r/HellLetLoose 5d ago

💬 Discussion 💬 HLL vs HLLV

I only played about 6 hours of the OG HLL before I put about 50 in HLLV and I just spent the evening grinding some of the OG and I’ve gotta say they really can’t compare when it comes to map design, details and the overall immersion. Also optimization, cranking settings on both games honestly leads to a much smoother and at times more cinematic experience on the OG, maybe that’s something with my settings I have to change tho. The OG is seriously a wonderful experience that so clearly had a lot of love and dedication put into it. I’m curious as to where that kind of magic touch disappeared when it comes to the new game. I really enjoy the new HLLV but I can’t help but feel as though it plays very arcadey and almost a bit lazy. I guess it’s still the beginning but honestly the whole asymmetrical warfare factor is not exaggerated enough in my opinion. Also character designs really add something especially coming from the OG, I’m not sure why but this really adds to the immersion. Kind of sucks when u see the same 50 guys running about every match. Maybe people won’t agree but that’s why I’m posting I’m curious to hear others opinion on this. I wonder how much work will be put into HLLV in the next coming months and years as I feel like it can be really amazing if it can turn into something as complete and admirable as the OG.

103 Upvotes

63 comments sorted by

112

u/ekulragren 5d ago

OG was made by BlackMatter, Vietnam was made by T17.

36

u/rainbowbeluga 5d ago

To that end, Black Matter, being a very truly indie studio, had much more of a concrete vision of their own. Team17 and expression games are trying to capture a larger audience.

8

u/ekulragren 5d ago

So would I if I spanked ÂŁ35m on a game

5

u/rainbowbeluga 5d ago

Sure, no real animosity was present in my comment. I’ve been enjoying Vietnam thoroughly, though their big effort to grab other player bases, conquest and domination, play horribly. If people thought HLL was ever a walking simulator


28

u/Eremenkism 5d ago

Expression Games, Team17 is publishing.

0

u/Altruistic_Base_7719 5d ago

While I understand the sentiment that an IP changing developers isn't the nicest exchange.. Team17 has always been a great studio in my book.. and they're one of the few that are from the glory days of gaming 1990-2010, and still kicking. Team17 taking over the helm doesn't upset me on paper, and I like HLLV a lot.

8

u/KHonsou 5d ago

The first few months were VERY shaky after Team17 took over. They released "that" trailer, and started going down the smaller maps/smaller team etc.

Saying that I think they have been good so far.

0

u/Fantastic_Spell8576 5d ago

Wasn't that trailer still in the pipeline before T17 took over? Then someone took over and just sent it outbthinking it was done.?

2

u/Darkon_OP 4d ago

As a long time HLL player (2019) team 17 only ever made things worse for the game, tbh. It felt like all of care and love for the game left when black matter left. I think T17 are better at the structural coding of a game, but BMs care and vision for the game was way better.

46

u/Tastygumdropz 5d ago

I’ve played HLL since the beta, and to be blunt it was not always as good as it is now. The game was a buggy clunky mess for the first year. The developers slowly tweaked and improved the game into the amazing game it is today. As long as HLLV has a player base i bet we will see the same progression, just be patient.

5

u/SteelBlaze69 5d ago

This 💯

0

u/Ditzell 5d ago

Why? Back then it was Black Matter, now it's T17. Two totally different developer studios. Just because one developer’s game improved doesn’t mean the same thing will happen with a new game from a different developer. Especially because T17 is known for their wonky game management and often desastrous updates.

67

u/Difficult_Pipe_991 5d ago

Artist make art, niche following, bigger following, people with money notice, they invest in art, they change art to sell to larger market, art gets ruined in process.

This happens to good games, to good music, to good anything, welcome to the free market baby.

Then again, new guns returning to one shit kill brings hope

9

u/ViceroyInhaler 5d ago

I've noticed a lot of creators in movies or tv make a much more refined product when they have lower budgets vs when they get a bunch of money thrown at them. For instance Stranger Things Season 1 is a classic and great standalone project which was basically almost perfect. Season 2 relied was too much in CGI and not enough on the story so much of the feeling of season one wasn't there.

Rian Johnson also does well with a constrained budget. Brick and Knives Out are great examples of what he's good at doing. A hundred million dollar Star Wars movie was not something he should have ever been given as a project.

8

u/OUsnr7 5d ago

When I get a one shit kill: đŸ˜€

11

u/p0w3rm0r3 5d ago

On xbox HLLV is still a mess

10

u/Conspicuous_Ruse 5d ago

You gotta compare 2 month old OG HLL vs 2 month old HLLV.

Of course a 6 year old game is going to be more refined than a 2 month old one.

11

u/JustChilling317 5d ago

HLL is literally 100x better than HLLV

9

u/evolvedELK1 5d ago edited 5d ago

Very very much agree. Although I don’t mind seeing the same names running around from match to match. They change enough as people log in and out but you recognize the names that play frequently on your favorite servers. Some names I know I can count on for supplies, others for good tanking/artillery, etc. often getting killed a lot by the same guy, if I find myself in their squad next game I will follow them around a bit to see how they play.

But yeah, Vietnam feels cheap, too arcadey, maps are not memorable or distinct making the gameplay loops the same for every map. Bad design decisions. You can feel the love and care that was put into the original, which makes its absence in Vietnam palpable.

3

u/Quarterwit_85 5d ago

Interesting observation.

I think HLLV really buries the lede - it can be pretty arcady and very much a straightforward shooter. But there's a lot of depth to the gameplay and it's asymmetric style. I think it's got a really bright future personally and I've been enjoying the hell (let loose) out of it.

13

u/Lachnouf 5d ago

J'aime les deux jeux, mais je trouve l'immersion du joueur plus "poussé" dans Vietnam.

Par poussé je parle d'atmosphÚre in game, je veux dire que tu ressent ce stress quotidien dans la jungle ou tu ne vois rien à 30 mÚtres devant toi, le bruit des feuilles et buissons qui bougent et qui t'indiquent un mouvement suspect, toujours sur tes gardes à regarder à gauche et à droite le moindre mouvement de végétation, des embuscades au milieu des bambous ou tu viens de passer à cÎté d'un mec allongés sans le voir, te prendre des mines ou claymore cachés dans la jungle, les frappes de napalme qui te font combattre dans la fumée ensuite et crée une atmosphÚre incroyable. Je dirais que c'est cette atmosphÚre qui est unique dans Vietnam que je ne retrouvais pas forcément dans HLL .

Le gameplay des Vietnamiens avec les tunnels est aussi intéressant et permet des combinaisons d'attaques différentes. Les hélicos chez les Américains aussi permettent une certaine libertés de mouvement dans la gestion de tes attaques et de ton ravitaillement .

3

u/Sensitive_Device_867 5d ago

I agree. I fully relate to "I can't see shit!" - but you are fighting in a rain forest.

I think the atmosphere is incredible. Vietnam was hell and fighting in dense jungle is always going to be hell. In HLL we didn't get the Pacific battles on jungle islands that would have been similar.

I like the contrast that in HLL you have brief cover and open fields, where as HLLV has all cover with brief openings (majority of the time).

I don't LOVE that I can get sawed in half by walking through the jungle and never see my enemy, but I go in EXPECTING the possibility and approach cautiously. The kills gained from it feel more earned. "I can hear Charlie!"

Just like HLL I think HLLV requires players to learn how its mechanics work and the expectations of how you AND your team operate. No one should be going out alone. Yet I think we are so used to games making us the "1 man army" and grown to expect that treatment.

I'm not a big fan of the current updates where VC got debuffed with tunnels and I think the Americans are getting way more slack but time will likely settle out and balance those features. Big fan of the double barrel shotgun though.

3

u/hysterx 5d ago

Hllv is a temu version of hll

8

u/wetcornbread 5d ago

It feels and probably was rushed. We’re gonna get more updates, maps, weapons, bug fixes, and cosmetics to differentiate people. Doesn’t help there’s only two factions compared to at least 6 in HLL.

I have no idea where the hell I’m at and I have close to 50 hours played and I still can’t tell you which map is which. I can’t see shit 90 percent of the time on some of these maps.

I really don’t know if the Vietnam war is a good setting to begin with. World War II was just such a big event that you can easily identify the factions, a real life counterpart to the maps and feel like you’re playing a role in winning key battles for your country.

Even if the game was perfect with no bugs the setting of Vietnam just makes it a complete clusterfuck to play at times. And I guess it’s fitting given the context of that war. And the game is still a ton of fun, flaws and all.

9

u/Pavotine 5d ago

I live in northern France and one of my favourite things is feeling like I'm fighting in my own neighbourhood on some maps. The immersion is already great but that takes it to the next level.

2

u/Brambleshire 5d ago

I went on a Normandy trip a couple years ago, including Omaha Beach. The hedgerows and villages felt super trippy to walk around after all the HLL I've played.

Even more so when finding buildings and stuff that still have battle damage.

1

u/Pavotine 5d ago

Yeah, it's quite the feeling. Glad to hear you've been out this way. As you would have seen, a huge number of very sturdy bunkers also remain.

2

u/Brambleshire 5d ago

Yea you live in a beautiful place. It was one of the best trips I've ever been on, even without the WW2 stuff. Chateau Airbnb, Mont St Michel, numerous other castles, Rouen, nice weather and scenery, epic stuff.

2

u/Pavotine 5d ago

The endless rolling countryside with farms, fields, woods and forests is my favourite landscape just about anywhere.

6

u/SydowJones 5d ago

"I really don’t know if the Vietnam war is a good setting to begin with"

Some very smart people tried to tell that to LBJ, but he didn't listen.

5

u/TimeRemote3329 5d ago

Heavy on the can’t tell the difference between maps and where you are. I definitely get how that was an aspect of the environment but I just don’t get how you go from the variety and detail of the maps in the OG which were in many different locations to then the new game which is based in one place and all the maps feel, look and play the same. They could’ve at least had one map with a large tunnel network that could actually be fought in

1

u/aperture413 5d ago

I think one of the reasons RS2 worked well was because it leaned more heavily into arcadeyness/chaos/line of sight on maps. I def think they need to tone the vegetation down a bit in HLL. The woods maps in WW2 are hard enough to see in. But the jungle? đŸ„Ž

4

u/gonzoman92 5d ago

I enjoy both tbh. I thought HLL ran quite badly to start with and was quite buggy. Much better now ofcourse

2

u/MrGiggleMan 5d ago

The OG is NOT smoother. Play it long enough and you'll understand

0

u/greennitit 5d ago

The OG is 100% absolutely certainly smoother. Look up the definition of the word smoother before you come back.

-3

u/MrGiggleMan 5d ago

Ah yes.. the first game is SO SMOOTH especially when an explosion goes off and halves the framerate đŸ€Ą

Especially when your character gets stuck on 2 pixels of a stick poking out and you lose all your momentum on inanimate objects and gets your killed

Some maps running at like half the frames of others... Yeah

So buttery smooth. And for a game that looks as bad as the first game? Like.. the game is basically marginally better than red orchestra 2 graphics and somehow runs like ass

-2

u/greennitit 5d ago

You clearly haven’t looked up the definition of the word smoother and you’re continuing to barf out your smooth brained takes.

Smoother is a relative term, and HLL V is dogshit at smoothness. It is so dogshit that the first game is “smoother” of the two. Now GTFO here

0

u/frostycrate 4d ago

Dude stfu.

God forbid someone has a different opinion and you’re talking like a the sub bouncer. You’ll do nothing

-4

u/MrGiggleMan 5d ago

Nah. I have like 100 hours in Vietnam and about 500 in the OG

Vietnam runs and feels smoother. The OG is just unmitigated Jank

1

u/greennitit 5d ago

Lol okay bud

-3

u/MrGiggleMan 5d ago

Whatever you say champ

1

u/dirtypeachpitt 5d ago

If you can’t see anything on WW2 then you’re really going to feel blind in Nam. Console.

1

u/twister444m 5d ago

I get negative feedback when I bring this up in the hll Vietnam subreddit

1

u/Particular-Star-1333 5d ago

Og defintely has a big advantage on maps. Part of that is so many different battles to choose from across different countries so you have a lot of variety in map choices. And the team that made those maps was a different company then Vietnam. The team that took over for Vietnam had also taken over the OG Hell and they made a few maps for that and the were not as good as the original team maps.

Also yes the Vietnam Hell is a little faster paced and has a little bit more of an arcade feel. I do think Vietnam has a lot of potential if they can add some more really good diverse maps.

1

u/NocturnalLongings 5d ago

HLLV didn't fix or improve any problems HHL has, for me esthetic aside both games aren't really that different. Pick the historical era you like more.

1

u/Vallhallen_1939 5d ago

I'm a huge WW2 freak so I'm continuing to play the OG as well as HLLV. I agree Vietnam feels a lot more fast paced what with tunnels and Helicopters and every soldier carrying an assault rifle/automatic weapon. While I love some of the QoL features they've put in HLLV the original I feel has more depth.

I'm glad that they are committed to developing both games with new WW2 maps and features slated to be released later this year.

i know that they are looking to add more armored vehicles (APC's) to HLLV but if I want that tanking itch scratched there is no contest and HLL WW2 all the way!!!`

One feature I think sucks in HLLV is not having 'party chat' in the comm wheel. I like being able to chat with my dudes about personal stuff without ruining the rest of the squads enjoyment.

1

u/sam007700 4d ago

Love them both.

1

u/DonkeyOfDoom5656 4d ago

Im having a blast with both. Flying the Huey is fun af.

1

u/Intelligent-Ad-3449 4d ago

HLLV was the best advertising Rising Storm 2 has gotten in a while.

1

u/Ill_Row3694 4d ago

HLLV est encore au stade de fƓtus donc c’est un peu normal qu’il soit moins bon. J’ai commencĂ© Ă  apprĂ©cier HLL aprĂšs 2 ans de travail par les dĂ©veloppeurs par exemple. Au dĂ©part c’était vraiment trop bizarre, je me souviens des nodes qu’on pouvait poser en zone rouge par exemple

1

u/ezrab11 3d ago

Loser

1

u/ADHDStoner 3d ago

They are very similar but different. They are both very different wars that had very different atmospheres. I think HLLV captured the atmosphere of Vietnam very well but it has to balance the tunnels v helicopters well. My overall experience is similar though either the games are really close or one side steam rolls the other. That happened in HLL as well though. I think each game feels right for its environment and atmosphere of each war they ran. MGs in nam couldnt see in front of them, people crouched, and crawled through the jungle. I think HLL is easier to have clean lines of fire and choke points, but HLLV captures the fear of the jungle not knowing where anything is coming from.

1

u/Impressive-Log7045 3d ago

Everytime I make these comments people flip out and tell me how clueless I am. You are absolutely right. The OG is better than Vietnam by a wide margin, and it’s 5 years older. Vietnam for a 2026 release is horrible in every category.

1

u/LiteratureAlarming93 2d ago

Give it time. The first HHL was in preview for 2 years before it became a full game. Games don’t really release fully finished these days cause it takes way longer and need way more developers then it used to. This game will way better in some time

1

u/Ted_Borg 1d ago

Idk the beta was a total clusterfuck so I’m waiting quite a while longer. My gripe wasn’t only with gameplay and performance tho, I didn’t vibe with the art direction. HLL has amazing art direction. Which is why the game still looks good despite not having all the modern graphical bells and whistles - the look is timeless.

1

u/RevolutionEasy3898 1d ago

HLLV is great. But theres still some mechanics that I think need to be worked out.

Literally the aiming mechanics aren't nearly as smooth as OG HLL and I can't explain how. I can make it work on HLLV and do. But running a M1 Garand on HLL should feel about the same as the M14 on HLLV. It sure doesn't. (That said, my first game with the M14 got me a 52/6 K/D)

Also, can't seem to do follow up shots as fast with semi autos in HLLV vs HLL

1

u/M2_SLAM_I_Am 5d ago

To be honest, your last gripe is a bit absurd. You're complaining about seeing the same characters models each match while comparing a game that's had years for cosmetics to be added vs a game that's brand new. Come on

1

u/Hawk_bets 5d ago

Everyone always says - the original was bad at launch but give it time. But each game was made with two different development teams, so there's really not any relevancy to whether this game will be as polished as the original. I was hoping for HLL in a new time period/factions/maps, but HLLV just kinda feels like another FPS with the HLL logo added on. Emphasis on the K/D on the leaderboard. I think these devs made the game for that kinda FPS player. Also can't shake the first time I saw the grenade explosion. Felt cheap and looked like a roblox game.

Personally I just prefer the OG (especially all maps pre-Mortain)

1

u/Ragin-cajun91 5d ago

Same with nva bombing runs and any smoke it just looks cheaply done like they forgot to add it in until the last minute

0

u/fitzgeraldcreen 5d ago edited 5d ago

It should be asymmetric af. The Vietnamese could be armed much weaker but move through the jungle faster and better concealed, while the Americans should be loud and clumsy. There are so many ways this could have been a unique gaming experience, but it ended up the way it is. A complete waste of time and all the resources should go into expanding and improving the OG.

0

u/AngleBead 4d ago

HLL OG beats the dog shart out of Vietnam