The Secret World Reveals Character Section

Funcom, developers of next gen MMORPG The Secret World, have recently unveiled a new addition to their website. There are now detailed character profiles for major NPCs (non-player characters) vital to the telling of the story behind The Secret World. This caught us at OnRPG by surprise that a gaming company would put so much effort into the development of NPC characters when so many games before them have ignored NPCs as emotionless dispensers of quests/rewards.

No doubt Funcom is demonstrating that they don't only intend to break the mold of the MMORPG industry with The Secret World, they want to rewrite the book of standards on how these games should be made. Their dedication to back story, mystique surrounding the 3 factions, and detailed colorful focus on these NPCs may very well do the impossible; they might make average MMORPG gamers care slightly about the storyline their avatar resides in!

Here's a quick look at the backstory of Daniel Bach, one of the more interesting characters up at The Secret World's website:

Just ask his ex-publishers, ask the Marine units he was embedded within Iraq, ask his wife, another notoriously pitiless journalist. Ask his parents, ask every victim of his callous but accurate exposes. Hell, ask the man himself, ask it right into those obnoxious opaque aviator glasses, and he'd smile and agree.

An asshole, everyone knows, with a death wish. Bach volunteers for the most dangerous assignments, knowing his edge is his recklessness and willingness to do what others won't. But since he stumbled out of the desert during the Iraq War, eyes burning, there's been something else going on with Bach; an obsession beyond the old obsessions. For the first time, he's after something more than getting the jump on a story, more than reporting from the crater the second after the bomb hits.

At first, everyone thought he'd developed a taste for atrocities instead of the Pulitzer. After all, he does write about human misery like a restaurant critic discussing a meal. Then he fell off the war circuit to start digging into a 25-year-old missing persons case. No one important. Even his enemies had to admit he was punching below his weight.

But Bach has been watching and planning and waiting for months. Zeroing in, up and down Maine and New Hampshire. Following in the footsteps of witch trials, Wabanaki Council legends and Sam Krieg horror novels.

Bach, that asshole, hasn't lost his edge: he's finally found where he can go over it.

Wow that is some good story writing for a single NPC. I hope I'm not falling for the hype by saying this but I expect amazing things out of this game's storyline and surrounding gameplay. OnRPG will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming website developments to see what other unorthodox surprises The Secret World has yet to reveal.