Following a weeklong attempt at ilovebees-style viral marketing, Funcom has finally come clean. The Norwegian developer of the forthcoming Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures today announced a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game. And while it contains plenty of magic, the title has more in common with H.P. Lovecraft's demonic universe than Robert E. Howard's barbarian hero.

　　Titled The Secret World, the new game has a modern-day setting with a darkly fantastical twist. In it, massive monsters and secret societies employ arcane powers and battle beneath the high-tech veneer of the 21st century. Several concept screens from the game (above) contain both fantasy and Deus Ex-style cyberpunk elements. Its teaser poster (below) shows a Call of Cthulhu-esque creature meeting a katana-toting woman in a futuristic jumpsuit standing atop a taxicab.

　　"Well, ma'am, there's your problem right there."

　　"We started envisioning this contemporary online world more than 10 years ago, and as the years passed the ideas grew and improved," Secret World producer/director Ragnar Tornquist said in a statement. "We always wanted a different kind of online world, something scary and contemporary, something deeper and closer to our reality. Our goal now is to create a detailed world where players feel empowered and part of something big, something mystical and epic."

　　The Secret World has been in development for the PC and Xbox 360 since last summer at Funcom's Oslo headquarters and Beijing studio. No release date is currently set for the game, but its teaser site--www.darkdaysarecoming.com--is now online.