Hellgate open beta launches this week with new PvP arenas and the deadly Cow Room

Last month we learned that Korean company Hanbitsoft will be bringing back Hellgate: London as a free-to-play MMO. After a short closed beta test earlier this month, they're set to throw open the hell-gates to everyone with the launch of a US and European open beta, kicking off this Thursday June 30. You can sign up for an account and download the client now from the Hellgate site .

The open beta phase of Hellgate will launch alongside a series of experience-boosting events, with the addition game modes. Duel Area adds player vs. player deathmatch in four different arenas with names like "Forgotten Grave" and "Passage of Hallucination." The second mode is the Cow Room. There are no cows in the cow room, but there are zombies, and sandstorms. If you survive the waves of undead and take out the Cow Room boss (hopefully a cow), you stand a chance of picking up some of the most effective weapons in the game.

Hellgate: London was originally made by the now disbanded Flagship studios after the game's failure caused the studio to shut down. Some members of Flagship went on to form Runic Games, who made the excellent action RPG, Torchlight. Meanwhile, Hanbitsoft have scooped up Flagship titles Hellgate: London and Mythos, and rebalanced both of them as free-to-play games. You can find out more about Mythos on the official site .

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.