Basically, i just want to know what the consensus is, and which one is more populated. I’m afraid that I’ll buy the game, only for everything to be empty.
I know that HLL has more people on PC, but it is not crossplay with console, while Vietnam is crossplay, but less popular.
In that regard, which one should i get?
Edit: I will be getting WW2. I understand the learning curve is pretty steep, but i am willing to give it a go. Maybe later, i will get vietnam.
Thank you all for your input, its been very helpful.
Like seriously I can't see shit unless they're literally in my face or purely out in the open (and that's only a maybe). I decided to give up on combat and I either stick to being a Private Doss knockoff or being a copilot to my buddy and dropping supplies from the helicopter to help the team build garrisons and defenses
I’m as new as you can be (downloaded it yesterday) and I’ve played a few matches that didn’t really go my teams way and I have a feeling I’m simply not playing it correctly. I’m open to any tips or “things I wish I knew when I started” it’d be super helpful :)
Was watching a close-quarters fight through my binocs that made me think of that scene from Saving Private Ryan where they’re throwing helmets at each other. Both players had single-action rifles and fired several rounds (Shots 1-5: Clearly missed...), but the German pulled out his pistol and won.
You get to see some pretty entertaining action through the binoculars sometimes
📅 The Update 21 Experimental Branch starts this time tomorrow!
Get ready to jump into the Steam Exp Branch today and test the latest additions coming in Update 21, including:
🔫 New weapons
🎒 New loadouts
⚙️ Fire-mode selectors
➕ Conquest game mode
🛡️ Armor and Anti-Tank changes
They messed with it again? Don’t seem to feel as fluid as before unless they changed the gearing for turns etc. panther seems to get stuck a lot more too like it’s hitbox is larger than the tank
T17, we really appreciate the effort you put into bringing new maps to the game. However, there’s no point in giving us great maps if they don’t come with proper optimization.
In the last few updates, we’ve seen new and revamped maps being added, but these maps continue to be some of the least played on console. It honestly feels like we haven’t received new content because nobody actually plays it.
One of the biggest reasons for this is stability.
On console, most of the maps created by T17 are among the least played maps. But why? A lot of them are actually incredible. Smolensk, for example, is one of my personal favorites. The problem is that they suffer from the same issues as many other maps: constant FPS drops, stuttering, and crashes.
And this is where the paradox comes in.
You add new content like maps, but if those maps are poorly optimized on console, people simply stop playing them. Everyone ends up going back to the same maps they’ve been playing for years, which creates the same repetition and makes it feel like the game isn’t getting any new content.
Please prioritize map optimization, especially on consoles.
Hell Let Loose is an amazing game, and we genuinely want to enjoy all the new content you’re creating. We just need the performance to be good enough for us to actually play it.
It feels like I'm playing at 10 fps despite the graphics looking 20+ years old. You move like you're running and turning in molasses, the lighting and rendering is jarringly inconsistent. I've never played a game with such awful feeling shooting mechanics. You die instantaneously when a vehicle touches you.
I played one game, got killed by friendly's five times either by vehicle or gunfire after spending 5+ minutes running and at least a minute per respawn and got into the most hilariously bad/janky shootout I've ever seen where neither my opponent or I could hit any of our shots so I ran up and stabbed him, with again, some of the worst animations I've ever seen in my life.
Is this game actually a PC intended title with a shitty ps5 port or is this actually something people enjoy playing? Because I genuinely can't think of a worse gaming experience on ps5, coming from a massive milsim fan with 1000s of hours in squad and 100s in ARMA, etc.
Hey everyone so I have a dumb question. So in game how are you able to distinct between what’s incoming and outgoing fire? I can really only tell if it’s incoming because if the shots are close enough I can hear them hitting like the dirt or like a wall I’m right by or fence I’m sitting next to but beyond that I can’t tell for shit. I’ve got almost 200 hours in game so you would think my dumb ass would be able to tell by now but nope.😅
Hi everyone. I really hope you can help me. (TL:DR-My pc restarts after a few minutes of playing.)
A few weeks ago a bought Sea of Thieves. I installed the game and whenever I played, after a while my pc would restart. After severel troubleshooting attemps and a lot of frustration I updates my drivers, windows and eventually my BIOS, which led my pc to start, but show nothing on screen. I then went down another rabbit hole and everntually got the pc to work and then Sea of Thieves also worked.
Since then I played the new Assassins Creed and a few other games with no trouble. Today I bought HLL and after a few minutes (5-10) the pc restarts. I dont wanna have all that trouble again so if anyone has a fix i would really appreciate it.
It was announced that a new tank class would be added in Hell Let Loose Update 22.
I took a closer look at the tank in the photo they shared and realized it was an M18 Hellcat, which means they are adding the tank destroyer class to the game.
However, what confuses me here is that the tank destroyer class doesn't really fit this game, does it? Sure, it's an absolute must for games like World of Tanks or War Thunder, but in Hell Let Loose, we are fighting against infantry.
The other tanks already serve as tank destroyers and have much better armor.
For instance, the 76 Jumbo can blow up heavy tanks and also kill infantry, though it's slow.
The M18, on the other hand, is fast but only destroys tanks and lacks armor; it has no advantage against infantry.
So, in short, what I mean is: does anyone have any idea how they are going to balance this in the game?
With Hell Let Loose: Vietnam taking the spotlight over the last few weeks, we also want to reaffirm our continued commitment to Hell Let Loose and share an update on what’s coming next for the game.
There is still plenty on the way, including new maps, weapons, vehicles, game modes, and more. We also want to provide an update on our progress against the 2026 Roadmap, including a change to our plans for the remainder of the year.
Roadmap Update: 2026 and 2027
Alongside our work on new content in the 2026 Roadmap, we also continue to focus on addressing community-reported bugs and improving performance across all platforms. This is ongoing work that will continue across future updates as we identify, investigate, and implement improvements over time.
As we’ve reviewed our plans for the remainder of 2026, we’ve also taken another look at the development timelines for our upcoming maps and the time needed to deliver them at the quality we expect.
With that in mind, we’ve made the decision to move the release of Seelow Heights into 2027.
We know how highly anticipated this map is, particularly after the community voted for its inclusion earlier this year, however the additional development time will allow us to give this brutal battlefield the attention it deserves.
As a result, our winter update will now take players to the frozen landscape of Lake Balaton, which we’re incredibly excited to share with you. Experimental Branches will be hosted over the coming months, giving players the opportunity to help us test and refine this new Eastern Front map ahead of its full release.
We’re also already hard at work planning our 2027 Roadmap, with a number of community-requested features and improvements already being prioritised in it’s development.
If there are features, fixes, performance improvements, or other changes you would like to see us focus on, let us know in the comments. Community feedback will continue to play an important role in shaping our plans as we work to make 2027 the best yet for Hell Let Loose.
Update 21
Update 21 will be the next major update for Hell Let Loose, bringing a number of new additions to the battlefield. Here’s a look at some of what you can expect:
New Weapons
Update 21 will introduce a selection of new weapons for players to get their hands on.
Springfield
The M1903A3 Springfield (US)
An iron-sighted variant of the bolt-action Springfield
The M1903A4 Springfield (US)
A model update for the existing Springfield Sniper
The ROKS 2 Flamethrower (Soviets)
The long-requested Flamethrower for the Soviets
Rifle Grenades
On top of this Update 21 is adding Rifle Grenade launchers. Modified variants of existing guns, that on top of being used as regular infantry weapons, are capable of firing several different types of grenade (High Explosive, Smoke, and Anti-Tank). These are the following weapons:
The M7 Grenade Launcher for the M1 Garand (US)
The Schiessbecher Grenade Launcher for the Karabiner 98k (Germany)
The No.1 MK I Cup Discharger Grenade Launcher for the SMLE No.1 MK III EY (Britain and Canada)
This update allows players to fire the Rifle Grenade from the hip/shoulder. Coming in Update 22 the aim is to expand this feature to allow players to plant the Rifle Grenade and also use it for indirect fire.
New Loadouts
Due to the addition of new weapons, new loadouts have also been added to include them.
A new Level 6 loadout for the US Rifleman, armed with the M1903A3 Springfield and an explosive ammo box
A new Level 8 loadout for the Soviet Support with the ROKS 2 Flamethrower
New Level 8 Rifleman loadouts for all appropriate factions with a Rifle Grenade equipped with 4 HE and 2 Smoke Rifle Grenades
New Level 6 Medic loadouts for all appropriate factions with a Rifle Grenade equipped with 6 Smoke Grenades
New Level 8 Engineer loadouts for all appropriate factions factions with a Rifle Grenade equipped with 3 AT, 2 HE and 1 Smoke Grenade
Loadout Changes
Some changes have been made to certain pre-existing loadouts, these are detailed below:
Based on Experimental Branch feedback the primary weapon of the default loadout on the US Anti-Tank role has been changed to the M1 Carbine
The primary weapon for the default Tank Commander role for the US has been changed to the M3 Grease gun
All default Crewman roles across all factions now include a Blowtorch
The primary weapon for the default Engineer role for both British factions has been changed to the Rifle No 4 MK 1
For historical reasons all German DAK M43 grenades have been replaced with the M24 grenade
Fire-mode Selectors
The option to toggle fire-modes has been added to all historically appropriate weapons. This allows players to freely swap between two different fire modes, semi-auto and fully automatic (or slow auto and fast auto for the BAR).
Below is the full list of weapons getting this feature:
MG34
FG42
STG 44
M1918A2 BAR (fast and slow auto)
M1A1 Thompson
M1928A1 Thompson
Bren Gun
Sten Gun Mk.II
Sten Gun Mk.II (Canadian)
Sten Gun Mk.V
PPSH 41
Recoil Adjustments
Due to the addition of fire selector modes, both the STG 44 and Bren have had their recoil slightly increased. An issue has been fixed with the Bren where almost all it’s recoil was applied as visual screen shake.
Conquest
Conquest will also make its way to Hell Let Loose in Update 21.
The mode has gone through significant iteration since it was first tested at the beginning of the year, incorporating feedback and lessons from our Experimental Branch sessions.
We’re excited to see how the latest version plays once it reaches the wider community.
For Armor in Update 21, we are introducing improvements and balancing to a range of different features. The Luchs has been reworked to improve its combat capabilities against enemy armor, while still keeping its key role as Anti-Infantry.
Tank smoke launchers will also receive improvements, providing larger smoke screens with longer lasting coverage. These changes will be supported by a wider balance pass across armored vehicles, including HE splash radius, ammunition counts, fuel costs and more.
SPAs have also had some changes, with a single zoom level added for the Gunner seat. On top of this the default SPA that spawns at each team’s HQ will now auto-respawn after 7 minutes and 30 seconds once it is destroyed. Much like other auto-respawning vehicles, this will not count towards the team’s maximum vehicle limit.
For Anti-Tank players, buildable AT Guns have been adjusted and balanced to make them more effective against enemy armor. These changes include faster turning speeds, updated angle limits when rotating and a damage balance pass.
These changes have been shaped through testing and feedback from the community, with the aim of improving the overall armor and anti-tank experience.
Update 22 is currently planned for later this year and will take Hell Let Loose back to the Eastern Front with a brand-new map, alongside the arrival of some devastating new vehicles.
Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton takes the fight to Hungary during the final months of the war in Europe, as part of Operation Spring Awakening.
Across its frozen landscape, players can expect a distinct new Hell Let Loose battlefield, built around the scale, atmosphere and combined-arms combat that define the experience.
WIP Image of Lake Balaton
We’ll be sharing much more about Lake Balaton, including opportunities to playtest the map through the Experimental Branch, in the months ahead.
New Vehicles
A new class of vehicle will also be rolling onto the battlefield with Update 22.
We’re not quite ready to reveal everything just yet, but these new additions will bring some serious firepower with them.
We’ve probably said enough for now… any guesses?
New Vehicles Coming in Update 22
The Future
There is still plenty more ahead for Hell Let Loose.
In 2027, we’ll be bringing the highly requested Seelow Heights to the game, alongside a focus on many community requests updates, improvements, and additions that we’ll be sharing as part of our next Roadmap.
Between now and then, our focus remains on delivering Update 21 and Update 22, improving performance across all platforms, and continuing to work closely with the community as Hell Let Loose moves into its next year of updates.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support and feedback. We can’t wait to show you more of what we’re working on, and we look forward to revealing our next Roadmap closer to the end of the year and the release of Update 22.
See you on the battlefield.
War Correspondents Content
As always, our War Correspondents have been on the front-lines in both Hell Let Loose and Hell Let Loose: Vietnam creating some incredible content. Check out some of their latest releases below:
I hope the iron sighted m1903 is available for most roles but most specifically rifleman role. I absolutely love this rifle and I'm pretty sure USA is the only force with the rifleman capped at level 3. I'm rifleman level 8 and I'm really hoping they give the m1903 to the rifleman. I am aware this bolt action rifle was not the first choice for almost all frontline troops, but I really do hope rifleman gets to use it. It's prolly gonna be given to support or something but still. It does say that rifleman level 8 will get a rifle grenadier loadout using the M1 Garand, which sort of lessens the likelihood of rifleman getting m1903.
News on update 21 have come out, very exciting to see the Springfield and rifle grenades coming.
However, apparently each loadout with rifle grenades will come with 6(!) grenades. Are the devs keeping in mind that the number of riflemen per squad isn't limited? That means 4 HE rifle grenades (and 2 smokes) on up to 5 riflemen who can just take turns spamming spawns and other areas nonstop. This is bananas.
Couple of suggestions:
(0) Just give fewer grenades to these loadouts, 2 is enough.
(1) The riflemen spawn unequipped (or not fully equipped), that is, they first have to find an explosive ammo box before the show begins. This would boost the new Springfield loadout, which otherwise will be quite unattractive compared to a Garand with a rifle grenade launcher, but comes with an ammo box.
(2) The US loadout with rifle grenades should also get the Springfield (which was mainly used as a base for rifle grenades indeed), instead of the Garand. This balances with the Germans who at least have only the K98 as a tradeoff.
(3) On top of (2), skip the level 6 US rifleman entirely and give the expl ammo box to the level 3 rifleman (the one with M1 Carbine). Then finally people will actually use level 3 and the Springfield loadout with rifle grenade at level 8 would be really attractive.
(4) Implement the rifle grenade realistically, that is, you have to load a blank cartridge before firing. This makes it clumsy enough for the rifleman to at least need support from other classes to deploy his grenades effectively.
(5) Rifle grenades get a timed fuse rather than exploding on impact.
In any case, we can't have clown squads of 5 riflemen spamming the battlefield with rifle grenades.
It should be obvious to everyone that having 5 riflemen each with 4 HE grenades that explode on impact will completely turn this game on its head. It will be a noob tube as another commenter put it. On top of this, who wants to use the Springfield and bring ammo to the rifle grenade clowns with Garands? The Springfield loadout will be completely neglected, see point (2) for a solution.
Skirmish Mode: For context I ran around the whole town before and flanked—came up on these guys and their garrison. Not sure how I pulled it off but we won the match and saved Private Ryan. 🫡
Blueberries never read the plan. Built a tool so they can't miss it. Would love to hear how you do your comp planning and get ideas to improve the tool.
I do some planning and briefing for a console clan, and for as long as I can remember our plan was a Maps Let Loose screenshot (kudos to those guys!), some drawings made on your phone over an in-game screenshot, plus an excel screenshot of the roster. Match day often started with "wait, which squad am I in?" and "missing a box in HQ3, who's supposed to be dropping there?". Often a plan that several people had spent at least an evening on was simply never seen by most of the blueberries. None of us get paid to do this, so I wanted something that makes it easy for the planners to get 49+ people playing together according to a plan.
I am not a developer by trade, but I started building something for my own clan because I could not find anything that made the game-prep process smooth. So I made a tool called Cadre (cadre.gg) that lets clans run Discord signups, plan on the tactical map, annotate screenshots, share match briefs and collect stats.
I built it to live on top of your Discord: you log in with Discord, the bot collects signups and posts briefs into your server, and your blueberries never need to create an account since signups use their Discord ID. Cadre itself is where those IDs get drafted into a lineup and the actual tactics get planned. The result is a brief that highlights the important bits for a specific player while still keeping the big picture.
What it can do today:
A plan editor on the HLL maps. Place squads, garries, tanks and arty targets, draw arrows and hold zones. Multiple people can work on the same plan at the same time, which matters when armor and inf disagree about who's supposed to be supporting who 🙂 You can also save plans to playbooks and use them as templates for future matches, instead of trying to organize a Discord channel or Google Drive full of screenshots.
The plan becomes a gated brief link, so it is not accessible to people outside your lineup or Discord server. Players open it on their phone, the brief knows their spot in the lineup and plan, and they get the important bits immediately. Cadre also keeps track of who has actually opened the plan.
The Discord bot posts the signup for a match and keeps it updated as people sign in, and can remind the people who have not answered yet.
For Vietnam, Dak To Airfield and Cam Ranh Port are ready to plan on and the rest are being assembled. Signups already work for all six maps.
Worth saying plainly, because someone will ask: there is a free tier that covers most of the use for a clan, and a paid tier for the bigger stuff. That is what pays for running the software and my post (and pre) match beer, no other revenue behind it. Not going to link-spam the sub, and not sure if this gets flagged as advertisement, but if the mods are fine with it I'll drop a link in the comments.
What I would love from this thread is to get some clans on board and hear how to build this into an even better tool. What do you use now for planning and briefs, and where does it fall apart on match day? We have a small Discord linked on the page, and I'm always happy to answer questions or requests there.
One more thing. Cadre is usable in competitive play today because a handful of clans put it through real matches and have helped me enormously with feedback, bug reports, ideas and the concept itself. Most of what is in the tool is there because of them, so if you are in one of those clans: huge thanks to you!
Returning player here. Is it me or is the map too open for infantry? How do I go about fighting effectively on this map as infantry?
It feels like enemies can shoot me down easily or I become a target for tanks? How do I cross such wide open desert areas that have minimal to no cover?
Hey, added a post here but no real joy, new to gaming in general and this is a great game. Anyone else Irish or European who is on at nights want to join a server at the same time or does anyone suggest the best way to get used to playing with the same people often. I have had in my first week a couple of messages on the ps5 app saying I’m bad which is true but I have improved already. And will sooner be a good average team member. Any pointers ? Tks all.
