*I am back at my house, awaiting the next game to review when my Fax/Printer machine activates and prints out a message about my next game* Let’s see here… I have to review this game called Hell Let Loose on Steam Early Access.
Right, now I need to take a look at the people behind this game. Hmm… *looks through the steam page and sees the publisher and developer* Ah! Here we go! Team 17 and Black Matter Studios are the people behind Hell Let Loose. Now, let’s take a look at Team 17. Team 17 is a publishing company created in 1990 that also doubles as an independent developer. As they themselves have put it, Team 17 is “A Games Label Created by Independent Developers for Independent Developers.” Taking a look at their website, you can see that they have published quite a few popular games, like The Escapists, Overcooked! 2, as well as publishing My Time At Portia.
The company, Black Matter Studios is a rather mysterious one, and no, it’s not because of their name being homonymous with that matter that takes up about 85% of the universe, but because they are an indie studio that was made in 2015. However, they only have one game developed, Hell Let Loose. Despite that, they have an interesting backstory. They are composed of an international team of carefully selected artists and programmers who have one goal in mind: Creating the most charming worlds governed by the coming techniques of game design that are driven by players.
Now that I got the developer and publisher out of the way, it’s time for me to take a careful examination of the early-access game.
Hell Let Loose is a First-Person Shooter with the theme of being a realistic World War Two simulation. As the title states, Hell is let loose, on the battlefield in the era of World War Two. According to the steam page, none of the other games that had the theme of World War Two allowed the players to experience a realistic view, “the way it was meant to be played… with lumbering tanks dominating the battlefield, crucial supply chains fueling the frontlines, being a cog in the machine of colossal combined arms warfare.” That alone makes Hell Let Loose sound very exciting and thrilling, AND IT SURE AS HELL IS!
The players are placed right smack-dab in the center of chaos of warfare, complete with tanks and other military vehicles, a front line that dynamically evolves, and so much more! As the steam page itself says, Hell Let Loose is a meta-game, which means the game takes an approach that transcends the supposed limits of the game itself. Considering how much realism the game focuses on, it’s not hard to see why HLL sees itself as meta.
You can visit the Steam Early Access page for more information. Now, it’s time for me to describe my experiences with HLL.
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When I started up the game, I was met with the developer and publisher names (Black Matter and Team 17), which was fortunately short. However, upon reaching the title menu, I was met with some pretty bad lag. However, adjusting the settings in the options menu helped out. Afterward, I clicked on the campaign button, which led me to a server selection screen almost similar to that of Team Fortress 2. Of course, as I am relatively new to the game, I had to find a pretty empty server. I managed to find some servers with no players. However, when I attempted to join, I was met with a really long loading screen, that resulted in the computer freezing… which was rather unfortunate…
~~~
The developer roadmap promises the first addition of Utah Beach, which is one of the central locations in the 1944 Normandy landings. A Cosmetic Customization System is also promised to be added with deployable items like machine gun nests. Also a new attack vs. defense game mode will be added. You can expect for all of these new features to take “a year or more to complete.”
Is it worth it? Well… that’s for you to decide. Honestly, looking at what they say the game offers as well as the gameplay itself, the game looks really promising! It’s still early access, so who knows, maybe the game will get even better!
Check Out the Hell Let Loose Steam Early Access Launch Trailer:
Hell Let Loose is available for PC via Steam Early Access.
I'm the kind of guy who LOVES games with rich storytelling elements, but still finds enjoyment in the other games that don't have those. I am always intrigued by how new and upcoming game developers either bring something new to the table or take something existing and bring an exhilarating twist to it.
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