If you haven’t yet visited London, the clock’s ticking—come 2038, London will be far from the cheeriest place on the planet. Hellgate: London, the debut title from developer Flagship Studios, turns England’s capital upside down, but more ambitiously it hopes to do the same to the role-playing genre. Backed by a blockbuster team of designers, Hellgate: London could easily achieve this goal with action-packed gameplay that focuses on customization, depth, and unadulterated demon slashing.

Hellgate: London takes place in the near future, set against the backdrop of the devastated British metropolis. London has been overrun by a demonic invasion that has left few humans alive; as a result, you must rise up within the ranks of the survivors to confront the demons and save humanity's future. A lengthy single player campaign serves as the core experience, with approximately thirty hours of gameplay; however, Hellgate: London will be unique in offering a massively multiplayer online mode that extends the experience. While we weren't able to see multiplayer in action, we were able to get hands-on with an updated version of the single player campaign.

Blending traditional role-playing elements and fast-paced action, Hellgate: London plays much like a spiritual successor to Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo. Lead Designer Bill Roper describes the game as an evolution of action role-playing. At the core of Hellgate: London, he explains, are the concepts of randomization, rarity, and customization. Across both the single and multiplayer modes, randomization dictates everything from the layout of levels to the number of enemies that populate an area to what kinds of items they drop when defeated. As we explored the Dried Thames Riverbed, Roper drew our attention to elements within the level that had been randomly generated—demons, items, and even a trap door leading to a rare side quest. While we’re concerned that randomization may prove frustrating since levels will constantly be changing and enemies always respawning, Hellgate: London appears to use this to create an effervescent gameplay experience that is always new, different.

Before you can tackle on missions and battle demons, you’ll have to create a character and select a class. Two classes have been revealed—Templar and Cabalist—with additional ones to be announced in the months leading up to the game’s summer release. Templars follow the way of the Knights Templar, specializing in white magic and melee combat. Cabalists differ significantly from Templars in wielding dark magic to fight against demons; more specifically, Cabalists can use demons’ power against them, even capable of summoning creatures to fight for them. Obviously selecting a class grants you strengths and weaknesses that will affect how you play the game.

Action takes center stage in Hellgate: London with a wide range of spells and skills suited for combat. As you gain experience from defeated enemies you'll be able to unlock new spells and skills specific to your class. Abilities can be mapped to the numbered keys at the top of your keyboard or accessed via the mouse. The game also features context-sensitive skills that can be executed with a press of the shift key. Roper describes the context-sensitive system as useful in learning how to apply skills to specific situations or against certain enemies.

You’ll be able to group skills, spells, and weapons into groups called battle sets. Up to three battle sets can be mapped to F1, F2, and F3, each offering quick access to different slates of abilities. For example, your first battle set might be tailored for direct combat whereas your second set is for ranged combat and the third for support and healing. Roper demonstrated the ease of switching among battle sets by hitting F1 to equip the grappler, which he used to draw in a demon from afar. Next, he tapped F2 to wield a sword and started bashing the demon into submission. All this occurred within a short space of time, highlighting the hasty nature of combat.