The action RPG Hellgate: London seems to be the resilient figure of video games. No matter how many times it has been shut down, it always makes a comeback. Now the shooter, reminiscent of Diablo, is planning a return on Steam.
As publisher Hanbitsoft explained, Hellgate: London will restart on Steam in the latest version in November 2018 – but with a small catch.
The game that won’t die
This is the path Hellgate: London has taken so far: Hellgate: London has had a very rocky road.
- The action RPG launched at the end of October 2007 under Bill Roper’s Flagship Studios. The plan was to mix the Diablo principle with a shooter.
- The success did not materialize as the game appeared unfinished and had many technical problems. It faced criticism from players.
- Less than a year later, in the summer of 2008, most of the development team was laid off, and the rights to the game were partly sold to Hanbitsoft, while partly remaining with the publisher Namco.
- The servers of Hellgate: London shut down in February 2009, and Flagship Studios closed its doors.
- After revival attempts failed, Namco transferred its rights to the game to Hanbitsoft.
- In 2011, Hellgate: London was relaunched with publisher T3Fun and received the major expansion Hellgate: Tokyo.
- Under the new name Hellgate: Global, the game lasted until early 2012, but was shut down due to lack of success.
- In 2014, T3Fun made another revival attempt via Steam Greenlight, but by 2015, the servers were closed again. Hanbitsoft closed shortly after, in early 2016, the last own servers of the game.
- Plans for a Hellgate 2 were also canceled
- Finally, fans attempted a revival in 2017, which is still actively running.
A new return
This is how Hellgate: London is officially returning now: Hanbitsoft announced that with the support of some fans, the action RPG will be re-released on Steam. This is the latest version 2.0, including the expansion Hellgate Tokyo. The release is scheduled for November 15.
There are still questions unanswered: However, it is still unclear whether Hellgate: London will be released as a Buy2Play or Free2Play game.
However, premium items are mentioned, which indicates an in-game shop. Additionally, so far there is only talk of the single-player mode. Whether the multiplayer part will be added later or possibly omitted entirely is currently unclear.
This is how players are reacting: Although this constant shutdown and revival of the game has become somewhat of a running gag, many players still hold on to Hellgate: London.
It certainly had the potential to become a classic if it hadn’t been published too early. Many players are looking forward to the relaunch, while others believe that the game should finally disappear completely.
cheyane writes on MMORPG.com: “I bought the game back when it was released and I also played it as Hellgate: Revival. I would even buy it again now to be able to play it. “
Titanofdoom says on Steam: “The game works better in multiplayer. Please reintroduce multiplayer. I was so excited until I read single player.”
