Developed in Unreal Engine 5, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam presents the dense, varied jungles, villages, and rice fields of the Vietnamese War with remarkable detail. The senior art director, Ryan Playle-Howard, explains the challenges in achieving the required fidelity and complexity to create a convincing jungle environment.

The biggest hurdle was populating the vast maps with enough variety and density. The team had to balance procedural content generation with art and design-led creation, developing tools that could quickly produce a realistic yet performant environment. This required a significant amount of development and iteration to ensure the jungle remained convincing across large expanses of play.

To avoid relying on familiar war-movie imagery, the team deep-dug into historical documentation, war diaries, and first-person accounts. They also used topographical data from Google Maps and Google Earth to match real-world locations, adapting them where necessary. However, they were careful not to let pop-culture references overshadow authenticity.

Creating a good environment in Hell Let Loose is about more than just visuals; it's about supporting gameplay. The environment needs to offer a range of scale and variety, with large open areas for vehicles and long-range combat, contrasted with tighter spaces for close-quarters infantry gameplay. Clear zoning, thematic differentiation, and recognisable landmarks help guide the player through the map.

The development process highlights the ongoing evolution of game design and technology. As Expression Games continues to expand into new biomes and locations, the tools and techniques they've developed will play a crucial role in maintaining the authenticity and fidelity of their environments.