Hell Let Loose: Vietnam goes full 50v50 with choppers, tunnels, and river warfare

Why this reveal actually caught my eye

Hell Let Loose going to Vietnam isn’t just a new skin on an old formula. At Gamescom 2025, the team showed a brief slice of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam and confirmed 50v50 battles, six maps, US helicopters, NVA/VC tunnel networks, and PBR river boats. As someone who’s spent too many late nights calling arty in HLL and still has Rising Storm 2 muscle memory, this setting could meaningfully change how the game plays-if the studio nails the balance between air mobility, jungle ambushes, and logistics.

• 50v50 returns across six Vietnam-era maps spanning 1965-1973.
• US gets helicopters; North Vietnamese forces lean on tunnel networks for surprise and mobility.
• River warfare enters the chat with PBR patrol boats.
• Tutorials are being rebuilt (finally) to onboard new players.

Breaking down the announcement

At its core, Hell Let Loose is a hardcore, objective-based FPS where comms, map control, and logistics win matches-not lone-wolf KD. The Vietnam shift sticks to that DNA: 50v50, large-scale combined arms, and faction asymmetry rooted in “authenticity.” The studio stressed historical gear, uniforms, and vehicles, even scanning an M16 down to its scuff marks and recording period-appropriate audio. That’s neat, but art-fidelity won’t matter if the gameplay isn’t tuned for the jungle.

The six launch maps are set across Vietnam’s varied terrain-jungle, rivers, and the kind of sightline-breaking foliage that can make or break a match. If you’ve played HLL’s WW2 maps, you know the meta hinges on garrisons, flanking routes, and how commander abilities interplay with map layout. Vietnam changes the calculus: under the canopy, visibility is limited, suppression matters more, and sound cues—chopper rotors, river engines, distant AK bursts—become navigation.

Helos, tunnels, and PBRs: the asymmetry that will define the meta

US helicopters are the headline. Used smartly, troop transport and door-gun support could let squads redeploy, contest backlines, and apply pressure in ways HLL’s WW2 armor never could. The flip side: without strict resource and cooldown controls, helos can snowball a match before defenders set up. We’ve seen other Vietnam shooters struggle here—Rising Storm 2 got it right by making air power potent but fragile and reliant on coordination. That should be the north star.

North Vietnamese tunnels are the natural counter. If tunnels act like mobile, concealable spawn networks, they can recreate the cat-and-mouse of asymmetric warfare: US inserts, takes ground, gets bled by ambushes, and must relentlessly clear. The key will be discoverability and counterplay. If tunnels are too hidden or too plentiful, matches devolve into whack-a-mole; too exposed, and the faction’s identity crumbles. Expect the community to theorycraft tunnel lines the same way we diagram garrison chains today.

Riverine warfare with PBR boats is the wild card. Boats could open flank routes and create new logistics lanes, but only if maps are designed to reward water control rather than turning rivers into death funnels. If done right, the Mekong-style spaces could be some of the game’s most memorable fights—think synchronized boat insertions while helos cut in above the treeline. If done wrong, they’ll be novelty lanes you ignore by midseason.

Why this matters now

Hell Let Loose has carved out a loyal audience since 2021 because it respects teamwork and punishment. But it’s also a tough sell to newcomers. The team acknowledged as much at Gamescom, admitting the original tutorials weren’t great and promising a more beginner-friendly experience for Vietnam. That might be the most consequential part of this reveal. Better onboarding means more players sticking through those first punishing hours, which the game absolutely needs to keep 100-player servers healthy on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC.

The studio is also chasing authenticity—period weapons, uniforms, and audio—and the early visual pass looks sharper than base HLL. That said, the build shown was early, and there’s no release window. They’re targeting 2026 across consoles and PC (Steam and Epic), which is sensible if they want time to iterate on balance and performance. Helicopters plus 100 players plus dense foliage is a perfect storm for netcode, visibility, and server tick headaches. I’d rather they take the time than ship a stuttery sky-train.

The questions the trailer didn’t answer

– How do helicopters integrate with command and logistics? Are they gated by resources and cooldowns, and can AA or small arms reliably punish sloppy pilots?

– What’s the tunnel system’s UI and counterplay? Will engineers or recon have specific tools to detect and collapse tunnels, and how risky will that be?

– Will Vietnam launch with a full spread of roles (commander, SLs, logistics, recon) tuned for the setting, or will it lean on WW2-era pacing and bolt on new toys?

– How will map design avoid the “green wall” problem where foliage kills situational awareness? Smart landmarking and audio design will matter as much as polygon counts.

The gamer’s perspective

This announcement hits because it’s not just content—it challenges the HLL meta. If the team lands asymmetry like Rising Storm 2 did and keeps the strategic backbone that makes HLL special, Vietnam could become the definitive large-scale Vietnam shooter on modern platforms. If it leans too hard on spectacle—helos farming spawns, tunnels with no counter—it’ll frustrate the exact players who carry matches with comms and smarts. The promise is real; so is the risk.

TL;DR

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam brings 50v50 warfare to the jungle with helicopters, tunnels, and river boats across six maps, targeting 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC. The pitch is strong, the setting is ripe, and improved tutorials are overdue—but balance and performance will make or break it. Cautious hype feels like the right call.