Hell Let Loose: Vietnam has just released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series. While critical reviews are decent, the game has not launched to a great reception from fans. While many are praising the core gameplay, it’s technical shortcomings are clear, and fans have criticised the lack of traps and other missing elements of the Vietnam War.
As a multiplayer shooter, though, developer Expression Games has launched the Vietnam-themed PvP game with live-service in mind. The original game is still receiving updates to this day, but its Vietnam sequel was designed from-the-ground-up to better support the update structure of a live-service title.
“A large part of the work the programming team has done on Hell Let Loose: Vietnam has been to ensure we can support this game in the future,” technical director Kieran D’Archambaud told us prior to the game’s launch. “We now have a consistent, platform-agnostic codebase, which makes it significantly easier to bring new features to the game, with a significantly lower risk of introducing bugs as we do so.”
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is built on Unreal Engine 5 compared to the Unreal Engine 4 foundations of its predecessor. D’Archambaud adds that the team has done “a lot of work on the core tech”, and building the game with future content drops in mind has been a key focus of bringing the series onto a new engine.
Game director Rushy Rustchynsky explained that the team wants “to support the community, expand the game, and evolve the experience over time”. This suggests that the Hell Let Loose: Vietnam we play today will be massively different in a few years time. For fans of the original, that’s unsurprising; the original Hell Let Loose saw major gameplay additions over time that changed roles and the overall flow of combat.
“Maps, weapons and uniforms are the baseline expectation of players, but we’re already starting to talk about what new exciting features we can add to the game post-release to keep it fresh for our players,” Rustchynsky added. However, they added: “right now, though, we’re not committed to anything specific”.
Essentially, as the game director puts it, the future of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam will be determined by the community. “The community’s voice will play a large role in how the game evolves,” they explained with player-voiced complaints and desires being a key sign of where the game needs to go. At least, that’s what we’ve been told.
Right now, though, the biggest focus for Hell Let Loose: Vietnam should probably be bug fixing. Since launch, players have reported being able to swim on land, egregious aim assist, broken visuals, and other issues. Some players have stated that the game feels like an early access title. Hopefully, as Expression Games continues to grow the war simulator in the future, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam will grow into a more stable and more expansive military shooter.
