Lunacy Games has announced a licensing agreement with HanbitSoft to create a new AAA game in the Hellgate franchise for console and PC. Lunacy Games is a studio founded in September 2022 by Hellgate: London creator Bill Roper. Codenamed Hellgate: Redemption, the game will be set in an undisclosed part of the franchise’s alternate history, demon-apocalypse world.
Bill Roper stated in a press release. “I’ve dreamed of returning to the franchise we created back in 2007 for many, many years. I’ve always felt I had unfinished business with the Hellgate IP, which is why our codename for the project is Hellgate: Redemption. By using Unreal Engine 5, cloud-based game servers, as many off-the-shelf solutions as possible, and great co-development partnerships, we’re putting every development dollar toward gameplay and innovation. We’re keeping core gameplay and lore elements of Hellgate: London in our current design, but our intent is to build an exciting new experience that takes advantage of the numerous advances the industry has seen over the past 17 years since the original game launched.”
Hellgate: London is an influential game that was ahead of its time in numerous ways. It pioneered the Looter Shooter genre, featuring randomly generated levels that demanded a proprietary 3D engine with real-time lighting support, and employed a business model that was unique at the time, now widely recognized as a Battle Pass. That era of gaming even required the formation of a second company to build and operate the online portion of Hellgate: London.
