Hell Let Loose: This game is torture and I can't get away from it

After five years, Dimi got carried away with a daring shooter experiment.

Update from January 3, 2025:Currently there isto pick up. So that you know what you are getting into with the free download, we have republished the column by our editorial director Dimitry Halley.

Original text from January 26, 2024:

The former GameStar editoris a bulwark of tolerance. And as one of my best friends, he has to be - especially when he begs me to die thousands of deaths at his side. For years, Friedbert has patiently and tirelessly tried to persuade me to play hardcore multiplayer shooters. In 2018 it was Squad, then came Post Scriptum, then Squad again and most recently:.

He always uses the most attractive arguments.You, Dimi, sat in a game for two hours yesterday and then unfortunately lost. Yesterday, Dimi, you piled up sandbags in the squad for 20 minutes while my commander complained to me, totally intense. You can lie there in the grass for five minutes without firing a shot. 10 kills for every 30 deaths is completely normal, it's not always about shooting.

I do. I belong to the rare sub-species of gamers who like to shoot in shooters. So over the years I've always managed to get out of the affair:Squad costs so much money, Friedbert, and the rents in Munich and inflation in general and think about the children I have to feed (if I ever have children).

So far I've always gotten away with it, but Microsoft's Game Pass is now putting a damper on my plans! Hell Let Loose has been on Game Pass since January 2024, so I let myself be spread out and one of the most intense trips I've ever experienced in a game began.

Match 0: Over after a minute

Hell Let Loose doesn't feel as finished as it should. The multiplayer shooter set in the Second World War started in Steam's Early Access for a few years in 2019, then appeared as a full version in 2021, changing both the developer and the design direction in between, but in 2024 all the junk should actually be stowed away: Hell Let Loose is a shooter in hardcore guise, lets two teams of 50 people compete against each other in tactical battles, every shot is fatal, communication is an absolute must. On Steam, over 15,000 simultaneously active fans acknowledge the game's charm.

But my first match barely lasts a minute.

My screen resolution simply adjusts downwards in the middle of the game, my desktop moves to the bottom half of the screen, no shortcut helps. Plus, voice chat doesn't work for me, of all people, when communication is so important in Hell Let Loose! I only listen to Friedbert, not any of my teammates, and suddenly feel young again, because just like back in my first shy weeks at GameStar, Friedbert now does most of the talking for me.

This error is very bizarre because Hell Let Loose doesn't even have a party chat. Or a party system at all. Or matchmaking. I feelstillyounger, because like in the early 2000s, Friedbert and I have to manually select a server, click join at the same time and pray to the old LAN party gods that we make it into the same match.

We end the buggy match, look for a new one and finally everything - except for the voice chat - seems to be working. I pat myself on the back, the first hurdle has been overcome, what could go wrong now?

I had no idea.

Match 1: The dying begins

My first real match takes place on a stretch of land near the Dutch village of Driel near Arnhem. Holland is known for a lot but not its mountains, so I look at endless fields, a few farmer's huts, bushes and a large bridge crossing a river.

The vision is impressive, after all there is almost no HUD to distract me with screen displays. I survey the landscape and with a shrillPlingthe first shot in the head hits me. Dead.

Friedbert says:No shit happening, please spawn at I4.Like a meme grandma, I adjust the imaginary glasses on my nose and stare at the respawn screen without any understanding. What is an I4? I'm looking at a gigantic map full of markings, there are garrison points, headquarters, outposts, with dozens of moving blue dots in between, plus yellow circles and black circles and black hatching.

My team has to steal control points from the enemy, I understand that much, but nothing more. I'll just spawn somewhere near Friedbert, which will be I4.

A lessonI quickly learn: As soon as you stick your head out anywhere in Hell Let Loose, you're dead.

The second lesson: In Hell Let Loose it's very easy to hit an enemy - usually the first shot kills, but it's so damn difficult to kill themsee. The huge maps are not a theme park like in Battlefield, but rather endless fields without any respect for player leadership. An enemy could be lurking behind every little bush in this endless expanse and blow the candles off my cake with a single click; there are no markings, no spotting like in Battlefield.

Hence lesson three: Hell Let Loose is about positioning and understanding the game, the shooting itself is just an afterthought. Unlike Call of Duty, there are no turn ons here, noneOh, I'll get shot, but turn around quick enough to catch the enemy. Whoever sees the enemy first wins the duel. It's about strategic superiority, not shooting skill.

So exactly the opposite of what I'm good at.

Over an hour - because that's how long matches in Hell Let Loose last - just pisses me off. Pling, pling, pling, one death after another. I usually play multiplayer shooters in a relaxed manner. Sure, I'll swear like a fool when a 13-year-old shaves me in Call of Duty, but CoD never really gets under my skin. Hell Let Loose does.

Even Friedbert, the bulwark of tolerance, says at some point:Hey, we can stop if you don't enjoy it. He doesn't do this out of concern, but because my swearing understandably annoys him. I end the match with a disastrous kill-death ratio, maybe have a handful of kills, but died 30 times, an absolute disaster.

I can't let that go.

Match 2: Finally fun! Or?

In the next match I'll learn something about roles. So not the things on my hip, but different team tasks. From Battlefield I know the four soldier classes Assault, Pioneer, Medic and Reconnaissance,There are 14 (!) of them in Hell Let Loose. Because I want to shoot a lot and think little, I choose the classic rifle shooter - and finally find it fun!

The map is called Kursk, somewhere on the Eastern Front. Again I'm looking at a gigantic, brown, flat, disrespectful field, this time, however, furrowed by the endless trenches. I now understand enemy movements better, so I choose a flank route through the trenches and the plan works! I catch tons of enemies by surprise from the side, pick enemy after enemy from the meadow with my carbine,finally Hell Let Loose feels good!

Friedbert is very dissatisfied with me.

Please transfer to me now, said is.And come in as a provider.I break off my victory frenzy to move on.Movesays in Hell Let Loose:Please kill your character yourself via the menu and respawn, you are completely useless in your current position.So I change the role, of course I have no idea what exactly a provider has to do in Hell Let Loose.

Friedbert says:Now please run after our comrade and drop resources as soon as I tell you to!Like a good soldier, I don't question orders and sprint across the open field, hot on my comrade's heels. Somehow I'll figure out how to shed resources along the way. And why.

An artillery shell hits and all that's left of my comrade is a pair of boots.

Friedbert says:Dimi, please run after the other comrade now!I turn around quickly, sprint back and follow the other colleague while holding my helmet tightly. Bullets are flying around my ears. One of them hits the comrade in the head.

Friedbert says:Now that was bad.

I:But that's not my fault! I'll do exactly what you say!

Friedbert:Now calm down and move to Garrison Point 06.

By the way, last year I was Friedbert's best man, but on the front of Hell Let Loose there is no room for sentimentality and friendly warmth. Friedbert is completely in the chain of command: In Hell Let Loose, not everyone can talk to everyone, and with 50 players per side, the conversation channels have to flow accordingly.

Each squad can speak to its own squad officer, and officers in turn communicate with other officers and the commander of the entire team via an exclusive voice channel. There is strict communication bureaucracy in Hell Let Loose and, unsurprisingly, the German part of the community in particular takes it gratefully - and very seriously.

So Friedbert constantly has other German-speaking Hell Let Loose enthusiasts in his ear, telling him sayings like, with the emphasis of a tax officialWe have to push in there noworPlease raise the garrison in E5, come on now!throw at the head.

Friedbert says at some point:Phew, it's a bit annoying when you're criticized and bossed around all the time.

Truly, Friedbert, truly.