If you're looking for something to do this weekend and would prefer it comes in the form of shooting guys, then allow me to direct your attention to Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, which is holding an open beta that's set to run until Monday.

Announced in 2025, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is a more-modern follow-up to the WW2 milsim Hell Let Loose. It features the 50v50 battles of the original, expanded with the addition of air power—helicopters, naturally—across six large-scale maps. Battlefield Vietnam may be the obvious point of comparison, but as PC Gamer gunner Morgan Park pointed out, Hell Let Loose is more of a hardcore milsim. The Steam page reflects that as well, emphasizing the need for teamwork and tactics, and the game's focus on historical accuracy.

To get in on that action, just pop around to the Hell Let Loose: Vietnam on Steam and punch the "join the playtest" button. The playtest is fully cross-platform, so you can jump in on consoles if you like—instructions for that are also available on Steam, but the short version is to look for the playtest on either the Xbox or PlayStation Store, and then install it. Console-exclusive servers are also being offered, for those who don't want to get hammered by the mouse-and-keyboard set, but you'll need to have either a PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass Essential subscription to play.

There are a number of known issues with the current build of the game, including dodgy voice chat, occasional performance drops, and "infrequent crashes or stability issues" on some AMD GPUs. Players are encouraged to provide feedback via the playtest survey, and reminded that any progression, XP, and unlocks earned during the test will not carry over to the full release. That's set to happen on August 13.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.