dtp Entertainment, a company based in Germany, has announced that it plans to create and launch a new MMO called Otherland that will focus on the concept of a “multiverse” as the main gameplay mechanics.

The game takes place in a very near future when technology has become available to allow the super rich to create and own virtual worlds which are pretty much impossible to distinguish from reality. The twist is that the worlds are inhabited no only by the rich and their Artificial Intelligences but also by some humans who do not even know that they live something unreal.

The player will be one of the those humans suddenly aware of the artificiality of his environment. Apparently, you gain the ability, limited at first, to manipulate parts of the virtual worlds in which you exist and to move to other worlds. There is a variety of themes for the game areas you will go through, with science fiction mixing with historical setting and fantasy elements. The game will allow you to navigate them and to take up quests in whichever areas you wish.

The game will focus on Player versus Player conflict and on co-op, with a lot of mini games and social activities available in a central hub. It's not clear how you will level up and whether there will be any Player versus Environment gameplay.

As many other newly announced MMOs, the game will use a heavily modified version of the widely applied Unreal 3 engine. It claims that it will set a new standard for MMO graphical quality. The game is still in the early development stages, as its scheduled release date is 2010, so it might take a while until we see some screens and get some more details.