Joel Bylos, the man who recently took over as The Secret World’s game director, has written a fairly extensive piece about his future plans for the Funcom-developed MMO. He believes the game “hit a nerve” with both reviewers and the general public, which has lead to a mixed reception. In seeking to avoid the stagnation that has afflicted the genre in recent years, Bylos feels that the end result “may either be the best MMO experience of your life or it may simply not live up to your expectations”.
He plans to continue the steady release of episodic ‘Issue’ updates, beginning with Issue #4 (Big Trouble In The Little Apple) that will introduce the game’s first ‘raid’ in a devastated New York City. Apparently, “you can forget about trash mobs and gunning it to get to the end boss as fast as possible” – The Secret World will be telling you a story as you go.
Issue #4 will also add optional reticule combat, something Bylos says he’s “wanted to bring into the game from the moment I put on the Game Director shoes as I feel it makes combat a lot more direct and exciting”. You can look forward to chopping people and un-people up with an auxiliary Chainsaw weapon as well.
That Issue should be “not too long” in appearing, with Issues #5 and #6 following in the “next few months”.
For a whole lot more on the long-term future, have a read of Bylos’ full article. If you fancy giving The Secret World a whirl, you can sign up at the main site for a free three-day trial (which actually extends to five days if you play it enough).
