Hellgate London

Note: Hellgate london's servers are no longer available for online play in N.A. nor europe due to flagship's closing doors

Gameplay

Hellgate: London is an action role-playing game that builds upon the core design of roguelikes by using random generation of maps, monsters, and loot to allow for replayability. The game can be played in either third person perspective or first person perspective. Melee classes default to a third-person view, whereas ranged classes default to a first-person view. Precision aiming is not required to use most weapons; which track their targets, "lock-on", or carpet an area with explosives. The game contains sniper rifles and other weapons that require accurate manual aiming, most are exclusive to the Hunter faction. Hellgate: London can be played offline or online without a fee. Players can pay a monthly fee to gain additional content over time, including new areas, weapons, monsters, classes, quests, events, titles, game modes and other content. The game consists of five acts to unify the areas a player travels through on a greater scale. All acts account for approximately 40 hours of single-player gameplay.

Combining the depth of traditional RPGs with the frenetic, visceral feel of first-person shooters, HellGate: London offers infinite replay value with dynamically created levels, monsters, items and events that gives each player their own unique hack-and-slash experience. A post-apocalyptic London has been overrun by hordes of terrifying demons, leaving the city desolate and scorched by hellfire. Those who were unlucky enough to survive now gather in the only sanctuary left, the Underground, banding together in order to gain a foothold against the minions of darkness and ultimately save the bloodline of humanity. It is no surprise that these sole survivors come from three of society's most elite factions, each of whom are masters of a robust number of skills and weapons essential to demon-thrashing.

• The Templar, a secret society preserving the rites of the original Knights Templar, mix futuristic technology with ancient artifacts to create powerful weapons and armor perfect for short-ranged and melee attacks.

• The Cabalists are students of the dark arts and edges of science which often leaves them standing right on the line between good and evil. Their mystifying spells make them suited for mid-range combat.

• The Hunters are mysterious, highly trained ex-military operatives who lay waste to their foes with hyper-advanced weapons that blend theoretical science and the latest in technology and their bullets can come from almost any distance.

HellGate: London delivers an amazing gaming experience to PC gamers of all types - delivering the eye-popping DX10 visuals demanded by the hardcore, and scaling to ensure the masses of casual RPG players can still get the best performance on older PCs.

Plot

Hellgate: London takes place in 2038, post-apocalyptic London. London has been invaded by demons. Until recently, humans had many champions holding back the invasion. Various real-world events are referenced in the background of the Hellgate story as averted crossover attempts. The Crusades were actually undertaken to fight back the minions of Hell, as was the charring of London in the Great Fire to wipe out the Plague. According to the storyline, the famous Knights Templar were the keepers of knowledge on how to battle demonic forces. Unfortunately, these heroes underwent a charring of their own at the hands of a jealous King Phillip IV, who hated the power they held in the world at large. While the Knights Templar survived as an organization, their numbers were severely diminished and were forced to remain in hiding to stay alive.

As time passed and technology progressed, the old ways began to fade from memory and the secrets of the arcane were lost. When the demons attacked again, they found their enemies unprepared. Ordinary weapons were no use against the demons, who could shrug off an RPG round. The Templars offered their special services to the military, but the leaders balked, refusing to believe in the old truths. Hellgate quickly took the victory in the battle for Earth. The Burn, a decades-long process of "hellforming", has begun.

However all is not lost, as various groups have been preparing for just such an eventuality. Freemasons built the London Underground to be demon resistant, and as such the stations now act as bases, "safe zones" for would-be defenders. These defenders are armed with a fusion of modern weaponry and arcane magic such as flamethrowers that throw Greek fire or swords covered in locusts. In the game, players are one of these defenders.

Items

Hellgate: London uses a heavily randomized item system of at least a hundred base weapon types and many armor types, with a pool of random special properties and bonuses (magical affixes) applied to them to achieve re-playability and promote item collection.

Furthermore, unwanted weapons and armor can be freely disassembled to save space in one's inventory, often yielding standard or rare crafting materials. These components can be exchanged for special crafted weapons at an NPC vendor, or used to upgrade existing weapons or armor at the Nanoforge device in most safe zones. Additionally, random special properties can be added to weapons or armor at a similar device. Lastly, blueprints are available by which one can craft one's own ammo, given the raw materials.

As such, the gamut for item collection and customization includes:

• Weapon mods (ammo, batteries, and so on, which can be removed for a price and swapped)
• Upgradeable damage or armor values at the Nano Forge (using spare parts)
• The addition of random special properties to weapons and armor (for a price - properties can be Common, Rare or Legendary)
• Crafted weapons (using spare parts)
• Crafted items and mods (using spare parts and random-drop "recipes")

Items may have slots that a player can insert "mods" in to enhance their power. Mods can be technology that improves items, but also demonic artifacts and holy items, known as relics. Technology mods are more aimed at specific weaponry upgrades, while relics are more general in what bonuses they give, such as giving fire damage enhancements regardless of the wielded weapon; if the player adds a mod to their weapon, this change is shown in-game (if a scope is added, then the weapon will render with a scope.) Mods can be removed at special devices in the quest-area hubs. Example types of mods are listed below:

• Ammo Magazines - Modify the amount, type, range, or accuracy of weapons. Magazines can be magical or technological in nature.
• Battery Packs - Battery packs charge weapons with different types of damage, such as spectral, shock (lightning), fire, poison, or physical.
• Fuel Tanks - Confer different damage types onto weapons.
• Relics - Often considered holy, relics may be part of a greater item or an item previously owned by someone of great ability.
• Rockets - Like ammo magazines rockets change the type of ammo a weapon uses while adding an explosive element, often making it more powerful.

Subscription

The US subscription plan costs $9.95 (USD) a month and an offer to pay a one-time fee of $149.99 for a lifetime subscription was available for up to 100,000 people who pre-ordered the game and ended on January 31, 2008. The UK subscription is 6.99 and EU subscription is 9.99.

There are two types of multiplayer accounts: free and subscription accounts. Subscribers have access to ongoing content updates, expected to be released every two or three months. The initial content updates will include more monsters, more weapons, additional item sets and special quests for ultimate items.

Additionally, subscribers have access to a Hardcore mode, special PvP arenas and a PvP ladder (once implemented), the ability to bypass server queues, a shared storage space with room for 40 items instead of 20, the ability to create guilds, the ability to achieve officer status in guilds, and 24-hour customer support. Subscribers and non-subscribers will be able to interact in all ways in the game. Non-subscribers can join guilds, but not create them. The level cap is set to 50 and up to 24 character slots are available for all players.

Key Features

• The RPG Authority - Flagship Studios was founded by the core creators of Diablo, one of the biggest PC gaming franchises in history with over 13 million units sold worldwide they are the first, last and only voice in the world of action RPGs.

• Beyond RPG - Experience new layers to the traditional hack-and-slash formula by experiencing the action RPG from the first-person perspective and through nontraditional character classes and play styles.

• Have it your way - Three unique factions with their own visual and gameplay style, offering something for every type of gamer, whether they prefer the longer-range blasts of the Hunter or want to get up close and personal with the Templar.

• Infinite Replay Value - Dynamically generated levels, chance events and massive quantities of randomly created items makes for infinite replay value -- no two experiences will ever be the same and every game will be it's own unique event.

• Mad Skills - Each faction has two character classes that contain a wide variety of skills and spells that are fully customizable.

• London Calling - Explore post-apocalyptic London, even darker and gloomier than usual. From shattered cathedrals and landmarks to the ancient ruins buried beneath the shell of a once-great city, players will need to scour all of London in search of the unknown.

• Misery Loves Company - Don't be a glory hog fight online. Gather with friends or recruit strangers in Underground stations and venture out into mean streets of London together to erase the Demonic threat.

• Hell Never Looked Better - HellGate: London features all of the latest next-generation technology to deliver a true, DX10 experience, while being fully scalable for optimal performance on older PCs.

Sources: [1] [2]