For fans of Hell Let Loose, Black Matter and Team17’s World War Two-themed strategic shooter, the experience on PC is marginally better than on console. There are more maps, more factions, and more guns to play around with, making offensives on those hard-fought battlefields just that little bit better. But next week, the developer plans to inch one step closer to full PC parity with the game’s first major console update.
Hell Let Loose console update 1 brings a whole host of new content to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players for the first time. From the long-awaited Soviet update (which PC players got in July 2021), more maps, weapons, roles, abilities, and vehicles – this patch will add so many features to the game that have been PC-exclusive for months now.
This means players will have the chance of scaling an offensive in Stalingrad, Kursk, Hill 400, and more, with guns like the PPSh-41, the DP-27, the M97 Trench Gun, when the free update drops on both platforms on Tuesday, May 17 at 6am PT / 7am ET / 2pm BST.
However, while adding the Soviets to Hell Let Loose now in the middle of a war in Ukraine might raise some eyebrows, Black Matter CEO Max Rea says the team “had many conversations internally” about the release before decided to go ahead with it.
❗ Console Players ❗
Update 1 is preparing for deployment!
📆 May 17th
🎮 Xbox Series X|S & PlayStation 5
💥 Tons of new contentRead about it here: https://t.co/1iGqVEM2Dz pic.twitter.com/UpTkXYGRJ3
— HellLetLoose (@hell_let_loose) May 11, 2022
In the statement, which can be read in full here, Rea notes that the team has spoken to many Ukrainian and Russian nationals, all of whom spoke about their pride of their collective efforts as the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany. The Soviet content has also been available to PC players since 2021 and since Hell Let Loose is a historical war game and the conflict is in “no way analogous” to the conflict currently happening in Ukraine, the decision was taken to move forward with the update.
And so far, it’s been received well by the community. Rea has long talked about his ambitions of bringing the three versions of the game in line with one another – and now, as they inch ever closer, all eyes turn to the next big thing: the Commonwealth update.