Hell Let Loose Vietnam's best idea is giving both sides polar-opposite mechanics

Given Hell Let Loose's success over the years, a sequel never seemed out of the question. The slow, methodical, super-realistic WW2 shooter has a passionate fan base, and while the game has evolved and dropped multiple expansions over the years, a full sequel felt inevitable. However, pretty much everyone was still blindsided by the reveal of Hell Let Loose Vietnam. A fresh era and some radically different battlefields mark a bigger switch-up for HLL than many (myself included) anticipated. After getting a taste of it at Gamescom, though, I feel like a move away from World War 2 is absolutely for the best - the hallmarks of the series remain, but the new setting and an intriguing balancing act of two fresh combat mechanics mean that Hell Let Loose Vietnam could go on to even greater things.

I'd describe my hands-on time with Hell Let Loose Vietnam as both short and sweet. With the Battlefield 6 beta still fresh in my mind, it felt good to get back into a much grittier and more hardcore FPS game that still delivered on the big-battle thrills.

Instantly, the new location draws you in - Vietnam provides a completely different vibe from the green fields, muddy tracks, and stone buildings of Europe. It's immediately more exciting than even the original's maps set in the Soviet Union and North Africa - to me, at least. In the small area I manage to explore, sun rays cut through palm tree fronds, narrow and exposed bridges span winding waterways, and huge mortar strikes crash around me. Like its predecessor, the sound design is also on point. At one stage, I find myself pinned inside a tiny riverside shack with a full squad firing in my direction - the whizzing of bullets above my head, the clattering of them hitting the walls around me, and the zips as stray rounds land in the water below all made me feel incredibly immersed.

If you're concerned that Hell Let Loose Vietnam is going to be a softer experience, you needn't worry. There's still a high amount of value put on staying alive - health is low, bullet damage is high, and returning to the action after respawning can be long. Smart, stealthy movement and relocation are paramount - running across a bridge with little cover got me killed, while a sneaky crawl through some long grass and a swim across a waterway got me behind enemy lines, allowing me to rack up two or three kills without being spotted. Gunplay also feels as satisfying and realistic as ever, with punchy recoil that demands trigger discipline and accuracy.

In just this standard, boots-on-the-ground combat situation, Hell Let Loose Vietnam felt great to play - I was so impressed, I put it among my top picks of this year's Gamescom. But what I'm really interested to see more of is its new battle mechanics for the Vietnamese and US forces.

While both sides get access to speedboats to navigate the waterways, Hell Let Loose Vietnam finds an intriguing way to show the technological disparity of the two armies while providing a somewhat balanced gameplay experience. If you're playing as the US, you'll be able to use helicopters to lay down fire and, even more crucially, transport squads swiftly to hot zones or objectives that are falling under enemy control. Vietnamese soldiers, however, will be able to dig networks of tunnels under the map, allowing them to get behind enemy lines, make their way to distant objectives without being detected, or simply take refuge if they're under heavy fire.

I'm unsure of the exact limitations of each of these new mechanics as I didn't get to experience either in my time with the game, but it sounds like they could really shake things up above and below the battlefield.

Hell Let Loose Vietnam may be venturing into new lands, but it's not forgetting its roots. However, it also appears to be more than just a striking re-skin of the original. While it's still early days and I haven't put some of its bigger innovations through their paces yet, Vietnam seems to be evolving one of the grittiest milsim series in a very encouraging way.

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