This year at GDC in San Francisco Ten Ton Hammer was able to get a
sneak peek of The Secret World.
Up until now information had been scarce so it was refreshing to be
able to sink our teeth into some facts about the game.


style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 77px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82567">
  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82561"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 150px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82561">  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82568"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 90px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82568">

Designs for the Draug beasts and the
entrance to Agartha



We were first shown the town of Kingsmouth on Solomon Island. Our hosts
reminded us that this is just one location of the game and as they did
a flyout of the location it was quite evident just how big this game
world is going to be. Panning out further and further revealed many miles of detailed environment. The town of Kingsmouth
feels lived in; from the cracks in the walls of the old buildings to
the toppled garbage cans in a corner of an alley, the town feels very
much like “Smalltown, USA” with its own deep story.


[video]http://video.tentonhammer.com/secretworld/TSWmar2010_teaser.flv[/video]



As was pointed out to us during the presentation, players are not so
much the hero of the story but rather a hero just playing their small
part in the overall world. While the residents of each area have their
own personalities and secrets, the story is optional and should players
be more interested in just the action they can skip the lore and
cutscenes and jump right into the fights for survival.


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82562"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 124px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82562">  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82570"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 129px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82570">  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82573"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 134px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82573">

A few boss encounters in The
Secret World




As far as gameplay goes, there are no classes or levels in style="font-style: italic;">The Secret World. Instead players
will unlock abilities as they progress their character. Players may
purchase skills with the experience points they gain, but the maximum
they can use at a time is seven active and seven passive skills. They
will be able to mix and match appropriate to their needs at the time,
but this will need to be done from specific areas before they embark on
their adventure.


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82563"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 356px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82563">   
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 432px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82565">
  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82576"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 328px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82576">

style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 215px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82566">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82564"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 238px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82564"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82571"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 220px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82571"> style="font-style: italic;">

Character Concepts



Combat takes a twist with states and exploits. Players will be able to
perform certain skills which will put their enemies in a specific
“state,” such as burning. Other players in the party will then be able
to exploit those states using different abilities to maximize their
performance during a fight. Think of states and exploits like
team-based combos.


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82572"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 272px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82572">

Jack O'Lantern Concept



Loot plays several roles in the game, making it very loot-centric. There will be two item sets for each character—one paper doll
for functionality, such as weapons, and one paper doll strictly for
appearances. As players explore the world they will be able to
customize their character in both power and style through the spoils of
war.


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82574"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 130px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82574">  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82575"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 113px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82575">  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82577"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 150px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82577">

Environments in the Game



And how does the whole world fit together? Ragnar Tornquist, Creative
Director and Senior Producer, described the game world as an augmented
reality, as if seeing the world through an iPhone. There will be large,
open areas, such as the town of Kingsmouth and Solomon Island where
players will fight hordes of zombies and other monsters, but in
addition there will be smaller instances, such as the basement of an
old house where a quest goal will be placed.


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82569"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 112px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82569">  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82578"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 135px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82578">  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/82579"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 129px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/82579">



Given that the game is pre-beta, it's shaping up well. It has some good
ideas and the strategic gameplay looks promising. The environments
themselves hold true to what we’ve come to expect from Funcom --
they’re extremely well designed artistically and very detailed. The
cutscenes and voice acting will certainly draw gamers into the story of
the game. The combat, while engaging with the states and exploits
system, felt a little choppy, which can be somewhat expected in this early stage. Some of the animations were blocky and in
some cases we simply just couldn’t tell what was happening on screen.
Be that as it may, with no word yet as to when beta begins, the demo did portray heroic adventure and we’re very
interested in seeing more as the development progresses.



To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our The Secret World Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

Comments