Reviewed on Xbox Series X
After spending a good amount of time in the Hell Let Loose Vietnam playtest on Xbox Series X, it's clear that Team17 and Expression Games have captured the spirit of the original while successfully transporting the franchise into an entirely new conflict. The Vietnam War brings a very different style of combat, and from the moment you step onto the battlefield it's obvious this isn't simply a reskin of the original Hell Let Loose.
Like any playtest, there are rough edges that still need attention, but the foundations are incredibly promising.
Performance & Gameplay
One of the biggest positives throughout the playtest was performance. Frame rates remained consistently smooth, with no noticeable lag, stuttering or rubber banding during our sessions. That's encouraging considering the scale of the battles and the amount happening on screen at any one time.
Movement also feels noticeably improved over the original Hell Let Loose. Running, traversing terrain and general player movement feel smoother and more natural. Mantling and climbing over obstacles has received a welcome overhaul and is far less awkward than in the original game, making movement through the environment much more fluid.
The dense jungles create a completely different battlefield compared to Europe. Fighting through thick vegetation makes spotting enemy soldiers incredibly difficult. While this can be frustrating at times, it also creates an outstanding level of realism where every bush, tree line and patch of jungle could be hiding an enemy squad.
Weapons also sound excellent. They retain the weight and impact expected from the series but have a slightly softer audio profile than the original Hell Let Loose, which suits the Vietnam setting well without sacrificing immersion.
Map Design
The Dak To Airfield map offers excellent variety. One moment you're fighting through dense jungle with visibility measured in metres, before emerging into military compounds, airfields and more open terrain that completely changes the pace of combat.
That constant change in environment keeps firefights feeling fresh and encourages squads to adapt their tactics as the battle unfolds.
Vehicles & Helicopters
Helicopters are undoubtedly one of the headline additions, and they immediately change the scale of the battlefield.
The audio is incredibly loud, often drowning out almost everything else around you. While some players may find this overwhelming, it's arguably what you'd expect from helicopters operating overhead and adds to the atmosphere of the battlefield.
Flying them, however, is another matter.
The controls currently feel extremely sensitive, making helicopters difficult to master and sometimes frustrating to fly. Likewise, aiming weapons from helicopters and patrol boats also feels overly sensitive, making accurate fire more difficult than it probably should be.
These are areas that would benefit from further tuning before launch.
Technical Issues
As expected from a playtest, there were several bugs and technical issues encountered during testing.
The most noticeable graphical issue was pixelation around fires and muzzle flashes. This may simply be a result of reduced graphical settings used for the playtest build, but it was noticeable throughout our sessions.
Environmental rendering also needs further work. At longer distances—roughly beyond 100 metres—bushes and trees occasionally failed to render correctly, sometimes leaving invisible obstacles that blocked shots despite appearing to have a clear line of sight.
Several gameplay bugs were also encountered, including:
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Enemy markers occasionally remaining on the map without refreshing correctly.
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Situations where Outposts (OPs) and Garrisons could not be placed.
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Ladder climbing feeling awkward and clunky.
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Voice communications periodically becoming robotic and distorted. To be fair, the developers had already acknowledged this as a known major issue before the playtest began.
None of these issues made the game unplayable, but collectively they demonstrate that additional polish is still required before release.
Final Verdict
Hell Let Loose Vietnam is currently scheduled for release on 13 August.
If I were looking at this purely from a technical perspective, I'd probably recommend delaying the game by another month or two. There are still bugs, balancing adjustments and polish that would undoubtedly improve the final experience.
But gaming isn't always about spreadsheets and release schedules.
My heart tells a different story.
Even in its unfinished state, I found myself wanting to jump back into battle again and again. The atmosphere, teamwork, slower tactical gameplay and brutal jungle combat feel like a natural evolution of the Hell Let Loose formula without drifting into the fast-paced, arcade-style action of modern military shooters.
This still feels unmistakably like Hell Let Loose—just in an entirely new theatre of war.
The developers clearly have work left to do, but they've also built something genuinely exciting.
I genuinely can't wait to be "Let Loose" when the full game launches.
Score: 8.5/10 (Playtest Build)
A technically rough but hugely enjoyable playtest that shows enormous potential. With a little more polish before release, Hell Let Loose Vietnam has every chance of becoming another outstanding entry in the franchise.