Hell Let Loose is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Australian studio Black Matter and published by Team17. Players fight in iconic battles of the Western and Eastern Fronts of World War 2 at the platoon level.
The game was announced via a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2017, where it raised US$220,000. It was initially released for Microsoft Windows as an early access title on 6 June 2019, with full release in July 2021. It was released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on 5 October 2021.
Gameplay
Matches are 50 vs. 50 combined arms battles between two teams of Germans and Americans, and, more recently since the full release of the game, Soviets. Each consists of multiple smaller rifle squads of six soldiers, armoured squads of three soldiers, or recon squads of two soldiers. As of October 2019, two game modes exist in the game: Warfare and Offensive. In both modes, the map is divided into sectors that each team seeks to capture and control. In the Warfare mode, the game is won by either controlling all sectors at a given point in time, or by controlling a majority of them when the timer runs out, essentially functioning as capture the flag. In the Offensive mode, a defending team is in control of all sectors at the beginning of the match, and the objective for the opposing side is then to capture all of them before the timer runs out.
Communication is intended as a central gameplay aspect by the developers. Each unit may be led by a single officer, who can communicate with other officers and the commander through a “leadership” voice channel. Similarly, there are unit-only and proximity voice channels as well. As an alternative to voice communication, players also have access to team-wide and unit level text chat.
Hell Let Loose also features a RTS-inspired resource-based strategic meta-game. Each of the two factions fighting will also be assigned a commander, and the commander is in charge of not only the team and squads, but tank deployments, air strikes, and orders, however these orders cost resources. Resource nodes can be built using supplies by engineers to bolster resource production, and be able to deploy more tanks, air strikes and orders in order to help the team fighting on the battlefield, however they can be taken down if found by the enemy team.
Development
Hell Let Loose is developed on Unreal Engine 4. After about two years of initial development and testing following the launch of its Kickstarter campaign, the game released on Steam as an early-access title on June 6, 2019 — the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
Map design
The playable maps in the game are designed based on historical WWII theaters of war by combining satellite imagery, archival aerial photography and street-level recreation. According to the developers, the map for Norman town Sainte-Marie-du-Mont is “a 1:1 scale battlefield” recreated through the aforementioned methods.
Reception
Hell Let Loose received “very positive” reviews on Steam for PC, while also receiving “generally favorable” reviews for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X and “mixed or average” reviews for PlayStation 5, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
