Hell Let Loose: Vietnam launched on Thursday after the open beta wrapped at the start of the month. I've been getting a steady stream of "can I rent a Vietnam server with you yet" tickets since Wednesday afternoon, so it's time to put the answer in one place.
The short version
- Community server hosting is still gated through Team17's partner program, same model as the original. We are an approved partner on the original and we've applied for Vietnam too.
- If you want to run a Vietnam server today, your only options are partner hosts or whatever in-game lobby/listen-server functionality the game ships with.
- We're not taking Vietnam server orders yet because we want to launch with a tested setup, not a "it might break" one.
If hosting status changed at launch and the studio opened self-host or expanded the partner list, ignore the above – I'll have rewritten this section above the fold.
How hosting works in Vietnam (vs the original)
The original Hell Let Loose has been a partner-program game since it left early access. Only a small list of approved hosts can rent out dedicated servers, and players can browse those servers in the in-game browser. There's no open self-host SteamCMD path. Modding is effectively closed.
From everything Team17 and Expression Games have said publicly, Vietnam follows the same model at launch. The good news: that means the community-server experience should feel familiar if you've ever rented an HLL server before. The less good news: we can't say "go grab the server tool off SteamCMD and run it yourself" because that tool doesn't exist as a public download.
What we're doing about it
A few things, in order of how soon you'll feel them:
- Our partner application for Vietnam is in. I won't promise a date because that's Team17's call, not ours, but we've been a Hell Let Loose partner since 2019 and the conversation is ongoing.
- Existing Hell Let Loose customers get first dibs. When Vietnam server slots open, anyone with an active original-HLL server with us gets a heads-up email before the public page goes live.
- Our pricing page for Vietnam is staying behind a "coming soon" badge until we can quote real specs. I'd rather show you nothing than show you guesses.
If you want to be on the early-access list, the best thing to do is grab a vanilla Hell Let Loose server for the original game now, or drop us a ticket asking to be added to the Vietnam waiting list.
What about RCON, admin tools, modding?
The original HLL has a documented RCON spec and a working set of admin commands – kick, ban, broadcast, switch teams, force-end match, all the bread-and-butter stuff. Expression Games have hinted at "expanded admin tooling" for Vietnam but haven't shipped specifics.
Modding is, by all current indications, not on the table. UE5 with EAC at kernel level is a tough combination to mod against, and the partner-only server model makes server-side mods a non-starter anyway.
If you came in hoping to run a heavily modded Vietnam realism server, that's not on the menu in 2026.
The honest "should you wait?" advice
A few takes you can do whatever you like with:
If you've never played the original and Vietnam looks like your kind of game, just buy it and play on community servers while we (and the rest of the partner network) sort out rentals. You're not going to be short of servers to join.
If you ran a regular Tuesday-night squad on the original and you want that group on Vietnam, stay tuned for the partner announcements over the next few weeks. The original's partner list grew over time; Vietnam's will too.
If you want full self-host, mod-everything, do-what-you-want hosting, Hell Let Loose isn't (and won't be) that game. That's a different category – something like a UE5 milsim with open server tooling, which is a smaller market.
What's next from us
I'll be updating this post as the server situation clarifies. The big things I'm watching:
- The Vietnam partner-host list going public.
- Any change in Team17's stance on self-host.
- The first round of post-launch patches and what they reveal about server-config files.
If you've got a specific question – "can I run a 32v32 instead of 50v50", "is there an admin password I need to set", "does it speak the same RCON dialect as the original" – send it in. The questions you ask shape what I write next, and Vietnam is going to take a few posts to cover properly.
In the meantime: see you in the jungle.