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'. The game featured both singleplayer and online multiplayer support when it was released although US/EU online support has since shutdown. Flagship Studios released 1 major MP content update The Stonehenge Chronicles and the 2nd The Abyss Chronicles on the test server before the studio's closure. Similar to the Diablo series, randomization is embedded into many of the game mechanics including weapon and armor attributes, item drops, mob spawns and level composition. The singleplayer version features a 5 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.
SingleplayerThe 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.
MultiplayerNB: 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