Hey everyone,
Welcome to Developer Briefing 33! This week we’re going to be sharing some of the new content that’s coming in tomorrow’s update.
This Developer Briefing isn’t fully comprehensive of what’s coming in Update 1, we’ll be revealing everything in our patch notes tomorrow.
Now onto the content!
Major Additions in Update 1!
Utah Beach Map
As spotlighted in Developer Briefing 31, Utah Beach, our next map, is arriving in Update 1.
From the infamous beach itself to the waterlogged countryside, playing on Utah will be unlike anything you’ve experienced on our existing maps.
Be warned: Water now functions in-game to slow players down as it gets deeper. Fully submerging yourself will also cause you to drown.
From a design perspective, we’re keen that water in Hell Let Loose has a similar function that we’ve read in veteran accounts. Fundamentally, it should slow you down as a natural barrier - causing overladen soldiers to drown should they fall into deep water. Similarly, it’s makes significant noise to wade through - creating a new dynamic that makes it much easier to pinpoint enemy movement and location from audio alone.
From the shoreline...
To the dunes.
Utah Beach will be playable in our existing Warfare mode, as well as Invasion mode when it launches later this year.
Whilst the beach and the fortifications that surround it will be heavily utilised in Warfare mode gameplay, you can expect a dedicated beach assault style experience for the map in Invasion further on in Early Access.
Light Tanks – Luchs and Stuart!
Utah Beach also heralds the arrival of two new vehicles, the Luchs and Stuart Light Tanks!
Available on every map, these will supplement the existing tank offering on each side.
Whilst lacking the raw firepower and armour of their bigger brothers, Light Tanks excel at mobility and utility on the frontline. Infantry harassment, scouting and supporting their Medium Tank counterparts in armour battles is the mainstay of these tanks – they’re also much easier to hide!
The Luchs
Auto-cannon time!
The Stuart
Ready to punch above its weight!
Meta Expansion – Resource Nodes
As covered in our recent Developer Briefing 32, Resource Nodes are further building on the strategic layers of Hell Let Loose.
Players (Engineers) will now be in a position to dynamically create resource nodes - structures that generate a supply line of resources per minute in order to fuel frontline combat. In addition, these act as objectives and points of interest that you’ll either want to defend or attack, depending on who’s side the nodes are on. Bear in mind that the further towards the frontline you place your nodes, the more resources they generate per minute.
Not only does this give players more areas to potentially clash in a match, but successfully utilising nodes will pay dividends to both your Commander’s ability to call in their skills and ensuring your artillery can continue firing through the whole match.
This is the first iteration of Resource Nodes. We’ll be expanding their on-the-ground functionality so that they’ll be immediately useful to ground troops.
For a full breakdown on Resource Nodes, head over here.
Existing Map Additions
Just because we’re bringing in a new map, it doesn’t mean we’re not going to keep giving our existing ones some love and attention!
Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont is getting some quality of life tweaks and hedge layout changes to give tank players a more fluid experience.
Foy is receiving tank collision fixes, as well as the addition of some select cover and trenches in areas that we feel needed some attention.
Then there’s Hurtgen Forest, which is getting a facelift for Update 1!
Perfect for MGs!
Hurtgen’s central Strongpoints are getting overhauled to introduced stronger fortifications and cover options for both attackers and defenders.
The Scar just got even more brutal!
Bunker anyone?
Into the beach!
Tomorrow when Update 1 goes live we’ll be sharing our full Patch Notes which includes bug fixes, optimisation and SFX improvements, quality of life changes (FOV SLIDER!) and more.
We’re incredibly excited to welcome you to Utah Beach tomorrow. To celebrate we’ll be streaming Hell Let Loose live on our Steam Store page from 2pm BST / 3pm CEST for a couple of hours. Feel free to stop by and let us know what you think of the update, as well as dropping us any questions you may have in chat!
See you on the frontline!