Although Blizzplanet.com wasn't able to post screenshots from the PC Gamer feature, they included a number of interesting details:
London was chosen for its dark and gothic athmosphere that match the hell-bent storyline of the game. The RPG is set five years after an apocalyptic battle between humans and demons. When the hellish creatures won the war, the survivors took shelter underground. London has many catacombs, sewers, subways which give a proper dungeon atmosphere. Heck, I remember "American Werewolf in London", and "Jack the Ripper" when I was a child, and I was pretty spooked with the London natural frightening-qualities, grayed and thick-misty athmosphere.Characters and genre will be customizable
Approximately 50 levels of pure action.
Single player and Multiplayer(Bill Roper has many times mentioned in the past, that they aim to offer a service similar to Battle.net)
FPS(First-Person Shooter) and Third-person modes will be available. Similar to World of Warcraft where you can choose either camera mode on the click of a button. This is a great idea for those who wish a Half-Life/Counterstrike feel or a Diablo II feel.
Like Diablo II, the landscape and paths will be randomly generated, offering replayability
London landmark locations will be found throughout the game (I guess the Big Ben clock will be one of the ruins / locations).
Quest system is not linear, therefore you will have random paths and different outcomes. You choose which quest to take. This seems to be similar to World of Warcraft and Diablo II quest system.
Skill points are gained each Character Level you grow and points may be applied to your Class Talents Tree: Weapons/Spells, Auras(passive) or Combo Moves(which interact with critical strikes).
Weapons will have different stats depending of your Character level and other factors. Even if you have the same weapon as another player, both weapons will differ in stats. I assume points you set into Class Talent Tree will affect the stats and critical strike chances on weapons; and also special gear you wear may affect somewhat your weapons and abilities stats, same as in World of Warcraft. For those who loved Diablo II's built-in slots (known as sockets) on weapons, you can add stats and attributes to your weapons via special items that you drag onto the weapon built-in sockets. It is not clear how, but it reminds me of Diablo II runes that modify the overall stats of Weapons and Armor gear.
Hits, misses, and damage will vary according to your overall Gear stats, and Class Talent Tree stats. This makes a player's character unique and different to other players's that are the same level. Basically, a FPS veteran will have a hard time against a newbie that is well equipped and sets Talent tree points smartly.
Inventory bag to store items and weapons
Lastly, Multiplayer mode aims to have somewhere between 16 to 32 players support. This may vary as the game is still in development, therefore this could change. What sounds exciting is that their previous game, Diablo II had competitive ladder. It would be interesting to find out if Hellgate: London will offer support for LAN, tournaments, ladder, etc.
For more information including the PC Gamer cover image, be sure to visit the Blizzplanet.com web site.
