retardedly huge in Japan) Monster Hunter games. They managed to have badass intros that actually show off what you’ll really be doing ingame.

  25. 07/09/2009 at 14:34 Agrajag says:

    Overbite?

  26. 07/09/2009 at 14:37 Waste_Manager says:

    I’m Illuminati. Does that mean I’m a bastard? Good.

  27. 07/09/2009 at 14:39 Helm says:

    get your hair out of your face get your hair out of your face get your hair out of your face

    nnnggghh

  28. 07/09/2009 at 14:51 mihor_fego says:

    I ended up a Dragon. Now I hope I get lucky & enter Beta…

    The theme is great! A few years back a friend and I were working on a script for a comic which was to have a similar setting. Of course I got too lazy to ever get my ass down to draw a panel, so the idea was discarded…

    BUT the last time I was so anxiously awaiting a MMO release based on the mood and setting looking cool, I was hugely disappointed. And I really tried to like the game, ending up in just more hours thrown away for nothing. That experience being rather recent, I’m not getting my hopes up that this will end up awsome… or playable.

  29. 07/09/2009 at 15:01 nihohit says:

    Everyone loves a good Keren Ann reference.

    Me got dragon. most of the questions were transparent if you know basic conspiracy lore.

  30. 07/09/2009 at 15:06 MonkeyMonster says:

    Illuminati – wonder if choosing the katana sealed that… Harsh question tbh, MP5 or blade. The Deagle is a fun weapon but come on now.

  31. 07/09/2009 at 15:07 Jonas says:

    Hm I was hoping for the Templars (religious nutters with lots of guns – yay!) but I played it as honestly as I could and ended up with the Dragon. Disappointing at first, since they’re the only group I’ve never heard of, but they do sound kinda cool, so I’ll remember that when the game goes live.

    I do disagree with Jim though: that is not enough. WTB actual gameplay footage plz.

  32. 07/09/2009 at 15:09 MonkeyMonster says:

    Edit button aside – based on the pics in gallery. Dragon is the sword dude and Illum have the deagle… well well well

  33. 07/09/2009 at 15:09 Jonas says:

    MonkeyMonster: my educated guess is that the assault rifle corresponds with the Templar (private armies etc), the gold desert eagle matches the Illuminati (boundless decadence), and the katana represents the Dragon (Oriental traditionalists).

    I went with the rifle. That’s what I’d prefer to be armed with when going up against freaky teleporting monsters.

  34. 07/09/2009 at 15:13 Jonas says:

    Oh I found that picture you’re talking about. I think that’s a templar with the double desert eagles. So much for my educated guess.

    I wonder if the factions correspond to the three cities in the game such that the Dragons start in Seoul, the Templars in London, and the Illuminati in New York City.

  35. 07/09/2009 at 15:19 Cokesakto says:

    My friend thought this was a World of Darkness CRPG…

  36. 07/09/2009 at 15:23 Tom says:

    Bollocks to this, I want more Longest Journey.

  37. 07/09/2009 at 15:31 Pattom says:

    This video is the one that got me seriously interested in the game; the last one was cool to watch, but not all that exciting. Has anyone read the book Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman? Tell me that, after seeing this video, you wouldn’t love to have a good old-fashioned boss fight against the Bird Woman. Thank you, Ragnar Tornquist, for enabling this crossover/geek-out.

  38. 07/09/2009 at 15:34 Pattom says:

    Oh, and sorry for double post, but I just got Dragon on their personality test, too. And a preview on Gamespot says the three factions do correlate to the three hub cities as you guessed, Jonas.

  39. 07/09/2009 at 15:52 Subject 706 says:

    Echoing the previous poster who thought it was a shame they wasted this concept on an MMO instead of a singleplayer game.

  40. 07/09/2009 at 15:56 vasagi says:

    Anansi pales compared to american gods

  41. 07/09/2009 at 16:07 Heliocentric says:

    [Echo]Shame its an mmo, gone from interested to not giving a damn in 3 letters.

  42. 07/09/2009 at 16:29 Okami says:

    I like the fact, that you can “tell your friends on facebookwhat secret society you joined”.

    I don’t know if real members of secret societies flaunt the fact of their membership on facebook.

  43. 07/09/2009 at 16:37 Xercies says:

    This actually sounds more like World of Darkness.

    I got Dragon

  44. 07/09/2009 at 16:51 Z says:

    It’s not world of darkness unless I can play Mr. Smiley-maw-who-hangs-from-ceilings and eat me some yakuza dragons who bring knives to demon fights.

  45. 07/09/2009 at 17:16 Kieron Gillen says:

    I suspect this really is a generalised Urban Fantasy selection, rather than just one. That it is a generalised selection, of course, means that everything everyone’s picking up is there.

    KG

  46. 07/09/2009 at 17:49 Sunjammer says:

    When awesome spells that shoot light everywhere fail; use a shotgun, and do so with no emotion. Win.

    I’m still deeply annoyed at the retarded name. It’s so defeatist. “Fuck it, it’s a secret world or some such shite, let’s call a spade a spade”

  47. 07/09/2009 at 17:52 Vandelay says:

    I got Dragon, like most people it seems. @MonkeyMonster: I selected the Katana and got Dragons. I would have thought it was much more likely that the katana was linked to Dragons.

    I like the look of the world they are creating. Like others have said, Tornquist seems to be great at creating some interesting mythology. He does certainly have similarities to Whedon, although I think that is more about him emulating him, as he has said on multiple occasions that he loves his work.

    But, it is an MMO and my aversion to a monthly fee means I doubt I’ll ever play this. Oh well, hopefully a new Longest Journey game could come after this.

  48. 07/09/2009 at 17:53 KBKarma says:

    Me like. I have a fanboyish attitude to anything with the name Ragnar Tørnquist in the credits. Like Walker in that respect, really. :P

    Also, I got Dragon as well. Seems to be common amongst most of us here. I picked the MP5, by the way, so weapon choice doesn’t really determine society. But still, looking awesome.

    Also, looking at that timer on the front page… It appears to be 1200 days till the game is released. Which equates to three years. Huh wha? I have no idea what that 1200 is.

  49. 07/09/2009 at 18:48 Bret says:

    I got Templar.

    So, I’m not evil, from the description, but I am a tremendous prick. Hmm.

  50. 07/09/2009 at 19:53 JC Denton says:

    I was asked to join the dragons and the wallpaper is boring, I thought the girl in the video was a dragon?

    For those who want to check out the other factions
    http://cdn.funcom.com/tsw/crm/factions/templars/
    http://cdn.funcom.com/tsw/crm/factions/illuminati/
    http://cdn.funcom.com/tsw/crm/factions/dragon/

  51. 07/09/2009 at 20:17 Jorgen says:

    This is going to be an MMO? How utterly disappointing!

    Don’t we already have enough? Unless they’re actually going to offer something different…

    Eh, who am I kidding?

  52. 07/09/2009 at 20:31 Alex says:

    If the hero in this vid is indeed a Templar, then I guess that means we get to see the Illuminati in the next one. :)

  53. 07/09/2009 at 21:43 ZenMetzger says:

    Well, It is good to see someone trying to make an MMO in such unique setting, but it all seams kinda forced to me. I usually like the “secret world” setting in books and comics, but it all feels so soulless in The Secret World. I just can’t shake this feeling that the game tries to hard to be cool and new age-y.

  54. 07/09/2009 at 22:28 Noc says:

    @Matosh, for all that rage, I didn’t actually see anything in that trailer that’d be out of the question for a character in-game.

    I mean, she activated some sort of shield-spell-thing. And then she shot the thing with a shotgun. Both of those are pretty solidly within the scope of the sort of player abilities you already see in MMOs.

    I mean, it’s not like she was acrobatically climbing on top of a towering monster and felling it with one well-placed sword to the back of the head, while in-game she’d be hacking endlessly at its ankles until she exhausted its endless supply of HPs. I think it’s a pretty good bet that you will very much be able to pull out shotguns and shoot things with them in the game.

  55. 07/09/2009 at 22:52 We Fly Spitfires says:

    Looks nice and weird :) I’m glad we’re getting some MMOs that are trying to brake the mold a bit and not just copying the standard WoW-fantasy gameplay.

  56. 07/09/2009 at 23:05 Matosh says:

    Will you pick up feathers from the floor, look at them meaningfully, then drop them back as your mouselook reveals an enemy that just teleported next to you while you weren’t looking? Will you be able to mix milkshakes and drink them when you get to your apartment, thereby creating an opportunity for a monster to surprise you while you do so? I don’t even need these to be interactive – an in-engine sequence showing these characters doing these things would impress me.

    These cutscenes are better than some others at it, but lately I’ve just become so hypersensitive to it, and also:

    This particular clip set me off specifically because I’d love to play the game that’s in that clip, but I won’t get it. The basic actions – shield spell, shotgun – will remain, but I am so very cynically certain that the suspense these two brilliant trailers display will be so very very absent in the final product. I specifically decried the use of ‘cool moves’, because the suspense depends so much on timing and the economy of motion, which will be the first things lost from the game.

  57. 07/09/2009 at 23:06 Matosh says:

    The above comment @Noc, BTW.

  58. 07/09/2009 at 23:45 Stupoider says:

    I’d rather they showed some sort of gameplay rather than another CGI trailer. :<

  59. 08/09/2009 at 00:10 The Pink Ninja says:

    Impressive that the total lack of info can get an article…

    If this has WoW like combat then it’s already failed. Otherwise, I’m really looking forward to it.

  60. 08/09/2009 at 00:48 MacBeth says:

    I actually wasn’t attempting to stir anything up re. the definition of CGI – I agree totally with the RPS official-o-definition . I was actually (on first glance) wondering if some of it was live footage, with effects added on top. On watching it again on a better screen it’s clearly all CGI. Bloody good though – the shoes and the hand are lovely, and the lighting effects (particularly on the wooly hat) are very nice. And yes, a damn shame the game won’t look anything like that good.

  61. 08/09/2009 at 03:13 JKjoker says:

    sigh, too bad they made yet another crappy mmo, i would love this atmosphere in a single player game

  62. 08/09/2009 at 04:23 Stromko says:

    There actually is a World of Darkness MMO coming, and the makers of EVE are doing it, though I’ve heard nothing on it aside from that.

    The Secret World seems very much like a World of Darkness MMO, and continues the trend of game developers doubling up on what they hope to be trends (Prototype / Infamous for example, or Crimecraft / All Points Bulletin).

    I would say ultimately that this weakens the reception both competing products get, as they will invariably be compared to one another and customers will likely pick one or another.

    That said, the concept of a World of Darkness MMO, and the concept of Secret World, both seem pretty damn cool to me, so I’m glad we’re getting two examples of that flavor in the coming years. We need more games that at least try to have an interesting setting.

  63. 08/09/2009 at 07:58 JKjoker says:

    too bad any kind of suspense or feeling of dread will be ruined by the 13 year olds running around tea bagging the woodland critters

  64. 08/09/2009 at 08:36 futage says:

    Alec, not that it matters a day later, but I wasn’t quibbling over the term CGI (reading my question as such seems a tad prejudiced to me but who knows, maybe it was ambiguous), I was simply curious as to what else the poster thought it might be.

  65. 08/09/2009 at 21:30 Kadayi says:

    Dragon here as well (which didn’t surprise me given my answers).

    Sounds interesting, but a lot depends on where they go with it.

  66. 08/09/2009 at 21:38 Knight Of Cydonia says:

    Templar, oddly.
    And I’ll say what we’re all thinking – I’d do her. And maybe even the birdman.

  67. 12/09/2009 at 10:02 Rei Onryou says:

    Templar it seems. Although I wouldn’t say I’m a fan, I’m even less of a fan of the others.

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