Hellgate: London

About

Hellgate London drops you into a 2038 where demons have overrun the city. You build a character with a large tree of skills and spells to fight through procedurally generated levels packed with enemies. The game lets you tweak gear and appearance as you grind experience and tackle quests. Solo or team-based play lets you carve your path through the chaos with a mix of guns and magic. The game weaves real history into its fiction like the Crusades and the Great Fire of London. It ran on a modified Quake 3 engine and offered over 1000 hours of content for some players. A steep learning curve and dense menus might turn off casual gamers but hardcore fans praise its depth and customization.

Storyline

Hellgate: London takes place in 2038, 18 years after the start of a war: London has been invaded by demons from Hell. These particular hellions are a tireless lot, and have been looking for a way into our universe for a long time. Up until recently, humans have had many champions looking to hold back the flood. Various real-world events are referenced in the background of the Hellgate story as averted crossover attempts. The Crusades were actually undertaken to fight back the minions of Hell, as was the charring of London in the great fire to wipe out the Plague. According to the story line, the famous Knights Templar were the keepers of knowledge on how to battle these demonic forces. Unfortunately, these heroes underwent a charring of their own at the hands of a jealous King Phillip IV, who hated the power they held in the world at large. While the Knights Templar survived as an organization, their numbers were severely diminished and were forced to remain in hiding to stay alive.