Over at Worthplaying you can find a new batch of screenshots from Hellgate: London, the action RPG from Flagship Studios. The shots show several locations and bad guys.

Flagship's Hellgate: London website has been updated, offering a whole bunch of new screenshots from this upcoming action RPG. Thanks Blues.

GameSpy was given an exclusive look at Hellgate: London, a game being developed by Flagship Studios, a group founded by ex-members of Blizzard that worked on the Diablo series.

For the most part multiplayer will focus on cooperative play. Small teams of adventurers will venture into the Streets and sewers of London to massacre demons as a team. Flagship is planning on setting character limits for each region in order to keep balance: some areas will only be for two or three players, while other special areas may be able to accommodate large groups.
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Most impressive of all, the maps are completely random. Players will venture from one hub to another, and while these "safe zones" are static, the journey between each one will be different for everyone. Games like Diablo have created random 2D dungeons, but to do it in a 3D first-person environment is impressive: Flagship had to design a game engine from scratch (See this feature on the technology for a lowdown). We tooled around these random levels for quite a bit, and the level of detail was incredible; streets and alleys and intersections snaked around unpredictably with random debris providing cover for random groups of randomly-armed demons in unpredictable numbers. This isn't like any first-person game you've ever played.

IGN has a Hellgate: London development diary, in which Chris Lambert of Flagship Studios writes about the game's engine features.

GameSpot has posted their own Hellgate: London Q&A, talking to Flagship Studios chief creative officer Erich Schaefer about this first person RPG. Questions are about things like gameplay style, making the game a first person one, the setting, the game's skill system, combat and multiplayer. There is also a video interview with Bill Roper right here.

GameSpot: Tell us about what Hellgate: London is and what it isn't. Will the game emphasize addictive hack-and-slash gameplay with repeated play-throughs like Diablo, or will the game put more emphasis on story and quests?
Erich Schaefer: The experience of Hellgate: London will be very visceral. Expect plenty of random, slot-machine-style loot and an infinite variety of combat situations. Coupled with randomly generated, respawning levels, this hack-and-slash gameplay will likely encourage repeated play-throughs and hopefully lead to long-term replay value. That said, we plan to more fully incorporate our quest structure into the game experience. The storyline quests will drive the story, not just serving as random chores along the way. We also intend to create randomized missions to provide a little more meaning for the hack-and-slash.

IGN has posted a Hellgate: London preview, checking out the first person action RPG from Flagship Studios. The game takes place five years after demons and other nasty creatures have taken over London, and it's your job to find out what happened and how to fix the situation. According to the preview, the game will have dynamically generated content and levels, and there is co-op support. Several screenshots are included, and we also have four here on the Shack.

Items that affect combat and stats will also be found in the game world in various locations. Trinkets like magic jewelry fit alongside more modern day items like implants. More arcane stuff like runes and magical tattoos can also play a part, maybe even replacing armor. Some of these items will have stat requirements as well. For instance, useful demonic items will take concentration or willpower to keep under control, and each character will only have a limited amount of each. This should be good for balancing issues, since only a certain amount of concentration or willpower will be available to each player. Getting the coolest stuff is part of what made the Diablo franchise so damn popular. There were people bragging about having the best stuff for years. Hell, they probably still do and Hellgate will be no different. Just like Diablo, all weapons, armor, items, and mods will be randomized. The base weapons and armor will be relegated to types, but the randomized drops change the stats of all the weapons. So you might find a basic Vulcan Bolter, but you also might find a Vulcan Bolter with more mod slots with extra power. Same goes with the items and mods. You never know what you're going to get, prompting you to kill "just one more" bad guy in the hopes you'll find something awesome.

BlizzPlanet reports that the May issue of PC Gamer will have a cover article on Hellgate: London, finally revealing the RPG in development at Flagship Studios. As you might remember, Flagship employs several ex-Blizzard designers and executives including Bill Roper. The news post comes with a pic of the magazine cover, and mentions that the game will appear on PCs and Macs, but there's no other info on the game which will be published by Namco. Update: Groovalicious Games has a bit of a summary of what's mentioned in the article.