Ragner Tonrquist is highly revered among fans of adventure games. He was the designer behind The Longest Journey; widely regarded as the finest example of the point ‘n’ click adventure genre.
Tornquist went on to write for that game’s sequel, Dreamfall; and his next game is the MMO The Secret world, which will be published by Electronic arts. The news about the publisher was just announced, but the existence of The Secret World has been known for close to four years.
Billed as a “Next Gen MMO”, The Secret World doesn’t use classes or levels, and sidesteps the standard fantasy tropes by using a modern day, real-world setting. Of course there are mythological monsters for players to fight, and secret societies for players to join, but the game uses the clever notion that all of this heroic adventure is part of a hidden world unseen by most people. 
The Secret World is Developed by Norwegian game studio Funcom, who previously brought us Age of Conan and Anarchy Online, so between the history of MMO development, and Tornquist’s excellent design, this game is something to keep an eye on.
Release dates aren’t out yet, but late 2011, or early 2012 are a good guess. More can be found at The Secret World’s website.
