There are less than two months to go now until action-RPG Hellgate: London hits the shops. It's a PC-exclusive and is being developed by Flagship Studios, formed by a team of ex-Blizzard employees who worked on Diablo. Comparisons with that game might seem inevitable but, as CEO Bill Roper explains in this interview, it's not something Flagship shies away from.
Eurogamer: Is Hellgate a better game than Diablo?
Bill Roper: Phew, that's a big one - Diablo was a pretty good game [laughs]. I don't know. We'd like to think so. We used everything we learned from the Diablo series and more in Hellgate. Ultimately, the gamers are the ones who will decide if it's better, but we're extremely proud of what we've done. Everyone who's played the game in testing has had a wonderful time and is excited by it, so, hopefully.
Before Flagship Studios, there was Blizzard North. Originally known as Condor, the Redwood-based studio was acquired in 1997 by Blizzard Entertainment. At the time, Blizzard North was hard at work on the development of the game that would be the cornerstone of everything that came after: Diablo.
IGN : Remember Hellgate: London? The dark fantasy action role-playing game came out in 2007 for PC, a year before developer Flagship Studios went bankrupt. Since then, various free-to-play and online revivals have come and gone. Now, 17 years after the release of Hellgate: London, it’s back.
I remember some friends and I all bought Hellgate: London day one because it was made by some original Diablo devs. We had fun playing it, good memories.
PC Invasion: Hellgate: London is back on Steam, but it's not what you expect it to be. It's a single-player game in the vein of Asian MMOs.
The only thing I want to know if there is gonna be a Cow level? XD