17 years after Hellgate: London fizzled out, one of the original creators is bringing the series back for an all-new 'triple-A' game

Hellgate: London screenshot - zombies facing the player
(Image credit: HanbitSoft)

Hellgate: London is the game that will not die. It first launched in 2007 as an action-RPG set in a demon-infested London, but developer Flagship Games went under in 2008 and the game was closed the following year. It re-emerged in 2011 as a free-to-play MMO in South Korea, then took a run at Steam Greenlight in 2014 (which I don't think went anywhere), and then finally launched on Steam several years later, where it continues to get not much attention. And now, for some reason, it's coming back again in Hellgate: Redemption.

Hellgate: Redemption (not the official title but a codename, at least for now) developer Lunacy Games is headed up by Bill Roper, an industry veteran who served as producer, writer, and director on Hellgate: London after a long career at Blizzard. "I’ve dreamed of returning to the franchise we created back in 2007 for many, many years," Roper said. "I’ve always felt I had unfinished business with the Hellgate IP, which is why our codename for the project is Hellgate: Redemption."

Details on the game haven't been announced, but Lunacy said it will be a "triple-A PC/console game" built in Unreal Engine 5 that takes place "in an as-of-yet undisclosed part of the alternate-history, demon-apocalypse world."

"We’re keeping core gameplay and lore elements of Hellgate: London in our current design," Roper said, "but our intent is to build an exciting new experience that takes advantage of the numerous advances the industry has seen over the past 17 years since the original game launched."

Hellgate: London wasn't a terrible game by any stretch: It holds a respectable 70% aggregate score on Metacritic and sold just under a million copies, which wasn't bad for the time. And we found quite a bit to like when we reinstalled it a decade ago.

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Hellgate: London made a big cinematic splash at E3 in 2006.

But it wasn't quite ready for the spotlight at launch: In a 2013 interview with Edge (via Wayback Machine), developer Max Schaefer—like Roper, a veteran of early Blizzard games including Diablo—said rushed development resulted in a lack of polish and clunky storytelling, while its economic model, which included a singleplayer campaign, free multiplayer, and subscription-based premium multiplayer, was "jumbled and confusing."

"One of our regrets with the Diablo series was that it was kind of ‘fire and forget’," Schaefer said at the time. "We did one expansion, but that was it. We missed out on an opportunity to grow the game, and grow the universe as much as we wanted.

"So with Hellgate, we didn’t want to do that. We wanted it to be something we’d grow over time. For instance, we wanted to leave London and visit major cities throughout the world."

That was more than 10 years ago, and it's been more than 17 years since Hellgate: London first appeared, but apparently that dream dies hard—which is as good a reason as any for bringing back a series that's mainly remembered as a curiosity, when it's remembered at all. Maybe this time around, it'll work.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
Defiance players
A dead MMO that launched with a now-cancelled TV show in 2013 is coming back 4 years after servers were shut down
Painkiller (2025) screenshot
Painkiller is back, and maybe they'll finally get it right this time
Three cloaked videogame dudes with glowing gems in the middle of their chest, heading out to the rave
9 years after launching his own studio, former World of Warcraft lead designer Rob Pardo finally reveals what he's doing with it
Wyrdsong concept art
Wyrdsong, the RPG from ex-Bethesda talent, isn't dead—but it's no longer an open world: 'We're down to a skeleton crew'
Doomslayer pointing a large gun at a larger demon
'I like making Doom games': Doom: The Dark Ages won't be the end, says director Hugo Martin
A cold-looking gameplay shot of Fate: Reawakened
Fate: Reawakened gives the nostalgic 20-year-old action RPG series a new lease on life
Latest in Action
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The First Berserker: Khazan review - Blade Phantom
How to claim The First Berserker: Khazan pre-order bonus and deluxe edition DLC
gta 6 trailer
Publishers 'don't want to be anywhere near' Grand Theft Auto 6 when it launches: 'It's proving to be very stressful'
An image of a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 shooting at a red dragon from Dungeons & Dragons.
'Ok, so dragon builds are a thing now': galaxy-brained Helldivers 2 player incinerates a bile titan with a hover pack and a flamethrower
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
Latest in News
A gigantic terracotta sentinel made of living armor
Total War: Warhammer 3's army of Cathay has broken containment and is making its way to tabletop Warhammer at last
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm