Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, the sequel to the World War 2 shooter, is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It offers complex, tactically involved 50 vs. 50 online matches that demand more from players than typical shooters like Call Of Duty or Battlefield.
Vietnam War Setting and Asymmetric Warfare
The game is set during the Vietnam War, a conflict fought in extreme terrain, from near desert to triple canopy jungle. Its forces were completely asymmetric: the American war effort was mechanised with helicopters, fixed wing air support, and river patrol boats, while the North Vietnamese Army had much greater manpower and rallied militias of Viet Cong citizen soldiers.
Hell Let Loose is strictly USA vs. the NVA, but it borrows the Viet Cong’s hand dug tunnel networks to even the odds. Playing on the Vietnamese side, engineers can link garrisons with tunnel entrances anywhere in the bush, providing an invisible fast travel network for troops.
17 Military Disciplines and Commander Role
The job of engineer is just one of 17 military disciplines you can choose. Specialists support engineers, speeding construction and destroying enemy infrastructure. Rifleman is the easiest job, with little tactical responsibility other than following your squad leader. Mortar teams, machine gunner, grenadier, tank, and boat crews, plus pilots for the UH-1 supply helicopters, are all necessary parts of the military machine.
All soldiers carry a tactical map, but the commander can use it to call in resupply, air strikes, and artillery bombardments, as well as assigning priorities for attack and defence. Whether anyone’s listening is a matter of experience.
Gameplay and Modes
Starting out, the game isn’t all that much fun. Spawning as a rifleman, you’ll use your map to choose a spawn point, then follow your sergeant to an objective. There are myriad ways for that to go wrong, including running for several minutes through thick simulated jungle before being shot and killed by someone you didn’t see. There’s no kill cam or feedback about who fired the fatal round.
All four game modes require taking objectives. Warfare is the most straightforward, requiring both teams to take a neutral central location, then push further into each other’s territories. In Offensive, one team attacks while the other defends, with zones captured permanently. Conquest relies on whittling down enemy morale across multiple flashpoints. Domination gives teams headquarters on either side of the map, with three neutral nodes in the middle.
At launch there are six extremely large maps, each easily containing the maximum of 100 players. It’s a cross-play game, so console gamers are up against PC players, with slight aim assist for those using a controller.
Technical Issues and Verdict
The game still has numerous rough edges, including training events failing to spawn, occasional strobing foliage textures, and difficulties linked to overfilled servers. It’s par for the course with large scale multiplayer game launches, and the first Hell Let Loose has been improved almost out of all recognition since its own slightly rocky start.
There’s still much to entertain here, but only for a specific kind of player. There’s no instant gratification, just tough lessons taught through repeatedly being shot and killed. It demands discipline and persistence, and each military role requires dropping back down that pitiless learning curve. You’re also powerfully beholden to your 49 teammates.
Although early days, its systems, geographical setting, and interesting take on asymmetric warfare point to a potentially magical future where it all clicks together. With a skilled commander, active squad leaders, and a cohort that knows what it’s doing, you can picture the carefully laid tactical groundwork of supply caches and garrisons helping a well organised team to victory. It’s an experience that may still be a few weeks away, but Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is off to a promising start.
