Flagship Studios CEO Bill Roper has said that there are "definitely" more stories the developer wants to tell in the Hellgate universe.
"For us, one of the reasons that the game was Hellgate: London is that we wanted to talk about... Well, it's two-fold. One, the city itself is very important to the game, the architecture of the city and what lies beneath the streets of London - giving elements of London itself that are part of a story and part of the gameplay as well.
"But for us we've been looking and saying, 'Well, these are the stories we're telling in London, this is what's happening now in this place'. We would love to be able to then explore what's happening in other places during this time", Roper told us in an interview which we'll be publishing in full shortly.
He explained Flagship views Hellgate as being a story that has very many different facets to it that can be related, citing WWII as an example and how you can observe the variety of experiences of countries during one major overarching event.
"For us it's that same type of idea. Hopefully we'll get that opportunity through games, through other properties - like books and comics - and be able to look at those things, and look at other parts of the world and explore what happened", Roper said.
"And we really do hope we get that chance to do it with more games. If the game's [Hellgate: London] popular, if people like it, then I guess there's a chance we can do more."
It's a pity really that Bill Roper focuses so much on the issue of the story and plot of HGL when its pretty non-existent in the beta build that I and many others have been testing.
The story and earlier trailers for HGL are what essentially got me interested in the game 2 years ago and before I entered the beta the focus remained on experiencing a world themed around the story. Well the environment, demons and factions are all there but any sense of a story-line or faction focused quests or plots are sorely missing. I know this is not a big deal for everyone but for myself and friends it came as a major disappointment.
I'm sure other testers have their own opinions, there is a lot about the game I have enjoyed, but I just sense that it could stumble in the same manner LOTR did, by not quite living up to everything that was promised and not offering the replay-a-ability that some of the community were hoping for.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
