Hellgate LondonI opened up my email yesterday to find an invite to the Hellgate London beta test. I had signed up months ago and forgotten about it. And if you aren’t a hardcore video gamer, then you’re probably thinking, “Great! What is Hellgate London?” right about now.

Hellgate London is a new MMORPG coming out next week. The publisher, Flagship Studios, is comprised mostly of ex-Blizzard North employees. Blizzard North, of course, was the studio that put out both Diablo games. Hearing the words “Diablo” and “MMO” in the same sentence is enough to make most any gamer salivate. Myself included.

However, Hellgate London is not a Diablo sequel, nor is it set in the Diablo universe. With all the demons and medieval weaponry, the game does have a very Diablo-inspired feel to it. In terms of gameplay, it is first and foremost an RPG. You quest, gain experience, develop skills, and collect armor, weapons, and items. The cool thing is it also includes things you’d normally see in a first person shooter. You use the standard movement keys (W, A, S, and D) to move around, but the camera is locked to your mouse. One click is equivalent to one swing of the sword or one shot from your gun. At first the hybrid gameplay style is confusing; especially coming from a traditional MMO like WoW. After a few minutes, I was able to rid my mind of the typical MMO controls though.

Ever since I got bored with WoW and stopped playing (about a month ago), I’ve been looking for something to fill that empty feeling. Like the avid reader, I always have that game that I’m “playing.” I think Hellgate London is going to be it. I found another detail that made the game even more enticing. There is no required monthly fee.

Instead, there are two classes of accounts: paid and unpaid. For only the price of the game, you get access to the online component for the life of the game. Paid (”Elite”) accounts get access to exclusive content for $9.95/mo. I can tell you, after paying $12.99/mo (Blizzards 6 mo bulk deal), $9.95 looks like a bargain. It seems as though they have a pretty good idea of how upgrading or downgrading your account is going to work too.