Hell Let Loose

Hell Let Loose is a 2021 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Expression Games and Cover 6 Studios and published by Team17. Players fight in iconic battles of the Western, North African and Eastern Fronts of World War II at the platoon level.

The game was originally created and developed by Australian studio Black Matter who first announced it via a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2017, where it had raised US$220,000. It was initially released for Microsoft Windows as an early access title on 6 June 2019, and fully released in July 2021. It was later released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on 5 October 2021. In January 2022, the ex-developer Black Matter sold the game to its publisher Team17 for £31 million with a potential additional £15 million based on performance, with the company founding Cover 6 Studios in the beginning of 2023 believed tasked with creating the next title in the series. In April 2023, Team17 contracted UK studio-for-hire Expression Games for the continued development of the game.

Gameplay
Matches are 50 vs. 50 combined arms battles between two teams of either Germans, Americans, Soviets, British or the German Afrika Korps and British 8th Army subfactions. Each faction consists of multiple smaller rifle squads of six soldiers, armoured squads of three tank crewmen, or recon squads of two soldiers. As of November 2023, three game modes exist in the game: Warfare, Offensive and Skirmish. 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, or by controlling a majority of them when the timer runs out. 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, proximity and party voice channels as well. As an alternative to voice communication, there is also access to team-wide and unit level text chat which is only featured on the PC version of the game.

Hell Let Loose also features an 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 vehicle deployments, air strikes, and supply drops, however these orders do cost resources. Resource nodes can be built using supplies by engineers to bolster resource production, which allows for the commander to deploy more tanks, air strikes and other orders to help the team fighting on the battlefield. These nodes can be taken down if found and dismantled by the enemy team as well.

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, which was then followed by a full release in July 2021. The game was also released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on 5 October 2021. The last update for the game in 2022, Update 13, was claimed to have brought the console version of the game up to parity with the PC version, according to the ex-developer, Black Matter.

Map design
The playable maps in the game are all based on historical WWII battles by combining satellite imagery, archival aerial photography and street-level recreation. The new developers have also recently stated that they are working on implementing historically accurate loadouts and vehicles for each map.

Reception
Hell Let Loose received "generally favorable" reviews for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X and "mixed or average" reviews for PlayStation 5, according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game holds a "Very Positive" review score on Steam.

PCGamesN has praised the use of teamwork in the game, writing that "A well-led assault on an enemy strongpoint involves covering the approach with a smokescreen... Taking part in such an assault is a uniquely exhilarating experience that’s like nothing else I’ve felt in a shooter." On the other hand, PC Gamer, while enjoying the changes that made Hell Let Loose more lethal, still felt that the sound wasn't up to par, saying "My main nitpick is with sound... When everything is tuned correctly, a gun should be so loud that I can't hear my teammate over the radio. This is where Hell Let Loose kinda falls flat. No matter how much I mess with audio sliders, the game never gets loud enough for my liking."

In July 2023, Team17 released a since-deleted trailer for the game's next update, "Devotion to Duty". Upon the release of the trailer, it was met with poor reception by the community due to multiple graphical and animation glitches. The game became the subject of review bombing on Steam. As a result of the criticism, Cover 6 Studios and Team17 issued a joint apology, and announced plans to continue to improve the game on Reddit.