Why Hell Let Loose succeeded where others failed

Why Hell Let Loose Succeeded

'Hell Let Loose' manages success in an over-saturated genre

Periscope Games’ Post Scriptum and Black Matter’s Hell Let Loose, the latter being released not even a year later, both fill a very specific niche rather similarly. A need for intense, highly realistic and historically authentic World War II combat. Where communication is vital to every situation and teamwork spells the difference between victory and defeat.

By the time Post Scriptum was released in August of 2018, the market for World War II shooters was already well-flooded with titles like Call of Duty: WWII, three Sniper Elites, Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, Heroes and Generals on top of Battlefield V and Battalion 1944 releasing in the coming months.

Day of Infamy also scratched the tactical-fps itch, but by the time of August 2019 their average monthly players had dwindled from the several-thousands to the several-hundreds. Developers New World Interactive had shifted all their efforts toward Insurgency: Sandstorm – a sequel to 2014’s Insurgency which like Post Scriptum and Hell Let Loose, was a high-risk, punishing, tactical-fps albeit with a modern setting and much faster pace.

Now that it’s been over a year since Hell Let Loose’s release it’s pretty obvious that they’ve made out the best as far as World War II tactical-fps games are concerned. So despite being the last ones to beat and already pulped horse, Black Matter managed to circumvent the burn-out that World War II games had left in people's mouths. The player numbers speak for themselves.

How’d they achieve this? The regular tactics come to minds: regular updates, communication with developers, free weekends, Steam sales – but so what? It’s not like Black Matter pioneered these things and tons of games do the exact same.

Some might debate out that Hell Let Loose simply stroke a better balance between the authentic, gritty realism of real combat and necessary game-mechanics that make this slower-paced genre playable. Most of the tactical-genre incentivizes careful movement and methodical gameplay by punishing death with long respawn delays and less-forgiving spawn locations. Many feel Hell Let Loose simply allows players to get back to the fighting fast enough and is just 'casual enough' on the realism spectrum.

But just as important, if not more so, was the near perfect timing of its release – the summer following the disastrous launch of EA’s now abandoned Battlefield V. The ill-fated title’s chief complaint, aside from the contemptuous attitude from EA and DICE, was the alleged complete-lack of authenticity. There are threads upon threads lamenting at DICE’s effort and the YouTube comments on the reveal trailer aren’t any better.

Many felt burned by the now disgraced DICE, and the need for an authentic World War II fps was not being met. Then on June 9th, 2019, Hell Let Loose entered early-access and offered starved fans their fix.

Usually the term ‘early-access’ elicits a groan and immediate suspicion thanks to previous games using it as an excuse to peddle half-baked ideas and under-deliver on promises. But thanks to the pariah Battlefield V had morphed into Hell Let Loose looked like a godsend in comparison.

Desperate for anything that even remotely resembled an authentic World War II experience, players flocked to Black Matter’s release - beating out Post Scriptum in concurrent players by over two-thousand during its debut -thhis growth would balloon to over eleven-thousand come the following autumn. 

However it wouldn't stay that way - the high player-count would eventually taper-off and Hell Let Loose would average a modest, but steady two to three-thousand concurrent players. Oppositely, Post Scriptum would cycle between large booms and busts that would overtake Hell Let Loose in popularity, but only briefly and never to the heights Black Matter had achieved.

However not even a year later, Hell Let Loose would break it's recored once again after releasing Update 7 which included a major animation overhaul, quality-of-life improvements, and the new  map 'Carentan' - close-quarter-combat in the quaint French town popularized by the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers.

 Players were looking, hoping for a historically-authentic title that finally did World War II justice in their eyes, but by the end of the 2010s it seemed all that stone's blood had been long drained. Hell Let Loose couldn't have come at a better time; by serving a need that DICE couldn't, Black Matter managed to ride the end of a wave that otherwise may have been impossible.

Jose is a left-handed techno-mancer with an affinity for IPAs, big dogs, and black-and-white movies. Rebels are scum, Empire for life.
Gamer Since: 2004
Favorite Genre: RTS
Currently Playing: Mortal Kombat 1, Rimworld, Baldur's Gate 3
Top 3 Favorite Games:Wargame: Red Dragon, Metro: Last Light, Battlefield 4