If there was an appropriate way to describe the battlefield of war it would be Hell Let Loose. War is hell and this solid massively multiplayer FPS from Black Matter does a great job of capturing the chaos of the frontlines of World War Two.
Firefights are spread across utterly massive maps and with 100 players split into two teams of 50 that are vying for victory, it can be a trial by fire for rookie recruits looking to try it out. Practice and time creates improvement, but to speed up that process here's a few helpful beginner's guide for Hell Let Loose.
The Game Modes
There are two main game modes in Hell Let Loose. They are Offensive and Warfare. Offensive features one team aggressively attacking one point whilst the other defends. Once it’s lost the battlefield permanently shifts further back to the next point and it continues until all points are captured or the time expires.
Then there’s Warfare. This is like your standard conquest mode where one side needs to capture key locations controlled by the other. Doing so moves the battle line forwards, but unlike Offensive, the line of battle is constantly going back and forth until one team has all of the Capture Points or the match timer also runs out.
Supply And Demand
If there’s one thing that can often mean the difference between victory and defeat, it’s Supplies. These are a resource that can be dropped on the battlefield by a number of different sources and they allow the construction of barricades, and most important of all, Garrisons.
Garrisons are essentially team spawning points that can be built by the Commander or Officers and having a solid supply line to create these structures can be crucial. Supplies can be dropped by air by the Commander, or a Support Class soldier. The Supply Truck at the HQ can also be used to ferry large quantities of this handy resource back and forth to the frontlines, but it’s vulnerable to ambushes and can be destroyed. Maintaining a solid supply line should be a team's number one priority if possible.
The Roles
There are multiple classes in Hell Let Loose to pick when you start a match, 14 in total if you include the Commander. Some of them are more useful than others. But it provides a lot of team variety considering there are 50 people on each side.
The classes are accessible once you join a squad and aside from the Rifleman, only one person can pick a role per crew. So for example, only one person can use the Anti Tank, one Medic, and so on. It provides a lot of variety, and in the right hands and it allows a squad to synergize quite effectively. Here are all the classes in the game and what they do:
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Commander |
The big boss in charge of the battle, has access to special abilities that call in bombing runs, recon planes, ammunition and supply drops. |
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Officer |
Leader in charge of a squad of six players. |
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Rifleman |
Standard soldier with a rifle. Can resupply teammates with an ammo box. |
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Assault |
Specialized class with access to submachine guns and smoke grenades. |
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Automatic Rifleman |
Soldier with larger caliber assault and support rifles. |
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Medic |
The resident healer. |
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Support |
Rifleman with access to supplementary support boxes, such as supplies and ammo. |
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Machine Gunner |
Has access to the big heavy machine guns. |
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Anti-Tank |
The rocket launching bane of enemy armor. |
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Engineer |
The resident builder. Requires supplies to construct barricades and other structures. |
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Tank Commander |
Commander of Tank Crew. |
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Crewman |
Gunner or driver of the armor depending on Crew Seat position. |
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Spotter |
Support position for the Sniper, spots targets, and aids marksmen. |
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Sniper |
The only class with a scoped rifle. The position is limited to two per team. |
Beginners Tips
Hell Let Loose is a rough time for newbies as there’s a lot to get up to speed on if you’re not used to these kinds of games. Plus, depending on how friendly the server is, you could end up with a lot of angry people in the command chain yelling.
Deaths can also be frustrating as they’re fast, can feel unfair and the wait timer to get back in is just a smidge too frustratingly long. So to keep you alive as your boots hit the dirt, here are a couple of beginner tips for Hell Let Loose.
Check Your Map Regularly
The battlefield is constantly changing and evolving with frontlines, enemy positions, and armor locations moving endlessly. It’s highly recommended that you check your map as often as you can to stay on top of what’s going on.
The map is also used by more experienced players to direct their squadmates to enemy positions or issue orders to the team about where to head next. So learn to read the squares. The compass at the bottom of the screen should also have an eye kept on it as it’s the best way to point your team in the right direction.
Use A Mic If You Can
Being talkative and constantly on the mic is not mandatory despite what some Squad Leaders will tell you, but talking at least a little bit can help quite a lot. Hell Let Loose is a very communication heavy game and being able to yell at a second's notice to your teammates makes a massive difference.
Audio is location-based, and whilst Squads have their own radios, but if someone is not in your crew you’re going to have to yell. There is a ping system you can use to tell your Sqaudmates where a threat is, but no one else on your team will see this. So bring a mic and get ready to talk.
Do Your Job
It’s recommended that you only choose a class if you understand it or feel like you can make a sizeable dent against the enemy team using it. Especially if it’s an extremely useful one like the Engineer, Medic, or Anti Tank. There’s a lot of variety, so there’s always a role for someone.
If you’re unsure about what to do at first, or there’s already someone in a position you want, just pick the rifleman role. It will let you get used to how the game works and help out your squad. Also, keep an eye on the chat if you’re on PC to see if there are any messages going out to everyone to get to a specific point. Or if a friendly bombing run is about to drop right on your head.
Don’t Wander Off
In most massively multiplayer games you can normally wander around by yourself and cause some damage pretty effectively. In Hell Let Loose, running off alone trying to do your best impression of a Battlefield montage just ends up with you getting shot.
You rarely know where the other team is. It’s incredibly easy to either stumble into a group of enemy soldiers or be ambushed by a wave that spawned from a hidden Garrison. Sticking with the team keeps you alive and helps out the overall war effort, so stay with your squad or the frontlines at the bare minimum.
Keep Your Head Down
It doesn’t take long for the air to get filled with bullets and tracer rounds zipping around. Quite often it will take seconds for an empty street or row of bushes to suddenly open up with gunfire and tear apart an entire platoon. So keep your head down.
Death comes at you fast and with so many rounds flying about it just takes one lucky MG spray or a sniper round to take you out. You should rarely be standing and ideally crouched or completely prone. But if you don’t have the cover, then there's often lots of dips and divots in the terrain that you can lie behind. Stay low, stay hidden and you’ll stay alive.
Listen To Your Surroundings
It really pays to listen to your surroundings in Hell Let Loose. Gunshots are positional and the devs have done a good job in how the audio travels across large distances. So if you have a headset on it’s much easier to pinpoint where gunfire is coming from. There’s a difference when you’re under fire because of the sound. If it’s an echoing bang it’s nowhere near you, or if it’s a hiss it’s nearby but not in your direction. But, if it’s a snap with a zip, it’s coming right for your face and you should probably get down.
The same goes for kills, there’s no kill roster on the screen so listen to the bullet impacts to judge if someone is down if you can’t see them. If there’s a dull thud after your shot, then you’ve hit them, or if a loud metallic ding noise happens then you’ve scored a headshot, well done. If you unload on someone’s hiding spot and don’t hear either of those, maybe dump another magazine on them just to be sure.
AT Rockets Don’t Work How You Think
Normally in FPS games, rockets fly in a straight line from Point A to Point B, but not here. Anti-Tank rockets in Hell Let Loose fly in a low arc more akin to grenades. If you’re not aware of that it’ll lead to a lot of missed and wasted shots.
With rocket scarcity a real factor in the game as AT soldiers only get two, watching a rocket fall short can be incredibly frustrating. Not to mention it also immediately gives away your position. It can take time to figure out how to compensate, but as a general rule of thumb, for every extra hundred yards add about a foot or two above the target.
If You See A Tank, Just Run
When it comes to the tanks, a really good tip is that unless you’re an AT trooper or have a loadout that features Satchel Charges, just stay out of their way. Unlike other games where they can be taken out with a rocket or two, tanks in Hell Let Loose are trundling boxes of terror.
Their armor is solid, their rounds reach far and their machine guns can shred squads in seconds. Some are even tougher in certain parts and if you don’t know where to hit it can be quite demoralizing to see your two AT rockets harmlessly ping off them. Whilst you can cause some very minor damage with a massed grenade attack to the treads, if you don’t have the gear to deal with them, just run or find some cover.
There are HLL Community pages and Dev Blogs which list tank weak spots. It's recommended to check these out if you want to deal with enemy armor effectively.
Play Around With Your Loadouts
Each class has a relatively different loadout that can be accessed after you’ve leveled up a particular soldier. Though the process can take a little while, it’s definitely worth it as some of the sub-classes of each trooper are pretty strong.
For example, the German Machine Gunner's basic MG is decent, but after a few levels they can use the much bigger, and heavier hitting classic MG42. Whilst the Engineer, primarily a builder at the beginning, can access satchel charges and become a demolitions expert with a few levels. Play around with loadouts, because different classes can become much better to play with and more useful to the team with a little time investment.