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| | London Bridge is falling down, and it's not alone. The Thames River is a strip of mud choked with debris, Parliament is a wreck, and Big Ben looms alone over a shattered city. Fires burn perpetually amongst the rubble and the sky above is a pale green soup. The Hellgate has opened, and only a handful of humans survive in the demon-infested aftermath. - Gamespy.com | | |
For centuries, the demonic hordes have tried to wrench open the doors from hell to the living world. Humanity was protected by such groups as the Knights Templar, who had sworn an oath to protect mankind. Although many believe that the Templars were persecuted and stripped of power in the 1300s, we learn that the order simply went underground and continued to defend humanity against potential demon invasions. The same is true for the secret society of the Freemasons.
The bubonic plague was the result of just one of many failed demon invasion attempts. So was the great London fire of 1666, which destroyed most of the city. Still, these disasters were victories for the human race, since the demonic hordes still couldn't get through.
But as the centuries passed mankind became less interested in the mystical. The Age of Reason elevated science to new heights. Spiritual quests were replaced by quests to understand the secrets of the atom. And membership in the secret societies dwindled.
Fast forward to near-future London. The demons have successfully opened the Hellgate, and are pouring onto the Earth - destroying every living thing in their path. The ordinary weapons of modern science did no harm to the demon skin, and London was overrun. The few remaining survivors fled into the vast London Underground. Luckily, earlier generations had planned for the worst. It was the Freemasons who built much of the London Underground. Constructed with special materials and with cleverly disguised runic symbols, these subway stops were Demon-resistant. And after the disaster, those that weren't breached by the demonic hordes are acting as bases for humanity's defenders.
These defenders include the Knights Templar, who are still around -- and who are looking swanky in their futuristic Crusader armor. This is the only character class that Flagship has announced so far. The Templars focus on close-up combat, using specialized swords or other weapons and skills that allow them to move quickly and to leap in and out of close-quarters combat.
Normal weapons can't harm demons, but magical spells and wards can, and there's no reason such spells can't be delivered via specialized shotgun or rocket launchers. The weapons and armor in Hellgate: London are a mix of archaic runes and magical spells with modern technology. For instance, flamethrowers will throw Greek Fire, an ancient recipe long since abandoned but particularly useful against demons.
This crazy blend of arcane and modern is what keeps the "safe zones" in the game safe. Every stop on the underground that hasn't been overrun with demons is protected by a "power core" -- a sort of mystical field generator -- that the Freemasons put in place when the station was built. These power cores are pretty touchy and each one is unique. Like the warp drive of a starship, they require constant maintenance by "Techsmiths" -- masters of mixing the arcane arts with modern technology to fight the demons. Some of the older power cores have obscure Victorian valves and steampunk-style mechanisms that require constant care lest the Demons overrun the station.
When the demons broke through and spilled onto the streets of London, they began a process known as "The Burn," which is turning London into an environment just like Hell. The Burn has turned buildings to smoldering husks and the sky to an eerie green soup.
Once the attack began, the survivors in the city lost contact with the outside world. Did the demon horde just attack London, or is the whole Earth overrun? Is London the focus of the invasion, or is it the last domino to fall? Nobody knows, and that leaves the franchise wide-open for more exploration in future games. Will we be seeing Hellgate: New York? How about Hellgate: Las Vegas? (Or is it too late for Vegas?) It turns out that any city more than a few hundred years old usually has a strange underground network of sewers, trains, aqueducts or other strange nooks and crannies to exploit. Their time may come!
Reference: Gamespy.com
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