Hell Let Loose — Update 19 | Changelog | Smolensk, SPAs & Artillery Updates

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Update 19, launching tomorrow on Wednesday 3 December.

This update brings major new additions, including our brand new Eastern Front map, Smolensk, along with significant changes to artillery. You will find a new Artillery Squad and the introduction of Self Propelled Artillery vehicles that bring an entirely new layer of strategy to the battlefield. We cannot wait for you to jump in and experience everything first-hand.

We also want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has continued to support us over the past few months. Seeing so many of you test new builds on the Experimental Branch on Steam has been incredible. Your patience and feedback after Update 18 meant a great deal to the team, and it played a major role in helping us shape this update.

As a small thank you to the community, you will find some new items in your inventory when you return to Hell Let Loose. This includes a selection of new helmets and armor cosmetics for you to try out in game (see the DLC section below for details).

Now let us take a look at what is new in Update 19.

New Map: Smolensk

Our newest map brings the fight to the Eastern Front along the Dnieper River.

Smolensk is the result of extensive research and development by our team, with the goal of creating a dense urban battlefield that feels authentic and intense. The map features a wide range of distinct areas, including industrial zones, tight urban streets, and key riverside positions. We cannot wait to see players push through these locations and fight for control of the city.

We have also put a great deal of work into building a dramatic night time scenario. Fires rage across the skyline and illuminated buildings can be seen from almost anywhere in the city, creating a striking atmosphere as battles unfold. We hope you enjoy the experience.

Map Rationale

After listening to the community, the brief was for Eastern Front and urban combat. Research into key battles led to the selection of Smolensk, resulting in one of the largest and most ambitious maps created for Hell Let Loose, featuring:

• The largest and densest urban environment in any Hell Let Loose map

• An emphasis on vertical fighting, with triple-storey enterable buildings, multiple level routes that create literal combat occurring above and below players

• A fully wade-able river spanning the entire width of the map, complete with both intact and destroyed crossings

• Multiple hero buildings, including the Tram Depot, Train Station and the Citadel with its medieval walls

• A dramatic night-time setting, where burning buildings illuminate the skyline and can be seen from across the city

The dense urban layout enables memorable gameplay moments throughout the city, from room-to-room assaults through shattered buildings to flanking armored vehicles using a maze of alleys and doorways.

Smolensk - High Resolution Tactical Map

Capture Points

Panzer Loading Station

One of the closest Capture Points to the German Forces Headquarters. The narrative behind this Capture Point was that the German Forces were using trains to transport tanks, trucks and supplies to the front line, and this area served as a loading and unloading station for that.

Tram Depot

The city of Smolensk had a tram network that weaved through the city. This Capture Point features the depots where trams were stored and repaired. Walkways positioned both above and below the trams create exciting firefights within this Capture Point. A large multi-storey building sits opposite the Tram Depot, giving both sides strong cover when pushing into this area.

Smolensk Outskirts

In the south-west of the map lie the remains of Smolensk’s outskirts. This area shows traces of rural Russia, with natural landscapes and traditional izba-style buildings. The terrain around this Capture Point offers strong attacking opportunities, whether approaching from the hills to the south or the river to the north.

Smolensk Hauptbahnhof (Railway Station)

One of the most visually striking Capture Points on the map, this area centres on the war-torn Railway Station, currently named Smolensk Hauptbahnhof under German Forces occupation. Multiple assault routes allow for varied tactics, and vehicles can move freely, even across the railway lines.

Lumberyard

Historical references show that this area of Smolensk housed a massive lumber yard. Players defending this Capture Point must navigate stacks of timber, ruined warehouses, and a dried-up creek. The lumber yard proved pivotal in the defence of Smolensk as it allowed the German Forces to use the stored wood to build bridges and defences across the city.

Dnieper West Crossing

This Capture Point marks the transition from the rural south-western outskirts into the more urban city to the north and east. Although attacking from the north may seem difficult due to the river, the entire river is fully crossable on foot and with vehicles. Crossing the water slows movement, adding an element of risk compared to using the bridges, but players are free to choose their crossing points.

Pyatnitskii Overpass

This Capture Point serves as the civilian entrance to the Train Station. Its unique layout creates exciting gameplay, with enemy players able to take positions directly underneath while attempting to capture the top of the overpass. Destroyed trams provide excellent cover, and multiple routes up and down from the overpass allow players to approach and defend from a variety of angles.

Zhelyabova Square

At the very centre of Smolensk is Zhelyabova Square, a network of tight roads with three-storey buildings on either side. The majority of these buildings have been destroyed either entirely or partially over the past years, leaving their interiors accessible. Players will need to make use of these and watch for crossfire from opposite sides of the street. The areas behind the buildings provide players with a number of alternate attacking options.

84th Battalion Bridge

With the main bridge across the Dnieper destroyed, the German Forces built a temporary bridge for transporting supplies and men across the river. Players will have to make use of the scattered cover around the river to protect themselves from incoming fire. As with all bridges in Smolensk, vehicles can cross them easily.

Zadneprovie District

This district in the North of Smolensk housed warehouses which are now in ruins. A network of trenches has been dug between the buildings, providing cover and protection when moving around the Capture Point.

Moskovskaya Street

Just east of the centre of Smolensk, the road opens up into this wide street lined by residential buildings. This Capture Point maintains intense urban combat, but crossing the open street carries additional risk. Ample cover is available, including destroyed tram cars. Vehicles can still navigate the area, though they are more exposed to infantry positioned in the surrounding buildings.

Smolensk Citadel

Another key landmark on this map, the Citadel signifies the historic town of Smolensk. Its medieval walls running parallel to the Dnieper are fully climbable. Staircases and scaffolding provide multiple access points to the top of these structures. This Capture Point also features the destroyed bridge. Players must find alternative ways to cross the river, but the underside of the bridge offers cover, creating three layers of vertical combat.

Railyard Storage

Close to the Soviet Headquarters lies an area once used for storing supplies transported by rail. Players will have to weave in and out of rail cars, making their way along the train tracks. This Capture Point also features a heavily destroyed Officers' building, offering access to multiple levels of the ruined structure.

Apartment Block

Now in one of Smolensk’s more residential areas, this Capture Point reflects how the city’s people once lived. Now heavily destroyed and littered with trenches and defences, this once communal area is now a shell of its former self. Players can use the multi-storeyed buildings to gain a vertical advantage over their opponents.

Bombarded Riverfront

In the south-east of the map lies the remnants of a residential area, heavily bombarded over years of occupation. Now in total ruins, players can use the rubbled buildings to their advantage, providing cover from across the river. This Capture Point highlights the extent of Smolensk’s destruction during the war.

Smolensk Atmosphere

The Smolensk map has received a major visual atmosphere upgrade, with a focus on delivering a high-quality visual experience while maintaining strict performance budgets, particularly on console platforms. The initial step was the optimisation of fire VFX for the night map.

Large-scale fire technology previously used in Stalingrad could not be directly applied to Smolensk due to the frequency of fires required. A more streamlined system was developed, allowing additional fires to be added to specific buildings without compromising performance.

The core fire effect has been reworked and now primarily utilises a two-card rendering technique, first used in the large-scale fire in Stalingrad, but optimised for Smolensk. This allows the fire to convey realistic movement, flicker, and heat distortion without relying on a large volume of individual, computationally expensive particles. The result is a substantial reduction in overdraw and particle count, enabling fires to appear on multiple buildings simultaneously.

This optimisation also allowed the addition of complementary particle effects, such as embers and ash, enhancing the atmosphere without affecting performance. Ambient fog volumes were updated to create a heat-glow effect across the burnt-out streets, coupled with a low-cost lighting approach to maintain efficiency. Distance-based culling further ensured that these effects did not impact performance.

Distant fire effects were also implemented, allowing players to see the city ablaze from the surrounding hills, adding to the scale and immersion of the battlefield.

In addition to the extensive work on the night map, the day map received an atmospheric pass, featuring new fog volumes to create more localised fog and haze around the bombed-out buildings.

If you are interested in seeing how the map was created, one of our incredible War Correspondents, DasAltberg, has put together a fantastic video about Smolensk. The video compares authentic locations from Smolensk in WW2 with their counterparts in the Hell Let Loose map and offers great insight into the work that went into bringing this battlefield to life.

If you want to learn more about the real historical sites found across Smolensk, DasAltberg also recommends checking out this community curated website that features a huge collection of footage and reference material gathered over many years.

New Vehicle Type: Self-Propelled Artillery (SPA)

For Update 19, a new vehicle type has been added to Hell Let Loose, that is initially being called 'Self Propelled Artillery'. They are now available across all factions.

The initial release of SPAs is the start of a series of updates that will give each unit unique characteristics and statistics based on their real historic counterparts.

As with our Armor changes in Update 18, the introduction of SPAs in Update 19 marks the beginning of an iterative process. Our goal is to establish a clear initial vision for how Self Propelled Artillery should function in Hell Let Loose, and the version you see today is shaped directly by the feedback many of you shared on the Experimental Branch. Rest assured we will continue to refine both SPAs and the wider artillery loop as we move into 2026. Please keep sharing your thoughts with us, since your feedback plays a major role in guiding these changes.

Soviet

KV-2

US

Sherman M4A3 105

German

Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär

British (Allied)

Churchill Mk III A.V.R.E.

DAK

Panzer III Ausf.N

British Eighth Army

Bishop SP 25pdr

Unlike other armor, these can only be used by the newly created Artillery Squad (more on that down below) and cost munitions instead of fuel to spawn in.

They have the duel capabilities of indirectly bombarding positions from range and assaulting enemy positions with direct fire.

Since these howitzer based guns have far more drop off compared to regular tank shells, aiming is measured by combining the barrel elevation (yellow number) and the terrain elevation (red number).

While not suited to direct engagements with enemy armor due to their long reload time, shot drop-off and slow turret speed, they have several unique weapon traits:

• Their AP rounds have very high armor penetration values and do incredibly high damage (950), capable of destroying any non heavy tank in a single shot (assuming your aim is good enough)

• Similarly, their HE rounds have a larger explosion radius than any other weapon (31m) and have light armor penetration on the explosion allowing them to do very high damage to lightly armored vehicles and damage tank treads near to the blast.

• Their main gun is also capable of destroying any player-built constructions (with the exception of garrisons due to balance concerns)

These are the initial release values for these vehicle types. Once they are released and more feedback has been gathered on their balance and performance, that information will be used to give each unit more individual traits that mirror their real life equivalents as well as potential adjustments to their firing arcs.

From playtesting, it was determined that having too many vehicles capable of destroying fortifications risked making gameplay unfun for engineers. As such, the ability to destroy middle tier fortifications (hedgehogs, level 2 constructs, barbed wire etc.) has been removed from the heavy tank.

Not all units that have been created for this role were historically used in the exact same function as represented in game, for example, the Churchill A.V.R.E had a real life effective firing range of around 100m. In real life, many SPA vehicles were open topped and had the crew exposed. It was decided to not include these particular vehicles for several technical and design reasons, including:

• There were concerns that an open top vehicle would be too easy for enemy recon squads to kill, leading to issues similar to the original recon-artillery loop

• With static artillery already being present as well, the goal was to introduce vehicles that brought something new to the game, that could be used alongside the old artillery

Because of this it was decided to go with several howitzer-based units that could feasibly be used in this role albeit at a lesser range than regular artillery, while also be used in direct confrontations and assaulting enemy fortifications.

While some details about each SPA unit are different (movement, armor, turret radius, ect.), many of their core elements like damage and firing range are currently the same. Due to adding six vehicles of a new type into the game simultaneously, they have been kept mechanically similar for balance reasons.

Rest assured, that post Updat