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Fact Sheet
From Hellgatewiki.com
This page should answer your most basic questions about Hellgate:London. See other pages in our Category:Basics section for much more general information on the game's setting, plot, story, mechanics, character classes, and more.
Contents |
What is Hellgate: London?
Hellgate:London can fairly be called the "spiritual succcessor to Diablo II." It's being designed and produced by most of the guys who made Diablo, Diablo II, and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and it incorporates many of the features gamers liked best about the Diablo games. Fast-paced action, large groups of monsters to slaughter, random level generation, a huge variety of items to collect, a wide variety of character skills and spells, and all presented in a game that offers immediate fun thanks to a quick learning curve, but keeps your attention long-term with depth and variety.
"Hellgate: London combines the depth of role-playing games with the action of first-person titles while offering infinite playability with randomly created levels, items, and events.
"Hellgate: London is an action-RPG with quite a few twists on the model made popular by the Diablo series. Set in a post demonic apocalyptic London, players take on the role of survivors empowered with items and weapons that blend arcane spells, divine power and super-science in order to try and re-establish a foothold for humanity. The game is in 3D and is played from either first-person or a tight third-person perspective, depending on what the user prefers. When we were coming up with the concept for the game, the merging of Half Life 2 and Diablo 2 was common shorthand.
"Hellgate: London is playable as a stand-alone single-player game, but it's the multiplayer components that we believe will really make it shine. We're building our own online destination for the game that is comparable in features to any MMORPG. This means a client/server structure to provide safe and secure gaming, character databases, customer service, guild support and so on. We want to provide ongoing content for the game long after it has shipped, and we're building both the game and our infrastructure to lay the ground work for doing just this. Online gaming has a lot of higher expectations than it did five years ago, and we're looking forward to providing a much more compelling experience than we did in the Diablo days."
--Bill Roper, January 2006
Release Date
After targeting Hellgate: London for a "summer 2007" release date, the team backed it up a bit to be sure the game was ready and polished. HGL is now set for release on October 31, 2007 in the US and Asia, with a November 2nd date set for Europe and the rest of the world.
See the Release Date page for full details on this issue.
Minimum Requirements
Hellgate: London's minimum requirements were announced in early September, 2007.
The minimum PC specs for North America and Europe are as follows:It's not yet known just how well the game will play at these levels, or what the recommended minimum specs are. The Flagship Crew worked hard to make HGL playable on lower end machines, and they succeeded, for th emost part.
- OS: Windows XP with SP2 or Windows Vista
- Processor: 1 .8GHz or faster (2.4GHz for Vista)
- RAM: 1GB or more (2GB for Vista)
- Video: 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
- Audio: DirectX 9.0c compatible device
- Disc drive: 8x DVD or faster
- Hard drive: 6 GB or more free space
- Input: Keyboard and mouse
- Internet: Connection required for multiplayer
Bill Roper: We haven't determined the final system requirements for the game, but we've gone to great lengths to assure players that they won't need a bleeding-edge system to enjoy Hellgate: London. We're pushing the envelope upwards with DX10 and Vista support, and downward by creating low-poly versions of all the art assets. We want to do everything we can to ensure that if you have a reasonable system with a decent 3D graphics card, you're going to be able to play.
--Bill Roper, Play.TM interview, May 22, 2007.
Mac and Linux Support
Flagship is not releasing a Mac or Linux version of Hellgate: London. The markets for games on those platforms is not large enough to make paying the additional programming and Q&A teams it would require. Like all Windows software, HGL will be playable through emulators such as Boot Camp for the Mac.
Console Version?
Flagship has never ruled out adapting HGL to a console, and their publishing partners EA is one of the leading console game producers. Nothing official has ever been released, though.
Randomization
As they did with Diablo II, the Hellgate Team is working to randomize almost every dungeon area in the game. They're taking it much further this time too, and allowing for far more variety in level structure, and even size; the game automatically resizes levels to make them larger for larger parties. In addition, monster strength and population both change in response to the number of players in the game, and even the level of those players. Rewards increase as monster difficult increases, of course.
"The game is an action-RPG that is based on the game play philosophies of the Diablo series, so every time a player sets out on an adventure, the world, monsters, treasures and even some of the quests and events are dynamically and randomly generated. This means that you literally get millions of possible combinations in terms of properties on items. Then, when you layer the ability to mod an item – basically plugging in components like relics or fuel cells – the customization creates a massive number of possibilities. We apply both randomization and rarity to almost every item that drops in the game, so you’re never sure exactly what you’re going to find."
--Bill Roper, November 2006, GamersInfo.net interview
Random skills, in the form of "skill nodes" were considered during Hellgate: London's development, but rejected after play testing.
Characters
Character types in Hellgate: London are called "factions." There are three factions in the game, Templars, Cabalists, and Hunters, each of which boasts two classes. Each class has around 26 skills, with some slight overlap within faction. There are no professions or trades in the game; skills are acquired via assigning points in a skill menu, and they improve (in various ways) with more points, not with use or training by NPCs, as in some RPGs. See the Skills page.
Templars are knights, heavily-armored warriors who use swords and shields, along with light and heavy guns of all types. They battle the forces of darkness with faith and courage, and their skills and spells concentrate on offensive power, defensive might, and boosting their own abilities with auras and other buffs.
- Blademasters are offensive specialist Templars, delighting in sword play and attack skills. They can dual wield swords, but can not use the heavier rifles and lack shield skills.
- Guardians are durable tanks, capable of using the heaviest armor and shields and withstanding massive attacks. They counterpunch expertly, and can take on huge mobs of demons with a variety of auras that improve their defenses.
Cabalists are mages and summoners. They use eldritch magics and arcane knowledge to summon and control demons. Cabalists are also spell-casters who can unleash mighty magics upon the demons. They use guns of all sorts as well, and specialize in the use of a "Focus Drive" which fires monster-killing energy particles as well as enabling its wielder to cast high level spells.
- Evokers are mage-like Cabalists who possess mighty offensive magics. They can equip two focal devices at the same time for increased magical firepower.
- Summoners are demon lords, capable of calling up large numbers of demons to serve them as loyal soldiers. Their offensive magics are less powerful than Evokers.
Hunters are soldiers of fortune; black-ops agents. They eschew magic in preference for high tech weaponry and armor. Hunters wield powerful grenades and can call down massive air strikes on selected targets. They are also capable of modifying weapons to new purposes, as well as constructing automated, robotic-guns and minion. These "Drones" have properties that reflect the items they were created from, and have limited intelligence to fight beside the Hunter. Hunters can also move with stealth and guile, by using various decoy and cloaking skills. Additionally, Hunters target their enemies with a crosshairs and manual aim akin to how targeting works in most First Person Shooters. Cabalists and Templars employ a semi-automated "soft lock" system.
- Engineers are tech wizards, capable of quickly constructing numerous types of intelligent, persistent Drones to fight beside them. They can also create "bots" which are short lived gun turrets.
- Marksman are the real FPS guys in Hellgate: London. They possess dozens of gun-boosting skills, can throw four types of grenades, though they can not create drones or bots.
Appearance Customization
Your character can truly be your own in Hellgate: London. When creating a new character you can play around with all of the following settings:
- Class
- Gender
- Face type
- Skin tone
- Height
- Weight
- Hair style
- Hair color
- Eye color
See the Character Creation page for full details.
Combat and Targeting
Hellgate: London plays like Diablo II, in that most combat is about taking on large mobs of relatively-weak monsters who get their strength in numbers. There are more difficult beasts, of course; tougher and more dangerous boss monsters, and uber-powerful end bosses. The action is fast and furious if you advance quickly, and the game is much more about crowd control than winning extended one-on-one duels.
The Hunter faction looks a bit like the ninja-suited soliders from the popular Rainbow Six and Counter Strike type shooters, and they play like them to, with FPS-style targeting that is different than the soft-lock used by the other factions. Cabalists and Templars target with a "soft-lock" system, where the aiming reticle locks onto whatever monster is in range (range varies widely between weapons) and closest the center of the screen. Hitting the target still requires skill for a Cabalist or Templar player; but it's more about positioning and angles. A fast monster that's skipping from side to side will move before your projectiles reach it, but not if it's in the midst of a larger monster pack, or hemmed in by a wall, or running straight towards your character.
Hunters target like snipers in a shooter; their bullets, lasers, missiles, electric eels (there is a staggering variety of Weapons in Hellgate: London), etc go wherever the crosshairs are positioned. Hitting what you're shooting at therefore requires a Hunter to exercise more mouse control, and Hunters can also "lead" moving targets, fire in front of a pack to take better advantage of spread shots and area of effect bombs, shoot at walls and objects in front of monsters to use rebounding bullets, and so forth. That being said, Hellgate: London is not a shooter, and precise pixel aiming is not required. Monsters are not damaged mapped and there are no head shot kills -- you either hit or miss, and damage is then determined by the RPG elements of the game; your stats, your skills, your equipment bonuses, the monster's resistances, and so forth.
See the Game Mechanics page for more details.
Items
As was the case in Diablo II, Hellgate: London contains hundreds of types of weapons and armor, and an infinite variety of possible magical modifiers. There are over one hundred different types of weapons, and they are different; there aren't just ten types of swords that differ only by damage and swing speed. Every weapon in Hellgate: London is different, and most are uniquely-bizarre. Guns shoot electric eels, swarms of robotic insects, homing streams of poison, guided missiles, explosive shells, plasma bullets, explosive harpoons, and much, much more. Melee weapons are just as original, and various swords are formed of molten magma, electricity, poisonous barbs, and there's even a cricket bat, formed from good old fashioned polished wood.
On top of the basic weapon types, there will also be unique, set, and rare items, along with various other permutations unlike anything found in Diablo II. See our Items and Weapons sections for far more details.
Hellgate: London Online
Hellgate: London is fully playable as a single player game, without ever going online. In the tradition of Diablo though, Hellgate: London has been designed as a near-MMORPG, with support for thousands of players on each realm and dozens in each game. To handle this load Flagship created Ping0, their own dedicated online gaming service. Ping0 is not just another battle.net though, it's also going to handle online distribution of games by Flagship and other companies, as well as providing other, as-of-yet unspecified services.
See the HGL Online page for full details about their hosting plans and the tiered Elite vs. free subscription options.
Game Overview
The official blurb:
Hellgate: London is the first original title from premier developer Flagship Studios. Set in the near future, Hellgate: London introduces gamers to a world devastated by demon invasion. Players are thrust into a desolate city scorched by hellfire. Here, the few survivors must meld science and sorcery in order to gain a foothold against the minions of darkness and save the bloodline of humanity.
Hellgate: London combines the depth of role-playing games with the action of first-person shooters while offering infinite replayability and an individualized gaming experience complete with dynamically created levels, monsters, items and events. Players create a hero and then battle through innumerable hordes of demons while completing quests and advancing through experience levels and branching skill paths. A robust, flexible skill and spell system, highly-customizable items and a massive variety of randomly generated equipment allow players to create a hero that is truly unique.
A New Perspective on RPGs
Combining the depth and customizability of role-playing games with the immersion of those played from the first-person, Hellgate: London is fast-paced but doesn't require lightning reflexes to achieve a high level of success.
Unique and Appealing World
Explore an ominous post-apocalypse London alone or with friends. From ancient ruins long buried beneath once thriving streets to shattered cathedrals, fact and myth are blurred into an unceasing nightmare as the last remnants of humanity fight for their very souls.
Character Classes
Fight against the demons of the underworld as one of several unique character classes. like the Templar, each class has a unique visual and game-play style based on its particular history and place in the world. Randomly generated items that can be modified in numerous ways ensure that heroes are distinct and individualized.
Hell on Earth
Battle against a wide variety of demonic enemies, each with their own unique attributes, abilities, and vulnerabilities.
Infinite Re-playability
With dynamically generated levels, massive quantities of randomly created items, chance events and story-driven quests, no two gaming experiences are ever the same. Differing levels of rarity and modification potential for items and skills also mean that every game played is a unique event.
Single-Player and Online Multiplayer Support
While Hellgate: London stands on its own as a singleplayer game, it also provides a compelling multiplayer experience via a dedicated online gaming destination. By creating unique and individualized gameplay "instances" within a vast online community, Hellgate: London provides gamers with all the best parts of traditional massive multiplayer games, but without any of the common downsides.
