Team17 and developer Expression Games confirmed today that Hell Let Loose: Vietnam will launch on June 18 across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The studio paired the date announcement with a free open beta weekend running May 29 to June 1 on Steam, giving the audience a clean test run on the final code roughly two weeks before launch. The release-date trailer doubles as the beta sign-up trailer and lands as the studio's loudest marketing push since the original 2025 reveal.
Pre-orders are live in two tiers. The $39.99 Standard Edition includes a US Boat Crew uniform DLC bonus, while the $59.99 Deluxe Edition adds 2026 Field Supplies, an NVA Boat Crew Uniform, an ANZAC and NVA Uniform Pack, and a Green Berets and Navy SEALs Uniform Pack. Physical copies, importantly, are not part of the June 18 launch — the boxed PS5 and Xbox releases will follow at a later date the publisher has not yet committed to.
The trailer above is the official Hell Let Loose channel cut tied to the beta sign-up window and the June 18 confirmation. Expression Games leans on what its audience already values about the original Hell Let Loose — long sightlines, slow team-driven combat, and an unforgiving learning curve — and re-stages all of it in a thicker, more confined Vietnam-era setting where the jungle does much of the visibility work.
50v50 jungle warfare with era-specific weapons and vehicles
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is built around the same 50v50 backbone as the original, with a fully era-accurate weapon and vehicle roster that has been Expression Games' biggest research project since the game was announced in August 2025. M16s, AK-47s, M60s, and SKSs all sit alongside era-correct vehicles — from US Boat Crew patrol craft to NVA trucks — with the developer deliberately stripping out anachronistic kit that the modern Hell Let Loose tree had room for.
Map design is where the studio is making the biggest gameplay departure. The original game's lanes-and-fields European maps are gone — Vietnam's maps are dense, multi-layered, and built around vegetation cover that hides ambushes and forces close-range firefights more often. Expression Games has shown jungle, paddy field, riverine, and urban environments in trailers, and the launch will ship with a fixed map rotation that the studio intends to expand post-launch through free updates rather than paid expansions.
The May 29 to June 1 open beta is the real preview
The free open beta on Steam is the most important launch-window event for Hell Let Loose: Vietnam. The original game's launch in 2021 leaned heavily on a server-stress preview window, and the same playbook applies here — this is Expression Games' chance to validate matchmaking, anti-cheat, and the latency profile of 100-player matches at the same time players get an unsigned look at the final code. Steam players who sign up through the beta page get automatic access; consoles are not part of the open beta phase.
The beta build will reportedly include two maps, both factions, and a curated weapon and vehicle roster intentionally narrower than the full launch lineup. The studio's stated goal is to focus stress testing on a tight set of scenarios rather than throw the whole game at the wall, and the feedback collected during those four days will roll into the day-one patch on June 18.
Where this sits in the broader milsim FPS conversation
The milsim FPS space has tightened in 2026. Squad has continued to mature, Arma Reforger's official launch landed earlier this year, and Battlestate Games' Escape from Tarkov has finally hit something resembling a stable monthly cadence. Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is leaning into a different audience — players who liked the original's team-driven 50v50 structure and want the same scaffolding inside a fundamentally different conflict.
The risk for any Vietnam-era shooter is treating the setting like a backdrop instead of a design constraint. Expression Games has been deliberate about the opposite — the maps, vehicles, and weapons are era-specific by design, and the studio has been transparent in dev blogs about working with consultants to keep the historical detail credible without slipping into glorification. That tone-setting is going to matter more for this game than for the average shooter.
What June 18 actually looks like
For PC players, June 18 means a Steam and Epic Games Store launch with full Steam Deck verification, DLSS 4 and FSR 4 support, and 100-player Battle Mode at launch. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S editions ship the same day with cross-play enabled across all platforms and a target of 60 frames per second on console hardware, plus a fidelity mode at 30 for players who want the visual ceiling.
Physical copies are on a separate roadmap. Team17 has not committed to a window yet, but the studio's stated reasoning is that it does not want to delay the digital launch to wait for boxed manufacturing in the current console retail environment.
Open beta on May 29. Launch on June 18. The early-summer milsim FPS conversation just got a lot more crowded.
