There’s myriad layers to the first person shooter genre, from slick sci-fi arcade blast ’em ups and boomer shooters, to realistic and not-so-realistic war shooters, and the tense, slow-paced tactical SWAT action. There’s something for everyone… almost. Because while many have been overjoyed with what EA are producing with Battlefield 6, there’s always a few comments on trailers and posts wishing and dreaming for a return to the Vietnam War. Those prayers are going to be answered, in part, by Hell Let Loose: Vietnam.
While Hell Let Loose and Battlefield might have their similarities on paper – they’re both large-scale multiplayer shooters that rely on squad dynamics, classes, and vehicles – they are strikingly different in a lot of ways. Battlefield aims to be all action, all the time, to bring you those “Battlefield moments”, but Hell Let Loose takes a more realistic approach with a more defined command structure, bespoke squads for different roles, a real need for more communication to succeed, and a TTK that forces you to be much more cautious.
Applying that to the Vietnam War is quite fascinating, especially given the vast disparity in military technology and battle tactics that the United States and North Vietnamese armies employed. For many – myself included – the bulk of our understanding of this war comes from Hollywood, which, while films often sought to protest by showing the horrors of war, the excess of violence and unimaginable destruction of napalm bombing runs, the NVA are often reduced to being surprise ambushers shredding the jungle foliage around American soldiers on the big screen.
So, Expression Games is having to embrace the major differences between these two sides of this war in a lot of ways. Perhaps the most notable difference will be in how you can quickly get around the map. For the Americans, the use of helicopters was huge for navigating the difficult jungle terrain quickly, bringing supplies, soldiers and medical assistance to wherever it was needed. That’s found in Hell Let Loose: Vietnam by making helicopters a flyable vehicle for this side.
On the other side, the NVA can build and create tunnel networks to aid their own rapid traversal. This was described to me as officers being able to plant and connect tunnel entrances and exits around the map, giving faster, but still not instant movement between points for their team – time taken will depend on the distance being travelled. Naturally, the US will want to try and limit this sprawl of tunnels, and finding an exit means that this can be destroyed and, if it’s at a midpoint of a tunnel, potentially make a whole tunnel unusable. You’ll need to listen keenly for the audible cues to try and find them.
Given the terrain, another new addition comes in the form of speed boats to navigate the river networks, for both the US and the NVA, though the six maps promise plenty of variety drawn from the Vietnamese landscape, and taking inspiration from moments in the war such as Operation Starlite and Operation Piranha in late 1965.
The war will rage between the two sides, each with 50 players, and just like in the first game, there will be bespoke squad types, sizes and roles within them. A new addition for Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is the mortar squad, taking on much of the role that calling in an artillery strike did in WW2, with smaller 3-player mortar squads able to bombard defences – a smoke trail will be the giveaway for the firing location, so you’ll want to keep on the move. It will, of course, build up to being able to call in napalm strikes for the US, but the Viet Cong do have their own aircraft and can have less spectacular bombing runs called in as well.
This game marks a major jump forward for Expression Games. For one thing, they’ve now made the jump to Unreal Engine 5 for this game, and they’re planning to launch simultaneously across PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC this time – cross-play will be split between PC stores playing together and consoles playing together. Not only that, but there won’t be an early access stage before a full release, albeit with some beta tests expected in the run up.
Most significantly, Expression Games feels that they’ve grown enough that Hell Let Loose: Vietnam will not fully supplant the original game. The studio is large enough now that Hell Let Loose will still be supported with content and patches going forward, alongside Vietnam.
While fans of the WW2 original might think that Expression could have moved to the War in the Pacific for similarly themed style of war, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is the bigger dose of wish fulfilment for war gaming fans. Arguably it is the more difficult conflict to adapt as well, but the team’s plans for how to balance the massively different battle tactics, technology and destructive options might seem to have a great grasp of how to manage this.
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