Our squad follows the Panther tank as it makes its way through the forest. Trees everywhere, blocking our line of sight and providing cover in equal measure. Our area seems quiet enough at this time, but I can hear mortar shells erupting in the distance, and airplanes coming in for a strafing run. We walk, and walk, and walk. At some point we make a makeshift camp, put up some supply depots and a respawn point. Then we walk again and walk some more.
Finally, we’re at the front line. Shadows dart from tree to tree in the distance. The Panther’s cannon lets out an angry roar and something erupts in flames on the other side of a ridge. I spot someone crawling around in the underbrush, 200, maybe 300 meters away. I take aim to see if it’s friend or foe and– bam, a bullet finds me and I go down. No medics around so the only thing to do is respawn and run up to the frontline, again.
Those were some of my first moments in Hell Let loose, a new multiplayer shooter set in the last years of World War 2. On a surface level, Hell Let Loose plays like a Battlefield game with a few extra helpings of realism. Levels are huge, really, really huge and running across them can take a good while. This makes the battlefields really feel like battlefields, with enough room to move around and execute real flank maneuvers. It is also 100 players duking it out so you have the potential for some really massive fights to erupt.
The combat itself is also more drawn out and nerve-wracking when compared to the fast-paced action romps you have in Battlefield V. Often you exchange fire with enemies who are 500m or more away. This makes precision and knowing when to fire much more vital than in many other multiplayer shooters. It a little bit akin to how fights are in the early moments of PUBG. Do I take the shot now or wait until I can get into a better position? This risks, of course, being spotted yourself and killed before any such maneuvering can happen.
Add to this that there are no hit markets nor confirmation that anyone has died, and encounters with the enemy turns into long, incredibly tense ordeals where you are unsure about what exactly is going on. Did I hit that guy over there or did he just go prone? Did my grenade hit anything or was that only a pile of corpses I chucked it at? Are we actually winning or are we losing here? This inclusion of the “fog of war” we are familiar with when it comes to strategy games makes the battles in Hell Let Loose have a rather distinct feel to them. It also makes for matches that can turn on a dime and the frontlines will shift back and forth a lot over the course of a single match.
One of the more unique things is that aside from the realistic FPS action, Hell Let Loose has a light strategic element to it. Each side has a certain amount of resources at their disposal and calling in tanks, supplies, and artillery strikes all deplete these. Losing too many tanks or firing off too many artillery shells could potentially make you a whole lot less effective in the later stages of the match. The commander role from Battlefield 3 also makes a return here, and it is the commander who can call in everything from supply drops to strafing runs from attack planes.
Matches in Hell Let Loose are also a great deal longer than what you might be used to. One game typically runs for two full hours. Naturally, it can end early if one side takes the other’s HQ, but in my experience, you’re in for at least 1.5h of game time in each match. The extra time, together with the enormous maps, makes for games that can change a lot over the course of the match. You might start at a disadvantage, gain the upper hand and then get beaten back again several times in a single game.
For instance, in one match I played as the Germans. We were almost immediately pushed back on our western flank and our HQ was in serious jeopardy. With some well-placed artillery barrages and teamwork, we managed to stave off the assault, and slowly started to push the Americans back. Inch by bloody inch we crept forward, battling enemy squads as we went. By the midpoint of that battle, the frontlines had shifted and our squad found ourselves in a small village on the eastern side of the map. For almost a full hour we fought over the streets and bombed out houses of that village. It was, in all honesty, some of the more nail-biting and fun times I have ever had in a multiplayer game. The fight was constantly shifting — as one side took some buildings, the other pushed back. Eventually, we received some much-needed tank support and managed to oust the enemy for good.
Speaking of artillery barrages. I can’t really think of another game that has depicted them in such an incredibly powerful way. Where games like Tannenberg or Battlefield are content with a few scattered shells hitting the ground, Hell Let Loose fires a tirade of shells that can lock down entire sectors of the map. Even if you are not close enough to get killed by them, the shellshock and suppression effects they cause will keep you flat on the ground for the duration.
Hell Let Loose can already boast about incredible visual fidelity and can sometimes even be stunning to look at, which goes a long way towards selling the open landscapes and intense fights. Also, I could be wrong about this, but it seems that bodies and wrecks stay on the battlefield indefinitely, meaning that destroyed tanks and wreckages become part of the landscape and can provide cover throughout the game. The only thing I am personally missing is destructible terrain and structures. With explosions and artillery being so powerful, it would have been nice to see them ripping apart a village or completely changing the landscape.
Though the gameplay is solid and I had a lot of fun with Hell Let Loose, there is some cause for concern in the overall design. Teamwork is paramount for success in Hell Let Loose. A squad and a team that works together will be infinitely more successful than one that is full of Rambo pretenders. Additionally, there are almost no markers or UI to help you out when you run around looking for the enemy. Instead, you have to rely on teammates calling out enemies by bearings on your compass; MG at 230 degrees east, and that sort of thing. It can be very immersive and fun if you are in a good squad. Having a silent or uncaring commander will spell disaster for the whole group and seriously impact the amount of fun you will have with the game.
Because of the lack of visual elements and UI, Hell Let Loose also runs the risk of being too much of a task for new players to take on. Moreover, while having no hit indicators, kill counts and such makes for an interestingly intense game, it does make certain roles incredibly dull. Playing as an artillery gunner or loader for two hours without any way of seeing or knowing if you have killed or even hit anything isn’t the most exciting thing to do.
Of course, this is something that could be addressed between now and full release. As it is now, Hell Let Loose is a shooter with a steeper than average learning curve that has the very real potential to become something truly special. I really do hope they manage the onboarding process for new players as I feel the matches would not work without a large player base.
There is great fun to be had in Hell Let Loose, the battles have a scale to them that I don’t think I have ever seen before in a multiplayer shooter. Even artillery fire feels appropriately large and devastating, something that has been sorely lacking in almost any game. The intense fighting and the scope of the battles is something that will surely draw me back to it again after release.
Beta code supplied by publisher. Hell Let Loose launches into Early Access on June 6th.
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