Hellgate, originally known as Hellgate: London, is a dark fantasy themed action role-playing game originally developed by Flagship Studios, released on October 31, 2007. It was developed by a team headed by former Blizzard Entertainment employees, some of whom had overseen the creation of the Diablo series. In 2008 Flagship Studios filed bankruptcy and all intellectual property was seized because it was used as collateral for funding received from Comerica Bank. Subsequently, development of the game halted. Namco Bandai Games provided free ongoing US/EU server support in the fall of Flagship Studios until 31 January 2009, when the US/EU multiplayer game servers and websites were taken offline.[5] HanbitSoft has since acquired properties to the game and has redeveloped it as Hellgate London: Resurrection. As of June 2011, Hanbitsoft's redesigned game is currently live in Korea,[6] and the North American release, published by subsidiary T3Fun, has undergone (closed) beta testing and open beta testing commenced on June 30, 2011 as free to play.[7]
Set in a post-apocalyptic London in the year 2038, Hellgate: London is a fast paced action role playing 'hack and slasher'. It includes random elements from roguelikes such as weapon and armor attributes, item drops, mob spawns and level composition. The game featured both singleplayer and online multiplayer support when it was released although US/EU online support has since shutdown. Flagship Studios released one major MP content update The Stonehenge Chronicles and the second The Abyss Chronicles on the test server before the studio's closure. The singleplayer version features a five act story quest line and when completed, the player is eligible to restart the story line again in Nightmare difficulty and create new characters in Elite mode.
Game lore
[edit]Factions and classes
The Hellgate: London setting has six classes to choose from. These are paired up into three main archetypes, or Factions as they are referred to in game. Players need to choose one of these classes for their role playing character before they can start playing the game. The factions are split as follows;
Templars, the fighter faction, are of an order of divine warriors who wish to preserve humanity and smite the Great Dark that has fallen upon the world. Their two classes are Guardians and Blademasters.
Cabalists, the mage faction, are seekers of knowledge who want to control the fate of mankind by studying the Great Dark and using their powers. Their classes are Summoners and Evokers.
Hunters, the ranger faction, are highly trained ex-military operatives who have been through almost every warlike scenario imaginable. Marksmen and Engineers are their classes.
[edit]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.[8] The game can be played in either third person perspective or first person perspective. Melee classes are set to a third-person view and cannot select first-person perspective, whereas ranged classes default to a first-person view but can switch to third-person if so desired. 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, though 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.[9] The game consists of six acts to unify the areas a player travels through on a greater scale. All acts account for approximately 25–40 hours of single-player gameplay.
The game world of Hellgate: London is a set of demon-infested dungeons and city streets, featuring safe zones such as disused Underground stations. The safe zones scattered across the world act as havens, where players can purchase and upgrade items at NPC merchants, interact with other players in the game world, and commence or complete quests. The journey between zones is randomly generated, levels are fully 3D, rendered with the game's own proprietary graphics engine. Included in these environments are randomly generated enemies, bosses and items. The game features historical London areas and buildings, St Paul's Cathedral was featured in an early concept art drawing. Another building that has been brought up in an interview is the Clock Tower which houses Big Ben.[citation needed]
[edit]Singleplayer
The singleplayer version of Hellgate: London hosts the 5 act story quest line. Elite characters can be created once a character has completed the story quest line once. The story line can be repeated in Nightmare difficulty starting with mobs starting at level 30. A character's experience is capped at 50 levels while enemies in Nightmare difficulty can reach level 62.
The last SP patch Flagship Studios released is known as version 1.2. The file is no longer officially hosted but can be found from various third parties.
[edit]Multiplayer
NB: The original servers were shut down on February 1, 2009.[10] By July 2011 Hellgate:London multiplayer servers were relaunched using a free to play model.[11]
Hellgate: London was initially designed to be primarily focused on solo and cooperative PvE combat, but players can duel and there is a free-for-all PvP Mode for subscribers. Dueling can only take place outside of Underground hubs. Players can also choose to enter into PvP mode, which means they can be attacked and harmed outside of Underground hubs by anyone else that has chosen to enter PvP mode. That is, those in PvP mode, must always be ready for PvP. This is a way to have wide-ranging free-for-alls, or create a "friendly-fire" way of playing the game.[12] In multiplayer mode, players can meet and organize for team play and quests in safe zones - the old Underground stations, protected by the Freemasons' wards. The world will not be split in "shards" or servers, but rather play like a massively multiplayer online game with heavy instancing, such as Guild Wars. Every character is capable of soloing the entire game. Grouping with other players is optional, though grouping will bring benefits in terms of experience gain and items. As the number of players within an instance increase, the difficulty of the instance increases. The game does not feature LAN support.
[edit]Character creation
Players may choose the character's name, and various visual physical attributes.
[edit]Difficulty
Depending on whether playing singleplayer or multiplayer, several different difficulty settings will be available when creating new characters. A character is permanently locked to the chosen mode.
[edit]Normal mode
Normal mode is the optimal difficulty setting.
[edit]Elite mode
Elite mode is designed to be harder than normal difficulty with several adjustments to game mechanics. Enemies are stronger, deal more damage and rare/legendary mobs are 4x more likely to spawn. Augments are also more expensive and merchants pay less for goods. Elite mode is only accessible after Sydonai has been defeated in normal mode or reaching Level 20.
[edit]Hardcore mode
Hardcore mode is played in either Normal or Elite difficulty with the added attribute a character permanently dies and turns into a ghost when all health is lost (permadeath).
Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellgate:_London
Minimum System Requirements:
CPU: 1.8GHz or faster (2.4GHz for Vista)
RAM: 1 GB (2GB for Vista) or more
VGA: DirectX 9.0c/10 compatible device w/ 128MB RAM or better and Pixel Shader 2.0 support; requires NVIDIA GeForce 6200/ATI Radeon 9000 chipset or greater
DX: DirectX 9.0c/10
OS: Windows XP with SP2 or Windows Vista
http://gamesystemrequirements.com/
HDD: 7.0 GB or more free space
Sound: DirectX 9.0c/10 compatible sound device
ODD: 8x DVD or faster
Network: Connection required for multiplayer
Recommended peripheral: Compatible Keyboard and mouse
Note: NOTE: Play experience is improved with additional RAM and higher performance video devices. Video card with 128 MB or more memory, Pixel Shader 2.0, and one of these chipsets is required: ATI Radeon 9000 or greater NVIDIA GeForce 6200 or greater NVIDIA GeForce 8800 recommended for DirectX 10
