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A helicopter chugs overhead, and I throw myself into the jungle's overgrowth. We don't have choppers. I've barely hit the ground when the retching whirr of its miniguns drowns out all other sound, decimating anyone caught in the open. "Americans hate this one simple trick," says my squadmate in proximity chat, getting to his feet and spraying the passing helicopter with assault rifle fire. I run, not waiting to see if it does anything, and certainly not wanting to be there if it doesn't.
Whether you play as an American or North Vietnamese soldier, multiplayer FPS Hell Let Loose: Vietnam isn't about winning every battle, but playing the long game. Its conquest-style matches can run up to an hour and a half, on vast maps that require one person on each side to play as a commander to coordinate their team, and the opposing North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and American forces have their own strengths and weaknesses. Here is a truly asymmetrical shooter, one not afraid to put you on the back foot if it makes for a more interesting tug-of-war, and after just two matches, I'm already itching to run through the jungle once more.
Shouldn't be here
If you couldn't already tell, I adore asymmetricity in shooters. I play a lot of Marathon and Escape from Tarkov, where dramatic equipment disparities between players can make each firefight unique, and I'm incredibly fond of firing downhill while defending on Battlefield 6's Liberation Peak map. But while most team-based shooters truly commit to friction, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam turns up the heat. American forces can flex air superiority with napalm strikes and helicopters, for example, while the NVA can dig elaborate tunnel systems to move around unseen.
I play my first match on Thanh Hóa Bridge, a dense jungle map with a winding river passing through the middle, as the NVA. Each player's purpose and equipment depends on the role they select before spawning in: I have a soft spot for grunt work in the original Hell Let Loose so I play as a rifleman, but if you're feeling more adventurous, you can put yourself to work as anything from a mortar operator to sniper, spotter to squad leader, or even take control of your team as commander.
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is an unforgiving shooter in many ways – yes, you will die quickly and often – but it's better-signposted than many of its peers. Blue dots on your HUD identify even distant friendlies, and beyond minimizing the risk of friendly fire (for those who never got the hang of recognizing uniforms in Hell Let Loose or Rising Storm), it lets you visualize where your team is focusing its efforts without stopping to check the map – keeping you in the flow.
That alone makes Hell Let Loose: Vietnam significantly more accessible than many of its peers, as not having to wonder which team you're killing means you can jump in and have fun as a more casual player. At risk of telling on myself, it's certainly a weight off my mind, allowing me to sink fully into the game's atmosphere. Developer Expression Games leans fully into Vietnam's jungles – you can pass meters from another player without seeing them through the overgrowth – while impeccable sound design gives each side something to fear, whether it's the chugging of a chopper or rustling of leaves. The constant cacophony makes Hell Let Loose: Vietnam's 50v50 matches feel magnitudes larger than they are, and rarely have I felt so immersed in a shooter as I have while straining to hear my squad leader's commands beneath the constant pounding of mortar impacts and snapping bullets.
Seizing Thanh Hóa Bridge's central chokepoint (spoiler: it's a bridge) is an exercise in creativity. Attacking as the NVA offers a wealth of options, as jungle trails and tunnels can be used to coordinate pushes from any side, while the US have more cover leading to the bridge and can fall back on strafe runs and napalm strikes if the NVA seize the high ground. I had a completely different experience on each side – the NVA felt more rewarding of sneaky flanking and taking initiative at a squad level, while as an American squaddie it felt like there really was a vast war machine at my back.
Though Hell Let Loose: Vietnam's strategic layer and emphasis on communication may give the impression of a military-sim sicko's dream (it's also that), it's straightforward enough for you to be able to jump in with a rifle and have a superb time. As the majority of team-based shooters avoid the headaches of asymmetricity, it's a delight to see Expression Games lean even further into it, knowing that the stories players tell their friends will always be more interesting than damage numbers and time-to-kill debates. If you've been dipping your toes into the flourishing extraction shooter scene or didn't click as much with Battlefield 6's break from the series' slower pace, check out Hell Let Loose: Vietnam when it launches later this year. After just two hectic matches, I know I will.
