I was pleasantly surprised when my PC Gamer came this month, featuring this game on the cover. This is the first information to come out about the new game from Flagship Studios, which was founded by ex-Blizzard employees (including Bill Roper).
The preview is quite good, and has some screenshots. In a nutshell, the game is a Diablo clone, now in a 3D first-person perspective and taking place in post-Apocalyptic, demon-invested, London.
The screenshots weren’t all that impressive (looked like Doom 3), but reading the preview the gameplay is pure Diablo. It’s not a “twitch” game, instead whether you damage a monster or not is determined by your stats. Like Diablo, there’s leveling, skill trees, items, and randomization (they had to build a brand-new engine to accommodate the latter).
Multiplay is only planned to be co-op at this point, but they aren’t ruling out PvP. The article states there will be at least 16 players at a time, possibly up to 32. As far as I can tell, at this point the game will probably be PC only. No idea on a release date.
Anyway, this sounds interesting so I'll be following this game as it progresses.
Trigger
04-01-05, 01:49 PM
I've been meaning to start a thread on this game for a week or so since I got my copy of PCG... but I can see now that "you beat me to it" doesn't really mean anything since you and I are the only ones who give a crap. :)
I'm not even a Diablo fan, but this game has me interested. Saying the screenshots looked like Doom 3 though is an insult to Doom 3. These shots look like an updated Diablo would look today - but from a first-person perspective. The light and shading is crappy or non-existant. Still it looks pretty good otherwise.
Anyway - I'm surprised this isn't a hotter topic since it's from the makers of Diablo which was one of the most popular PC franchises ever.
nodeerforamonth
04-01-05, 01:57 PM
Anyway - I'm surprised this isn't a hotter topic since it's from the makers of Diablo which was one of the most popular PC franchises ever.
First time I've heard of it.
I'll probably be getting it when it comes out!
BeanDip0001
04-01-05, 01:59 PM
got any links to a site or anything? i thought diablo was the shit back in the day!
Trigger
04-01-05, 02:16 PM
got any links to a site or anything? i thought diablo was the shit back in the day!
google "hellgate london"... there's some sites with info - PCGamer had an exclusive for it or something I think. IGN has nothing. Shacknews just reporting what PCG said... most sites have nothing more than an announcement that the game was announced or that PCG was gonna run an article on it.
BeanDip0001
04-01-05, 02:22 PM
i found it looks kinda cool, but i'll wait till i hear a review of the full thing when it ships before i get all excited.
s}{ammer
07-09-05, 12:05 PM
I don't get the comments on bad screenshots??? They look pretty good to me. It does seem to me it is a cross between Diablos gameplay and Doom 3. I can't wait. I haven't bought a PC game since Diablo 2 but I will have to get this one. Well, that is if they brought over Blizzards quality control standards with them. I love Blizzard simply because you know the game is great right out of the box. This one looks great and I also read somewhere about Blizzard preparing to do something with Diablo. Diablo MMORGP would be awsome. They could always just take over MUonline (http://www.muonline.com) and do it right. :)
fumanstan
07-09-05, 02:06 PM
I played around with it at E3. It was pretty interesting, and nice to see what Bill Roper was up to :)
outer-edge
07-09-05, 05:13 PM
Looks interesting, I'll keep an eye on it. Not sure about the first-person approach though.
xmiyux
10-05-07, 10:54 AM
So i see this game is due out near the end of this month. Has there been any buzz or talk about what it has transformed into? Is it still a Diablo clone?
flashburn
10-18-07, 04:18 PM
All gone.
Also the Beta has A LOT more content compared to the demo.
fumanstan
10-18-07, 04:28 PM
So i see this game is due out near the end of this month. Has there been any buzz or talk about what it has transformed into? Is it still a Diablo clone?
Buzz has been pretty good, and the people i know that are in the beta currently seem to enjoy it.
CKMorpheus
10-18-07, 04:33 PM
Demo is out:
See what all the fuss is about for yourself with the 1.4GB Hellgate: London singleplayer demo:
In the first premiere demo, players choose from two of Hellgate: London's six characters: the swashbuckling melee action of the Blademaster or long-range killing action of the Marksman. Once selected, gamers available carve their way through a sample of the storyline centered around the street and tunnels near Holborn Station.
It is fun, but it is pretty repetitive. The few different tilesets (maybe 4 or 5) all look pretty similar. That and how linear it is are my biggest gripes.
superdeluxe
10-18-07, 05:40 PM
Its really linear? I don't like that. Is it free-form, or are you stuck on a path?
flashburn
10-18-07, 06:16 PM
Its really linear? I don't like that. Is it free-form, or are you stuck on a path?
Not sure what you mean by stuck on a path. Each level it setup just like dungeons in Diablo, where there is always one set destination, although this time you are usually constrained to halls of some sort (either streets, subway, sewers etc). Everything is setup through a subway system and you find quest hubs along the way which you can use to transfer to previously visited quest hubs.
Along the way to a new hub there will be dungeons that are usually one or two levels deep that you can go through before going back on the course to the next quest hub.
glassdragon
10-19-07, 02:18 AM
It was fun. It was great when i had to get joey's "good leg", and when i turned it in he's like "AND HOW"
Groucho
10-19-07, 09:31 AM
Thanks for the link to the demo. I tried downloading it last night, but one of the files was corrupt. Another 1.5gb download from scratch. :grumble:
My enthusiasm for this game has gone down considerably now that multiplayer has been announced as pay-to-play.
flashburn
10-19-07, 09:32 AM
Multiplayer isn't pay to play, but there is an "elite" subscription that will give you access to some bonus content (which hasn't been finalized yet).
covenant
10-19-07, 10:24 AM
tried the demo last night.
so bland...so ugly
what the hell?
Groucho
10-20-07, 08:26 PM
I liked the demo, even though it was pretty short. I played it through as both character types. With all the classes, skill trees, and equipment this will have a lot of potential replay value. I'm not sure if it's a true successor to the Diablo legacy, however.
LivingINClip
10-21-07, 08:53 AM
I have been looking forward to this game for the longest time and the fact that I couldn't even bring myself to finish the demo just kills me inside. Honestly, it does.
:(
vhgong
10-21-07, 10:32 AM
Played the demo and i think its bland,boring and repetitive. :(
Duran
10-21-07, 11:55 AM
Played the demo, and the only word I could think of was "lame." Graphics were terrible, the "plot" and tutorial felt like they were written by 5 year olds. The AI of your friend at the beginning is a hopping wonder monkey. I didn't even finish.
tecumseh1000
10-22-07, 01:53 AM
I've been playing it. I don't care for it. In fact, the free game they are developing alongside HG:L, Mythos, is easily superior to it. Mythos is in a closed beta right now, but it's much more fun and interesting than HG:L ever thought about being. If you look around, I'm sure you can find a Mythos invite somewhere. I'd easily recommend it over HG:L...
xmiyux
10-22-07, 08:30 AM
I've been playing it. I don't care for it. In fact, the free game they are developing alongside HG:L, Mythos, is easily superior to it. Mythos is in a closed beta right now, but it's much more fun and interesting than HG:L ever thought about being. If you look around, I'm sure you can find a Mythos invite somewhere. I'd easily recommend it over HG:L...
Hrm, Mythos does look pretty interesting. If anyone comes up with an extra beta invite i would love to check it out.
Hellgate has been mildly entertaining so far. It does seem to be just simple hack and slash (kind of like Diablo II) with worse controls.
Groucho
10-23-07, 09:32 AM
I got the opportunity to try Mythos last night. It is a good game -- it's everything Dungeon Runners wanted to be but never was.
It's very much like Hellgate: London and appears to share the same engine. But the setting is medieval, the view is top down, and the graphics are simpler/more cartoony. It's less "bloated". The gameplay is very similar to Diablo.
One interesting feature is "treasure maps". New locations are not available until you either get a quest, or a map to the area. Maps can be found in dungeons or purchased from a vendor. It's a simple feature, but it really helps sell the whole "adventurer for hire" thing.
Would somebody who didn't like Hellgate like Mythos? Possibly. But I imagine most of the complaints would carry over. Some would not.
Sorry to derail the discussion. Once the beta opens up we can discuss Mythos more in its own thread, but I figured it was worth mentioning here since it's been brought up.
edstein
10-23-07, 10:51 AM
Is Hellgate an FPS RPG like Oblivion? Or top down like the original Diablo?
covenant
10-23-07, 12:46 PM
Is Hellgate an FPS RPG like Oblivion? Or top down like the original Diablo?
First person or third person, depending on which you prefer.
http://www.screenjabber.com/files/bigCES1.jpg
Groucho
10-23-07, 03:23 PM
Third-person is from behind (a la World of Warcraft).
CaptStormy
10-30-07, 01:32 PM
Think they may come out with expansions in the long term? I do know they want you to pay $10 a month for content but I am having trouble pulling that trigger. I do not feel that will be worth it.
fumanstan
10-30-07, 03:38 PM
Think they may come out with expansions in the long term? I do know they want you to pay $10 a month for content but I am having trouble pulling that trigger. I do not feel that will be worth it.
I think expansions are inevitable.
flashburn
10-30-07, 05:48 PM
Third-person is from behind (a la World of Warcraft).
Very good. Now what is first person? ;)
In Hellgate you can switch between both (except for Melee, which sucks).
I will probably still buy this game, but it won't be for at least a few months.
Groucho
10-30-07, 06:38 PM
$39.99 this week at CC.
kenage
10-30-07, 08:01 PM
Wait, so this is a MMORPG that I have to pay a monthly fee for or is it like Guild Wars and I do not have to play each month?
fumanstan
10-30-07, 08:05 PM
Wait, so this is a MMORPG that I have to pay a monthly fee for or is it like Guild Wars and I do not have to play each month?
I guess it's kind of a weird hybrid. It's like Guild Wars, except if you want the extra "phat loot" and other extras, you have to pay the fee.
Not a bad plan, since the hardcore players that get caught up in having the best everything will pay, but the casual people will (hopefully) be satisfied.
I'm not sold on buying this yet though, since I have enough games to play. It's an awfully crowded few months for game releases and this might be one of those games that gets missed.
xmiyux
10-30-07, 08:11 PM
The 1Up Yours Podcast from 10/29 had a long interview with the Hellgate designers and they went into tons of detail about the pay scheme and like. Well worth a listen if you are interested in the title. The interview almost got me interested in buying it.
flashburn
10-30-07, 08:13 PM
Here is what you get if you subscribe and pay the monthly fee:
SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS
Ongoing Content
We’re always making TONS of new content for our subscribers that extends and changes the way Hellgate: London can be played.
This includes:
New Levels to Explore
New Monsters
New Weapons
New Skills and Spells
New Quests and Storyline
New Character Classes
Themed Events and Items
These are events, areas, monsters, quests, pets and rewards that are available for limited periods of time throughout the year. Some are recurring while others may only happen once, so keep a sharp watch for announcements on upcoming events!
Hardcore Mode
Characters have one life, and ONLY one life, to give for the cause. There is no resurrecting your downed hero in Hardcore mode, so different tactics, skills and items rule the day. For the gamer that wants the ultimate test, try playing an Elite Hardcore character!
Guild Creation and Management
Buy purchasing a Guild Herald, a character can form a new guild. Characters can only be part of one guild at a time and should a Guild leader decide to abandon their post, they can pass leadership of the Guild to another subscribing guild member.
Achievement Rewards
You’re earning big points for completing long-term goals and insane tasks. Along with the notoriety and sense of accomplishment, there are also rewards to spend those points on!
PvP Modes and Rewards
New ways to fight against other players, both alone and in teams. Your reputation in this arena of combat will also net you special commendations and rewards!
Larger Stash
Each character gets an extra 6x8 section in their storage locker, making the hording of all sorts of goodies that much easier. Pack rats rejoice!
Personally I am going to wait and hope they release all of the additional content as some sort of expansion pack.
glassdragon
10-30-07, 08:43 PM
It's an awfully crowded few months for game releases and this might be one of those games that gets missed.
Timeshift 10/30
Hellgate london pc 10/31
Gears of war pc 11/02
Call of Duty 4: Modern warfare pc 11/5
Blacksite Area 51 11/12
Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back 11/13
Crysis pc 11/13
Unreal tournament 3 pc 11/19
Kane and Lynch dead men pc 11/20
Yes, this month will not be proclaimed as BROKEMONTH
kenage
10-31-07, 05:37 PM
Thanks for the 411 fellas. It seems that the pay per month thing works like upgrades that add to the value over time. I might pick this up after I try the demo.
glassdragon
10-31-07, 11:50 PM
I would not mind trying Mythos either if anyone has an extra invite or something...
Nifty03
11-06-07, 05:38 PM
For anyone who is playing Hellgate, PC Gamer has a free in-game pet "Coco Moko". Codes are in the December issue. Here is one from my mag, first come, first with the pet.
HPTC-G9J7-52AA-0V8S-PAE7-E3E0
Here is what you do with the code:
-Log into your account and visit you Account Management page.
-Redeem the 24-Digit Coco Moko Code from your copy of PC Gamer.
-Play Hellgate: London in multiplayer with any of the characters in the account.
-Activate the Coco Moko summoning item by right-clicking on it in your inventory.
-Coco Moko can only be activated in online play.
Buy: