Clever! What immediately springs to mind when you hear the word "hellgate"? Simple: it's a gate leading, ostensibly, straight to Hell where all sorts of freakish ghoulies live. Tack "London" on the tail end of that and you've got one scary-ass video game title. What better day to unleash
Hellgate: London upon an unsuspecting world than October 31st, All Hallows Eve,
Halloween! Unfortunately, despite having one of Europe's premier cities right there in the title, Europeans will have to wait until November 2nd (oh, that's not so bad) to play Flagship Studios debut title.
That date is all they're sharing for now. If you're looking for details about that $10/month
optional subscription-based service –
featuring "huge amounts of content on an ongoing basis in the form of quests, character classes, demons, items, etc." – you'll have to wait some more. That information is "coming soon."
{ Aug 6th 2007 at 12:28PM } 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Blah @ Aug 6th 2007 12:35PM
Back when it was announced and they said it was free to play, I was thinking of buying it. I was thinking it would be a cooler Guild Wars. But now that an instanced non MMO RPG charges you to play it... Blah. I would rather pay to play Age of Conan and play Guild Wars for my free RPG fix.
Christopher Grant @ Aug 6th 2007 12:59PM
From EA: "While some may prefer to slay demons solo, players will also be able to take the fight online(1), teaming up with friends to save London in a secure, client-server environment and playing through the entire story-driven campaign for free."
CJC @ Aug 6th 2007 12:45PM
The word "London" makes everything 10% scarier, and colons make them 5% scarier.
It is SCIENCE.
Shagittarius @ Aug 6th 2007 1:06PM
Hey you got you colon in my Hellgate.
Anam @ Aug 6th 2007 1:12PM
I think it's for the purpose of sequels. This way, they can later make Hellgate: Vice City.
Shagittarius @ Aug 6th 2007 1:08PM
How come I don't have a profile and I lost my custom artwork icon?
Shagittarius @ Aug 6th 2007 1:08PM
sigh
rinks @ Aug 6th 2007 1:10PM
I've been looking forward to this for a while. I don't really get charging for what Diablo et al include as free, but who knows, might be worth it.
Anam @ Aug 6th 2007 1:15PM
*Jaw drops*
He CAN talk!
(Nice avatar)
Jojo @ Aug 6th 2007 1:32PM
even though they say 'optional', I have a feeling people like me who aren't willing to pay a subscription fee for a single=player game are going to get screwed. "To open this treasure chest, you need to subscribe to our service". Great. Just Great.
Anam @ Aug 6th 2007 1:41PM
From what I understand, you don't get less stuff for not paying, it's just that your weapons and armor won't look as cool (read: smaller shoulderpads).
That and you can't make as many characters or something. Anyway, it sounds like they're handling this well, but we'll see.
Jojo @ Aug 6th 2007 9:02PM
Well thats good. Now the question is, say I subscribe and get some very cool looking armor and sword that I would get, or would look different offline, and then I stop my subscription. Do I no longer have access to things I gained online?
WiNG @ Aug 6th 2007 1:28PM
bleh. maybe if it gets AMAZING reviews but there is no major reason to play this over Guild Wars or Diablo2 otherwise, haha.
Mack Swift @ Aug 6th 2007 1:31PM
Okay, this is nuts. Hellgate: London - Check. Bioshock - Check. Gears of War PC - Check. Crysis - Check.
We're boned.
robot rock @ Aug 6th 2007 7:48PM
I'm fairly certain that the free version is fully featured. Paying the monthly fee ensures no server queuing, ability to form and join guilds, and I think you get more bank slots....probably worth the 10 bucks to anyone who plays it more than a couple hours a night.
Otherwise, the free version will be just fine :D
Shawn D @ Aug 6th 2007 2:04PM
Fuck Yeah!! Can't wait for the RPG of year for 2007. With the guys behind Diablo, this is a must have. With a massive single player campaign and free or pay to play multiplayer, you can't go wrong.
Brinstar @ Aug 6th 2007 2:19PM
Flagship is giving people options, which I like. I like that I can still play it offline for free (after buying the game) and online for free (after buying the game). If I want more features, I can pay the monthly fee. If I don't want to pay, I can still play it.
Thierry @ Aug 6th 2007 2:24PM
I need to try the demo first to determine if this game is worth playing.
hvnlysoldr @ Aug 6th 2007 4:37PM
We should stop focusing on Halloween and instead focus on the day after Halloween. All Saints Day
BananaBoat @ Aug 6th 2007 6:55PM
I was looking forward to this game... until I found out that I'd be playing against people paying 10 dollars a month (with better weapons, armor, etc). They want us to pay 60 dollars for the game, and then get pwned by people paying an additional 10 a month? Give me a break! Obviously I could also pay 10 bucks a month, but there is no way I'd ever do that. Meh
irongamer @ Aug 6th 2007 7:30PM
People who complain about the fee have no clue what they are talking about.
You can play the whole game you bought online, with your friends, for free.
As flagship makes more content you can choose to get this content by paying for it (monthly fee). You want them to work for peanuts? Get a life.
Wonder how the game plays in co-op pve? Here is an early preview. They loved it.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/hellgate-london/808735p1.html
irongamer @ Aug 6th 2007 7:35PM
As for PvP:
I have heard that the items will be available for both free and paid accounts. The paid accounts will just look "cooler". It sounds like the stats on the items will be the same.
I am not sure if is still true.