You can describe Hell Let Loose as a large-scale World War 2 simulator. Developed by Black Matter the game puts 50 players against another 50 players in large-scale battle playing as one of the insurgences or armies in World War 2. The game was released in June 2019 for early access before it was fully released in October 2021.

How it plays

Hell Let Loose is not the only World War 2 game to be made; there have been the likes of Call of Duty WWII, Battlefield 5, World of Tanks and much more. And even fewer that attempt its large-scale multiplayer matches.

Unlike most World War 2-based games, Hell Let Loose brings a more tactical approach to the genre. Players would have to communicate with each other, develop strategies, and report to their officers, who can communicate with the team general to confirm their strategy.

Unlike most FPS like Call of Duty, where you can run and gun through most of the enemy, Hell Let Loose punishes players who move out of positions or make risky plays. You would have to properly navigate with your team, find out enemy positions and choose when to push or attack.

The Roles

To help players achieve their in-game strategies, the game includes roles that each player could take to assist each other, similar to Battlefield 2042. If you’re curious about the health of Battlefield 2042 check out our thoughts on: is Battlefield 2042 dead? Back to roles, the roles in Hell Let Loose include:

• 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.
• Officer: Leader in charge of a squad of six players.
• Rifleman: Standard soldier with a rifle. Can resupply teammates with an ammo box.
• Assault: Specialized class with access to submachine guns and smoke grenades.
• Automatic Rifleman: Soldier with larger caliber assault and support rifles.
• Medic: The team resident healer.
• Support: Rifleman has access to supplementary support boxes, such as supplies and ammunition.
• Machine Gunner: Has access to the big heavy machine guns.
• Anti-Tank: The rocket launching bane of enemy armor.
• Engineer: The resident builder. Requires supplies to construct barricades and other structures.
• Tank Commander: Commander of Tank Crew.
• Crewman: Gunner or armor driver, depending on Crew Seat position.
• Spotter: Support position for the Sniper, spots targets, and aids marksmen.
• Sniper: The only class with a scoped rifle. The position is limited to two per team.

The State of the Game in 2025

One of the most common questions in the FPS genre is: is Call of Duty dying? The answer to that question is always almost a no, but the same can’t be said for Hell Let Loose. The daily Hell Let Loose player count is shy of 7000, hitting as low as 5000 most times. While can’t be written off as dead, those are still poor numbers for an online game almost 4 years old. This could be due to several factors, such as poor visuals, lack of content and, most importantly, the saturation of the FPS genre.

While Hell Let Loose still has a dedicated player base, we believe as the competition gets tougher it is only a matter of time before players move on to something else.

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