Hell Let Loose: Vietnam launches with full crossplay between Steam (PC), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Unlike the original Hell Let Loose, server owners can configure which platforms can access their servers, which means every community has a real choice ahead of day one: keep the pool fully cross-platform, lock to PC only, or run a console-only house. This guide is based on the July 2026 crossplay playtest announcement, the July 31 Team17 developer Q&A, and the August crossplay review published at launch. We label anything that has not been tested or publicly documented for the live release as 待确认.

Confirmed Crossplay Scope

Team17 and Expression Games confirmed the crossplay scope in two official posts: the July playtest announcement and a developer Q&A published on July 31. The clearest statement, in the Q&A, says: "Server owners will be able to configure which platforms can access their servers, including full crossplay, PC-only or console-only options." There is no roadmap asterisk — that option ships with the game on August 13.

The July 24–27 crossplay playtest already exercised the three modes: a default full-crossplay pool plus console-only and PC-only variants marked with letters at the end of the server name.

Around the core scope sit a few more confirmed pieces:

  • Players can form parties across platforms.
  • Players can filter the server browser based on whether they want cross-platform matches.
  • Servers will be clearly tagged in-game as cross-platform play, PC only, or console only.

The reasoning Team17 gave for offering restrictions in the first place is input parity — the difference between mouse-and-keyboard and controller.

How to Join a Playtest or Play Across Platforms

If you are joining a future playtest (the open beta, crossplay playtest, or similar), the verified flow depends on your platform:

  • Steam (PC): Head to the Hell Let Loose: Vietnam store page. When the playtest goes live, a request-access button appears on the store page; request access, download the playtest app, and jump in.
  • PS5 / Xbox Series X|S: Search for Hell Let Loose: Vietnam Playtest on the PlayStation Store or Xbox Store when the playtest is live, download the app, and join. PS+ or Xbox Game Pass Essential may be required depending on the test.

For the live release, crossplay ships from August 13, 2026 onward, and cross-platform play uses Epic Games Services for social features.

Adding Cross-Platform Friends via Epic Games Services

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam relies on Epic Games Store platform services for its core social features. To add friends and play across platforms, every player needs to either create or log into an Epic Games account.

  1. Launch Hell Let Loose: Vietnam.
  2. If the game shows an automatic prompt for Epic Games Services, accept it and log in to your Epic account. If you do not see the prompt, click the helmet icon in the top right corner of the screen to open Epic Services login.
  3. After you log in, the game automatically links your Epic account to your current platform account (Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox).
  4. Open the helmet icon again and click a free squad slot with a + marker. Friends already on your platform account are visible here automatically.
  5. To add a brand-new friend for the first time, switch to the Add Friend screen and search by their Epic Games profile ID (recommended) or their platform profile ID.

Note that you can only squad up with friends who are currently on the main menu of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam. Once grouped, the party leader queues for a server and the whole party enters as a unit, and you can lock your unit in the queue settings to prevent random players from joining.

Enabling or Disabling Crossplay in the Server Browser

Click Enlist in the main menu, then open the Server Type filter on the right side of the screen. The verified options are:

  • Console + PC – available on every platform, meaning full crossplay.
  • Console Only – console platforms only; shown on consoles.
  • PC Only – PC players only.

The current default and whether the client offers a single toggle named Crossplay outside the server-type filter is 待确认. The clearest in-game mechanism published before and after launch is the server-type filter described above.

The majority of official servers currently run with crossplay enabled, so if you specifically want console-only or PC-only matches, you will usually join community servers. There is no difference in XP gained between community or official servers, although community servers may have custom rules (for example, a required language or realism modifiers).

Server Owner Options: Full, PC-Only, Console-Only

Because the full player pool matters so much for a 100-player server, every community planning a Vietnam server should make this call before day one:

  • Full crossplay – puts your server in front of every Vietnam player on every platform. Best for social Discords, mixed skill levels, and friends across platforms. The downside is mouse-and-keyboard plus controller in the same fights, and the input-parity arguments that follow.
  • PC-only – keeps the input playing field level; preserves the PC-first HLL community-server culture that grew up between the 2019 early access and the original console ports. The cost is that every console player simply never appears in your recruitment pool.
  • Console-only – controller-only lobbies for clans and players who prefer those fights. On the original game, console players could not join a community server at all, so a console-only Vietnam server is a genuinely new option, not a smaller PC counterpart. The console share of the player base is 待确认 — no publisher number has been published yet.

Team17 explicitly confirmed that servers are "clearly tagged as cross-platform play, PC only, or console only" in-game, so players see the choice before joining. The recommendation from server hosting providers: decide early, announce the posture, and treat it as part of your server identity, because flipping the platform access after launch effectively evicts the displaced half of your existing regulars.

Two more items that are still 待确认 before day one:

  • What the default platform posture is for a freshly created server.
  • Whether platform access can be changed on a running server or only during creation / maintenance windows.

Crossplay Is Not Cross-Progression

Crossplay describes playing together across platforms. Cross-progression describes carrying account progress, loadouts, role unlocks, warehouse items, cosmetics, or achievements from one ecosystem to another. The two are separate features, and confirmed crossplay does not confirm cross-progression. The official cross-progression status for Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is 待确认.

Xbox Play Anywhere badges describe the supported Xbox ecosystem relationship shown on the Xbox store page. They do not, by themselves, prove shared progress between Xbox, Steam, and PlayStation. Check the official account-linking pages and the in-game Battalions panels (when they ship after launch) before assuming progress travels with you.

Default Settings That Are Still 待确认

The following are reasonable community questions, but we are not marking them as confirmed because no final in-panel screenshot or Team17 statement has been verified for the live client:

  • Whether a single Crossplay toggle exists outside the server-type filter.
  • Whether input-based matchmaking is a live option.
  • Whether the default setting for community servers at creation is full crossplay.

We will update this guide once the live server admin panel and live menus are documented.

Verification Note

Updated August 19, 2026. Cross-platform matchmaking across Steam PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S is confirmed for the August 13 launch of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam. Server owners can restrict access to full crossplay, PC-only, or console-only servers, and players can filter the server browser accordingly. Party formation across platforms works through Epic Games Services as described by the August social-hub guide. Cross-save, a global Crossplay toggle, the default platform posture for new servers, and input-based matchmaking remain 待确认. Re-check this page after every major patch because platform settings are exactly the kind of detail that shifts in a single server browser refresh.