Hearts of Iron IV

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 968 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 688 out of 968
  2. Mixed: 149 out of 968
  3. Negative: 131 out of 968

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  1. dave12
    Jun 7, 2016
    4
    Everything that made HOI3 the truly great game it is was abandoned in HOI4. Why?? It looks better, sure, but that's about it. For HOI-veterans it's just too simplified, for the average newcomer it's still too demanding and unstructured. The simple truth is: You can't turn a game like HoI into a game that suits the needs of the average casual player. HOI 3 was demanding, true, but it wasEverything that made HOI3 the truly great game it is was abandoned in HOI4. Why?? It looks better, sure, but that's about it. For HOI-veterans it's just too simplified, for the average newcomer it's still too demanding and unstructured. The simple truth is: You can't turn a game like HoI into a game that suits the needs of the average casual player. HOI 3 was demanding, true, but it was rewarding as well, once you found your way through the complexity. HOI4 however offers no such degree of complexity. Building your army, for instance, is nothing but assigning divisions to a commander. That's it. You command them by drawing lines on a map, a so called battle plan. Once you activate your plan, you have to wait till it's completed (or failed). Before that you cant do anything to react to changing situations. The game plays as boring as this review reads.

    Air combat, which was ok in HOI3, is now degraded to assigning randomly put together squadrons (size doesn't matter) to a region (like for instance "Northern France", thats how big these regions are!) and wait for your enemies to be shot down. Nice idea, actually, but you don't get any feedback at all without clicking through three screens. And you can't demand air support for a specific part of the front where battle is at a critical point. Your bombers just fly over said region and bombard all enemy units in combat at the same rate.

    IN HOI4 you just don't get the level of immersion and presence which HOI3 offered. Everything feels detached and not really important. Your armies march according to pre-drawn lines, while your commanders make nonsensical decisions which you cannot undo before it's too late. Tech trees are apallingly linear and boring. The only good bit is the "national achievement" thing where you can unlock some bonuses for your country. But even they become boring after having it played twice.

    HOI4 should have been a milestone. Unfortunately, it's just a very expensive version of a free-to-play browser game.    … Expand
  2. Anerkas
    Jun 15, 2016
    0
    I really don't understand how people can rate this game positively, first of all i want to say this is the first Heart of Iron i have played but not the only paradox strategy title, i spent over 150 hours on crusader kings 2 and the reason i liked it so much is because it always felt fresh, every playthrough seemed different from the others even with the same character there was alwaysI really don't understand how people can rate this game positively, first of all i want to say this is the first Heart of Iron i have played but not the only paradox strategy title, i spent over 150 hours on crusader kings 2 and the reason i liked it so much is because it always felt fresh, every playthrough seemed different from the others even with the same character there was always something interesting that would happend.

    This unfortunately is the total opposite, every game feels the same even with different nation, there is nothing to do while in peace, with democratic or communist ideology you just sit there and wait for fascist to declare wars, with the latter you just invade a couple of small countries and it's World War time.

    The game lacks a lot of important informations about how to play, the tutorial doens't explain half of what you need to know and the first ours (assuming you aren't a veteran of the series) will be spent looking online how to do this? and how does that work? Yet when you understand these things the game become simple... far too much.

    -Diplomacy is ridicolously lacking.
    -Trade is just a couple of checkbox to tick and that's it, don't even know why they bother adding it.
    -Production is just: spam factories, spam weapons and spam troops.
    -Technology tree is underdeveloped, there aren't very many choices and most of them are useless anyway.
    -National focus same as technology tree.

    But this game is about combat right? Well you'll wonder how it is implemented? The answer is poorly, you have very little control over your forces as a whole, you send navy and airforce to patrol areas which are far too big, ex. France is divided in just 2 zones for planes and between Spain and USA there are 3 sea zones, you send your planes/ships on mission and thats it never worry about them again, they even come back to autorepair themselves.

    For ground combat there isn't much to say, except that the AI is outright broken and cannot perform it correctly (i hope this isn't working as intended) expecially against the player, playing as Italy i had my troops in Jugoslavia and conquered Bulgaria which independence was guaranteed by the allies so France and UK declares war on me, i had literally no one on the western fronts (alps) while France had a whole army they could have taken the entire northern Italy just by walking over there before i could have the chance to stop them and strike back yet they didn't lift a finger, while UK just kept sending small stack forces (1-2 divisions) with naval invasions to suicide without a chance of success.

    The AI is very easily exploited by players, you can always encircle enemies from the flanks and create pockets who quickly runs out of supplies and you then can attack easily thus decimating hostile armies, or you can send a motorized/light tanks division behind enemy lines and rush their capital or make a snake through their victory points with it making the enemy nation capitulate instantly, or even stage a coup which erupt in civil war in any country far too easily, even turn USA communist of Soviet Union fascist in a year of game time, even if you can conquer the world with a few divisions you need a giant army of MP to garrison the area you conquer and ensure them from resistance, it took me
    more MPS to secure France than soldiers to conquer it.

    As far as tactics go all it's very disappointing, you don't really need to modify the standard divisions maybe just add some artillery and you're good the rest you can make without it, to create an army just merge your divisions assign them a commander and you're done, assign them a front and give them an offensive plan, it may sound interesting but it really only means point an arrow in the direction you want them to go then click execute battle plan and that's it, now sit back and enjoy making the game run on speed five watching floating numbers painting the map of your color.

    Once you've done it with all major nations you might just aswell uninstall the game because as i said it is very repetitive, every country feel the same and it gets boring real fast, unless you might want to wait for the multitude of DLCs that will no doubt come, i won't for sure buy them.

    Overall this title feels like a browser based free to play game, except it costs 40€ and it's not worth the price it asks, it isn't the WWII strategy game that i was looking forward to, for now i'll stick to Company of Heroes 2 for the WWII part and maybe to civilization for the diplomacy/trade part.

    On a final note the game is incapable of providing a good challenge and unable to mantaining itself interesting for more than a few hours, it ages very fast, not suited for hardcore nor casual players, if it wasn't still clear it's to absolutely avoid, at least at the price it is proposed.    … Expand
  3. Tytos
    Jun 7, 2016
    2
    The good:

    - Better graphics then other paradox games, The bad: - Performance (it's unplayable past 1943-44 thanks to the engine only using 1 CPU core) - No partisan activity, no revolts - Diplomacy dumbed down for 4 year olds - Peace-conferences after the war are plain broken (pick Luxemburg, dont do anything in the war, get half of Germany after it in the peace conference) -    The good:

    - Better graphics then other paradox games,

    The bad:

    - Performance (it's unplayable past 1943-44 thanks to the engine only using 1 CPU core)
    - No partisan activity, no revolts
    - Diplomacy dumbed down for 4 year olds
    - Peace-conferences after the war are plain broken (pick Luxemburg, dont do anything in the war, get half of Germany after it in the peace conference)
    - Soundtrack is very mediocre
    - AI can't handle the scope of the game, braindead retarded AI
    - Interface overcomplicated with too many important buttons hidden
    - trade??? wtf is this?
    - Price, this is not worth 40€, wait for a 90% sale and 2 years of patchfixing the game before getting it    … Expand
  4. MightyPleb
    Jun 12, 2016
    4
    At the current moment it is not a good game. I don't know what all the development time went in to. Here are the pros and cons

    PROS- -Good graphics -Easy to use UI -Excellent naval battles -National focus trees -Excellent 2D and 3D art NEUTRAL- -Less micromanagement -No order of battle -Equal nations (Bhutan gets nukes when Germany does) CONS- -Air Zones are WAY too    At the current moment it is not a good game. I don't know what all the development time went in to. Here are the pros and cons

    PROS-
    -Good graphics
    -Easy to use UI
    -Excellent naval battles
    -National focus trees
    -Excellent 2D and 3D art

    NEUTRAL-
    -Less micromanagement
    -No order of battle
    -Equal nations (Bhutan gets nukes when Germany does)

    CONS-
    -Air Zones are WAY too large
    -Lack of division types
    -Watered down tech tree
    -Fascist is the only good ideology
    -Lack of achievements even though there was an amazing achievement idea forum thread
    -No Ship 2D Art
    -No jet 2D or 3D art
    -Nothing to do once war ends
    -Terrible Trade system
    -No fuel system for tanks or ships
    -Absolutely braindead AI
    -You can win a war by making tentacles to victory points
    -Focus trees run out way too fast
    -Peace system is broken

    Overall the game is a let down. It is not a terrible do-not-buy game but it definitely does not live up to the hype. It is way too casual. In 2 years it will be good but only due to DLC. Try playing EU4 without DLC, it's the paradox formula to flood us with DLC. So it will be good if you're willing to shell out $200. But no game should make you do that.
    -    … Expand
  5. Fudgeyman
    Jun 7, 2016
    2
    After playing this game for a solid 20 hours I began to feel an urge to play Hearts of Iron 3 again. So I did and it was so much more fun, so much more interesting, so much more playable. That's all i can really say. To me It just wasn't up to the standard and quality of the previous titles making it pretty crappy.
  6. Teleman
    Jun 7, 2016
    4
    AI is written by a 10 yr old who has just learned how to write "if" in visual basic. You have fronts where the opponent either completely abandons or puts everything it has got. Units move on their own after they execute your commands which results in either no bonuses for attack or defense OR bonuses but very annoying control behaviour. Focus system and diplomacy are a joke. Research isAI is written by a 10 yr old who has just learned how to write "if" in visual basic. You have fronts where the opponent either completely abandons or puts everything it has got. Units move on their own after they execute your commands which results in either no bonuses for attack or defense OR bonuses but very annoying control behaviour. Focus system and diplomacy are a joke. Research is dumbed down for idiots. Gameplay is virtually non existent. I need to be paid to "play" this game just like that guy on the paradox stream...

    P.S. I am a HOI2 fan.    … Expand
  7. Sturmk
    Jun 7, 2016
    10
    This is my fisrt Paradox game. I tried to play their previous ones such as Darkest Hour and HOI III, but they were really hard to get into (i'm mostly a RTS player) and i gave up really fast because i simply had no fun playing them.
    While Still overwhelming at times, this game is far more easier than their previous games, thanks to a really good interface and less microing.
    Veterans    This is my fisrt Paradox game. I tried to play their previous ones such as Darkest Hour and HOI III, but they were really hard to get into (i'm mostly a RTS player) and i gave up really fast because i simply had no fun playing them.
    While Still overwhelming at times, this game is far more easier than their previous games, thanks to a really good interface and less microing.
    Veterans should not be afraid, since it's possible to micro if they want to.
    I would say this game combines the depth of the previous Paradox games, but with a welcome Interface and mechanics overhaul.
    If i should summarize, i would say it's easy to learn, hard to master.
    Everyone should try it, and they will like it !    … Expand
  8. Maugly
    Jun 7, 2016
    4
    The new Hearts of Iron 4 is awful. Hearts of Iron: The Casual, I call it.

    The army organization structure was simplified, compared to HoI3 and HoI2. Now you can just take few random division, assign commander to it, and call it an 'Army'. It does not matter what's the distance between those divisions, even if one of them is in Siberia, and the other is fighting in southern Spain. You    The new Hearts of Iron 4 is awful. Hearts of Iron: The Casual, I call it.

    The army organization structure was simplified, compared to HoI3 and HoI2. Now you can just take few random division, assign commander to it, and call it an 'Army'. It does not matter what's the distance between those divisions, even if one of them is in Siberia, and the other is fighting in southern Spain.
    You can now draw the fronts and battle plans. A good idea poorly implemented. AI will move army division around the front so much, they will never be 'ready' for an offensive action. I guess the remedy is to use separate armies for a defence and offence, but what's the point then? Eventually, you'll end up doing good old microcontrol.
    I am not sure if it's a battle system, or just AI is so bad, but every, and I mean - every - nationalists failure in Spanish Civil war ended up with their division being pocketed - by an infantry - and destroyed.
    The combat is unnaturally long, a light tank division fought with infantry on plains for 40 days. It won, eventually.

    The political map was changed. Instead of painting maps with certain color, only borders are now colored. This looks cute, but it is absolutely useless, especially with large countries such as USSR.
    Division markers are very tiny, you can not really see what units are standing there.

    The research was dumbed down just as military structure was. Now you just research 'the next infantry division', 'the next fighter', 'the next tank', etc. The research time is always the same, there are no research teams like in HoI2, or country proficiency like in HoI3. It can be halved by national focus, though.

    National focus is pretty much old-fascioned national decisions - it takes some time and 'political points' to get some research time reduced, or add factories, or ... get political points. Many of these focuses are just that - get political points. Other than attaining focuses, political points are used to change ministers or national policies. And initially, no ministers are hired.
    Only basic events are implemented, like in HoI3, I guess. For example, when Spanish Civil War breaks out, there is no event for USSR to help Republicans. You can, of cause, send volunteers and materiel to the country manually; but you won't get any rewards if Republicans win, like you did in HoI2.

    Production was improved, though. The annoying system of HoI2 and HoI3 where you distributed your production points between different needs were abandoned. Now you directly assign your factories to build military equipment, ships, or more factories.
    Apparently, you armies does not require upkeep/supplies anymore, or they are just masterfully hidden from player's sight. A big loss, I'd say. Supplies was a big deal in HoI2, and a huge headache in HoI3.

    All in all, the game looks super casual. If you're looking for some in-depth strategy game, you should probably sit this out. If you're looking for a casual strategy game, you should probably look up something on facebook, I guess there are 3 or 4 lying around.    … Expand
  9. brodude
    Jun 6, 2016
    0
    Looking for a new Hearts of Iron game? Stick to Darkest Hour because I have no clue what this game is trying to be other than EU4 with a WW2 theme.

    They took a wargaming franchise and turned it into something really confusing. Without things like counters or a well organized battle interface, the game strongly discourages you from playing without its built in strategic planning system.    Looking for a new Hearts of Iron game? Stick to Darkest Hour because I have no clue what this game is trying to be other than EU4 with a WW2 theme.

    They took a wargaming franchise and turned it into something really confusing. Without things like counters or a well organized battle interface, the game strongly discourages you from playing without its built in strategic planning system. There's no loner any level of organization other than a vague "army", which is incredibly unwieldy to play with unless you like the AI to play the entire game for you.

    The key difference between EU4 and HOI4 is that EU4 successfully modernized and streamlined gameplay without losing the essence of what Europa Universalis was. HOI4 is literally just EU4 without any consideration of the kind of game Hearts of Iron is.    … Expand
  10. Triggrd
    Jun 6, 2016
    0
    The literally removed all the things that made it a great simulation of a hard time for humanity.
    Why paradox? You used to be the one that put its players before some ideologically poisoned Zeitgeist and now this?!
    It's ironic that you removed parts of an era-simulation that was drowning in blood due to ideological wars out of another destructive ideology that is literally castrating    The literally removed all the things that made it a great simulation of a hard time for humanity.
    Why paradox? You used to be the one that put its players before some ideologically poisoned Zeitgeist and now this?!

    It's ironic that you removed parts of an era-simulation that was drowning in blood due to ideological wars out of another destructive ideology that is literally castrating all aspects of art these days.

    What a disgrace    … Expand
  11. direweasel
    Jan 25, 2018
    9
    This is a great game and it will get better. Yes, the AI needs a lot of work. Yes, the naval combat system needs a lot of work. But the work is being done, and the base game is worth the effort.

    You can literally play as ANY nation that existed during that time period, and a few nations that did NOT exist (yet, or at all). Want to run through WW2 as Ecuador? Not sure why you'd want    This is a great game and it will get better. Yes, the AI needs a lot of work. Yes, the naval combat system needs a lot of work. But the work is being done, and the base game is worth the effort.

    You can literally play as ANY nation that existed during that time period, and a few nations that did NOT exist (yet, or at all). Want to run through WW2 as Ecuador? Not sure why you'd want to do that, but you can. You can play as the UK, grant Egypt it's independence, and then take over play as Egypt. Obviously the more common options would be the major players in the war - the Germans, Italians, Soviets, Japanese, British, French, or Americans, but don't feel limited to just those. Play as Finland and see if you can stand up to the Red Army!

    Again, I understand the game is not a finished product. That's why the current rating is a 9. It has the potential to be a 10 with some more work, and that work is coming. Paradox doesn't just "fire and forget" it's games - they continue working and improving and tweaking. They listen to the constructive criticism on their forums and keep at it.    … Expand
  12. vzugjhhj
    Sep 15, 2021
    0
    you're buying only 10% of the content with the base game as paradox is a greedy **** company.
    even now in 2021 ive encountered so many bugs that destroycomplete playthroughs;ie my frontline suddenly deciding to abandon half of it; units being trapped on enemy ground etc. if you want many hours of precious time this is the game for you
  13. kastch
    May 27, 2020
    0
    I've played both HOI3 and HOI4 and this game is a total failure even after all these years and DLCs - it's still feels like an oversimplified game. With all the new mechanics it's still unplayable, has poor army structure, poor army control, poor diplomacy, poor unit construction mechanics. Even with one of the most awaited features - alternative history, after all these years it still hasI've played both HOI3 and HOI4 and this game is a total failure even after all these years and DLCs - it's still feels like an oversimplified game. With all the new mechanics it's still unplayable, has poor army structure, poor army control, poor diplomacy, poor unit construction mechanics. Even with one of the most awaited features - alternative history, after all these years it still has stupid issues with leaders when changing ideologies for countries on puppeting (Hey Paradox, guys you're thinking everyone does not give a sh**t to history at all?).
    I don't even mention ships, and air mechanics that are using HUGE territories in it (anyway, Paradox, why not to give a single continent a single region for air? It would've been even more simplified, or as Critics tend to say Streamlined)
    Balance for units remains broken - rockets, air units (it is fixed for naval units after man the guns).
    Supplies mechanics is the only ray of light in this swamp of darkness...
    So to summarize things - it is Not a good strategy game in any way and I would Not recommend to buy it. Even after all these years in developments and fixes.    … Expand
  14. NAYKEN
    Jun 28, 2021
    3
    The most disgraceful strategy game ever, don't spend your money on a game without geological, tactical intervention and gameplay mechanics, especially if you are a user who loves strategy games.
  15. tastybaldeagle
    Feb 5, 2018
    10
    Definitely not as great as other Paradox games, but it doesn't require any DLC to play the game reasonably, soooo...still 10/10
  16. petertel123
    Jun 23, 2018
    4
    This game has a lot of potential, but at the moment it's a bit of a mess.
    The most fun part is the period leading up to the war. This is the time in which you can decide the side you will fight on and you have time to find allies and build up your country. once the war starts the game just becomes a mess though. Countries join weird alliances, countries declare war when they're already    This game has a lot of potential, but at the moment it's a bit of a mess.
    The most fun part is the period leading up to the war. This is the time in which you can decide the side you will fight on and you have time to find allies and build up your country. once the war starts the game just becomes a mess though. Countries join weird alliances, countries declare war when they're already losing etc. If you actually manage to ignore this and get to the peace conference you're in for a treat, because you've never seen a map that looks more ridiculous. Add to this some dumb shenanigans related to the focus tree (for example; America declaring war on communist Germany to "destroy the fascist threat") and what you get is a bad experience every single time.
    The game has so much potential that you keep coming back after every patch, hoping it's good now, but it continues to be a mess to this day. I've never played a game of HoI 4 that I actually enjoyed in hindsight.
    The great tragedy is that paradox will inevitable create so much DLC that by the time this game is any good it will cost more than a 100 dollars to get a full experience, by which time it's too expensive to recommend.    … Expand
  17. DrMisiaq
    Apr 26, 2021
    10
    Terrible performance after 1943, game is almost unplayable past that date, not to mention 1945+. Game should be labelled as a drug due to addictive value. Hunting hundreds of achievements while fighting against hundreds of anti-human mechanics the game throws at a player to make him SUFFER? Spending almost 800 hours of my life during the last few years on a map-painting simulator? Was itTerrible performance after 1943, game is almost unplayable past that date, not to mention 1945+. Game should be labelled as a drug due to addictive value. Hunting hundreds of achievements while fighting against hundreds of anti-human mechanics the game throws at a player to make him SUFFER? Spending almost 800 hours of my life during the last few years on a map-painting simulator? Was it worth it? 10/10 F**k yea.… Expand
  18. I_love_ps4
    Apr 9, 2020
    4
    my god...... paradox what are you doing. the worst, easy and boring game of this studio. In eu 4 you can play 5 years (real time) because all countries are interesting. Here only 2 - 5 party...
  19. Artok1488
    Jul 18, 2020
    0
    Игра классная , но если купили игру нужны длс 100% (можно спиратить проблем нету).
    Так же если игра вам наскучили есть кучу модов, хотите играйте в мире майлител пони, можете воевать в нашем времени или сделать весь мир Люксенбургом)
    Так же комьюнити игры очень не плохое и доброе. Вообщем советую всем.    Игра классная , но если купили игру нужны длс 100% (можно спиратить проблем нету).
    Так же если игра вам наскучили есть кучу модов, хотите играйте в мире майлител пони, можете воевать в нашем времени или сделать весь мир Люксенбургом)
    Так же комьюнити игры очень не плохое и доброе.
    Вообщем советую всем.
  20. Hitler_Nevinova
    Jul 26, 2020
    0
    В bf стрельба лудше!!!!! ы
  21. Gokarty
    Dec 11, 2020
    8
    Very good strategy, politics, economy, World War 2, a lot of mods and DLC..
  22. enro
    Feb 18, 2021
    8
    A good game that can be fun only with friends or with the countless DLCs installed
  23. dikii_hohol
    Jun 6, 2021
    0
    дота 2 крекер дота 2 крекер дота 2 крекер дота 2 крекер дота 2 крекер дота 2 крекер
  24. Valitherambler
    Dec 4, 2021
    2
    The good:

    - Better graphics then other paradox games, The bad: - Performance (it's unplayable past 1943-44 thanks to the engine only using 1 CPU core) - No partisan activity, no revolts - Diplomacy dumbed down for 4 year olds - Peace-conferences after the war are plain broken (pick Luxemburg, dont do anything in the war, get half of Germany after it in the peace conference) -    The good:

    - Better graphics then other paradox games,

    The bad:

    - Performance (it's unplayable past 1943-44 thanks to the engine only using 1 CPU core)
    - No partisan activity, no revolts
    - Diplomacy dumbed down for 4 year olds
    - Peace-conferences after the war are plain broken (pick Luxemburg, dont do anything in the war, get half of Germany after it in the peace conference)
    - Soundtrack is very mediocre
    - AI can't handle the scope of the game, braindead retarded AI
    - Interface overcomplicated with too many important buttons hidden
    - trade??? wtf is this?
    - Price, this is not worth 40€, wait for a 90% sale and 2 years of patchfixing the game before getting it    … Expand
  25. Preadatum
    Jul 10, 2022
    10
    A good stat game has almost everything thought out about the battle,modes make the game more enjoyable
  26. Stellen
    Jun 20, 2016
    2
    Compared to HoI2 and HoI3, the game has had a lot of its complexity and appeal removed. While there has been some improvement in unit production, every other aspect of the game has been streamlined and automated to death, to the point where the game is designed to be played by the AI on your behalf. When you attempt the take control back, you'll find only the most basic options from theCompared to HoI2 and HoI3, the game has had a lot of its complexity and appeal removed. While there has been some improvement in unit production, every other aspect of the game has been streamlined and automated to death, to the point where the game is designed to be played by the AI on your behalf. When you attempt the take control back, you'll find only the most basic options from the previous games are left.

    At the moment there are so many other issues. The AI is so terrible that it has no idea how to fight a war. It constantly gifts you victories by not defending vital provinces and allowing units to be cut off and destroyed without any attempt to rescue them. The simplified air combat and logistics, the reduced choice of using either AI control or direct control, the research options which take away a lot of the choices from HoI3 and which mean you can end up with nothing left to research by the early 1942. The completely unrealistic coups and civil wars which you can spark in other countries to distract them. That every major country in the world has the exact same research capacity, and the minor countries have almost as much.

    In previous HoI games, there were some rough patches at launch, but the core mechanics were there and it was immediately obvious that there was a good game underneath, despite the issues. I'm not seeing it yet for HoI4.    … Expand
  27. Babinski
    Jun 25, 2016
    4
    Paradox has been recently traveling one-way road. Don't shoot your own feet Paradox. If you mess Victoria III like you did with these 2 last releases your fanbase is not going to forgive you.
  28. Auldsoldier
    Jun 27, 2016
    2
    Released as a WW2 App - Super Mario does Barbarossa. Played the tutorial - gave up. Poor graphics, cluttered screen, no NATO counters, brain dead AI - the list goes on. Should have dome what I did with EU4 - wait 4 years and get from the bargain bucket.
  29. JakaNastran
    Aug 8, 2016
    1
    Shameful release...this game is not even in beta phase, it can be barely called alpha. Numerous flaws, AI is braindead, some design decisions ruined the game (lack of supply, NF), minors are waaaay OP (italy can field 300+ divisions and conquer the whole world easily...as can Luxembourg), completely unrealistic - even with histrorical focus turned on you won't get a single ww2 game whenShameful release...this game is not even in beta phase, it can be barely called alpha. Numerous flaws, AI is braindead, some design decisions ruined the game (lack of supply, NF), minors are waaaay OP (italy can field 300+ divisions and conquer the whole world easily...as can Luxembourg), completely unrealistic - even with histrorical focus turned on you won't get a single ww2 game when the outcome will be close to reailty. Instead you will end up building up your prewar economy as USA and preparing for war only to discover that in 1941 Germany didn't even conquer Denmark yet and is getting overrun by Belgium, that SU doesn't guard their borders at all (so German divisions are slowly moving toward Moscow, while Berlin is occupied by 4 Belgium divisions and that Japan just sits on their island after conquering China in 6 months.

    Unistalled    … Expand
  30. berylekmotylek
    Jul 28, 2016
    0
    To be honest, maybe I am a devoted fan of the series and a bit of a hardcore player, but I am profoundly disappointed by this part of the series not only because of the game mechanics reasons.

    Although it really pissed me off that you cannot really control your troops manually without grouping them into many really small armies and assigning them really limited orders (which was stupid    To be honest, maybe I am a devoted fan of the series and a bit of a hardcore player, but I am profoundly disappointed by this part of the series not only because of the game mechanics reasons.

    Although it really pissed me off that you cannot really control your troops manually without grouping them into many really small armies and assigning them really limited orders (which was stupid to me) or without losing massive planning bonuses, or that when you go and try to position your divisions on your own, the moment they reach their destination, AI will move them wherever it thinks it suits its plan best, but I was thoroughly shocked how many details were omitted, and to be honest, if you are not huge a fan of multiplayer, those were the things that kept you playing and enjoying the game for long weeks.

    I could write about many things that have stricken me at various moments during my gameplay, but I'm too tired of being upset while playing to go into these details once again. I'm going to restrict myself only to mention the very thing that made me stop playing this game. It was provinces, from naming to layout.

    I mean how come that although you have tons of tiny provinces on the map, the only thing that really matters are larger regions? And how come when you click at the biggest cities in your country, you cannot even see a picture of them and some brief description, rather than a vague terrain type name plus some combat modifiers' descriptions? Did Paradox really think it would be enjoyable to conquer some unidentified, unnamed swaths of land? What for? The same stuff with the divisions. It is possible to assign an army leader, but what was wrong with the corps leaders? In HoI3 or (my favorite) HoI2 you had a chance to really get attached even to your single corps (German mechanized and panzer ones were my favorites), led by one of your favorite generals. Now? In such a big and historically rich country as III Reich or Japan you have merely 20 - 30 commanders to chose from, and I don't even want to bring up such nonsenses as Erwin Rommel being able to command 24 divisions in the beginning of war... I'm sorry Paradox but you really **** this one up bad guys. You had ALL THE DAMN DATABASES with the names, photos and such, you could have made it easier, I don't care, but why making something so rich so shallow and dull?

    This game has really lost the feeling of reality and richness which ever EU4 or CK2 have (even though there is far less history in them). After what I have experienced with HoI4 I am really hoping someone someday will just make a remake of HoI2 with better graphics and maybe some modifications and not throw all the legacy straight to the trash can.

    I still think this game is playable, and comparing to other parodies of real games you can find on the market it is decent and somewhat enjoyable product, but I feel so disappointed that I can't force myself to rate HoI4 higher than 0, or in a word description: a huge misunderstanding. If I could wish for something right now, I would hope that somebody from Paradox sees this short lament and thinks about at least some of the things I've mentioned here.    … Expand
  31. 91killer
    Jul 17, 2016
    2
    This game pales in comparison to HOI3. Everything is changed, and it is worse. I have been a fan since the first HOI and I am not sure how Paradox messed HOI4 up so badly. They took everything that was great and replaced it with a watered down version or just removed it all together. Long story short, if you like grand strategy games or any of the previous HOI games, then don't buy this one.
  32. Calders
    Jun 7, 2016
    1
    This game has to be compared to it predecessors and as such it fails to deliver. They have improved it in some areas but also over simplified it in others, the result is a game that is no better than HOI3 and one that feels like it has less potential.
    This game is EU4 converted to WW2 rather than building on what they already had with HOI3. A lot of effort has clearly been made on the    This game has to be compared to it predecessors and as such it fails to deliver. They have improved it in some areas but also over simplified it in others, the result is a game that is no better than HOI3 and one that feels like it has less potential.
    This game is EU4 converted to WW2 rather than building on what they already had with HOI3. A lot of effort has clearly been made on the graphics and it does look a lot better but it's hard not to conclude that a lot of this is wasted effort especially when you see useless features such as the epilepsy inducing day / night cycle (that fortunately can be turned off ). This simply is not the type of game you play to see great graphics and when the game ships with a very weak AI you have to wonder who decided the priorities.
    In short this game is entertaining for the casual player who only wants to play it a couple of times but its not an in depth war game. The hot tip is to play as a smaller nation and try to conquer the world as playing as a large nation is simply too easy.    … Expand
  33. S-GERAT
    Jun 9, 2016
    2
    Probably it could be a fun strategy game when they fix the absurd Ai, but it not deserve to be called Hearts Of Iron anymore..

    Instead of improve the things that make HOI 3 a great game, they removed a lot of things of the past games in order to make it simpler.
  34. Inductionist
    Jun 10, 2016
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Total letdown and dumb-down of what used to be a great WW2 simulation. Now its on par with a browser strategy game. Refunded my purchase after 2 hours.… Expand
  35. Crimson
    Jul 11, 2017
    0
    Even a year after release this is an abysmal game. The patches that were released fixed almost none of the bugs or issues. UI is still a horrendously obtuse mess, the AI still utterly retarded. What's even more impressive is that each system that you learn, as you learn more about the game, is just as buggy and poorly designed as the last. I could write pages on every little bug andEven a year after release this is an abysmal game. The patches that were released fixed almost none of the bugs or issues. UI is still a horrendously obtuse mess, the AI still utterly retarded. What's even more impressive is that each system that you learn, as you learn more about the game, is just as buggy and poorly designed as the last. I could write pages on every little bug and problem, but at this point I don't think anyone cares... I'm just amazed at how bad this game is, and yet how many good reviews it has. I cannot think of a single redeeming quality to this game, not one single system was done well. Everything, from the engine, to the graphics, to the absolutely terribly designed gameplay, this game fails on every level.
    Is not your money you need to save, its your sanity.    … Expand
  36. deathmachinept
    Aug 2, 2017
    4
    A very hit and miss game some steps forward but many backwards, been a fan of HoI series since HoI 2 got everything from there, contrary to HoI III that had a very strong foundation design wise allowing for great DLC and mods, in tank terms HoI III is a Panzer IV Chassis while HoI IV is a PZ III Chassis.

    The worst offender is national focus/event trees this makes the game extremely    A very hit and miss game some steps forward but many backwards, been a fan of HoI series since HoI 2 got everything from there, contrary to HoI III that had a very strong foundation design wise allowing for great DLC and mods, in tank terms HoI III is a Panzer IV Chassis while HoI IV is a PZ III Chassis.

    The worst offender is national focus/event trees this makes the game extremely arcade, dumb, detach from reality, bland and makes it harder to play historical because each of this "events" requires researching for 70 days ?? xD
    The HoI 3 Events especially on BlackIce mod were refreshing, taught history and immerse you in WW2

    Pros
    - Easier to plan paradrops, invasions for your own AI to execute and enemy AI is more capable as well.
    - Production of equipment offers a cool feature although it should had more depth
    - More manageable and impactful air war especially on ground support.
    - Generals can finally be generated and gain traits and experiences according to battles
    - 2D Art is great in most parts of the game but some icons are a miss like rocket engine and night equipment.
    - Naval and carrier Combat seems improved

    Cons
    - No way to know where there are battle going on or if the enemy nearly surrounded your units or if you lost a battle. ( The battle list on the top right screen has been completely removed)
    - Trade (or lack of anything)
    - Economy
    - Removal of resources and their stockpile, a big design mistake making the game very arcade
    - Airplanes can't attack ground units if these are not in a ground battle
    - no Faction cooperation like sharing technologies and blueprints
    - UI interface is not a evolution of HoI 3 so you will have to relearn how to interact with the game
    - No detail information or data , you can't know how much equipment you loose per battle or the enemy is losing, how many convoys did you destroy or how planes or tank are performing against the enemy
    - No air Supply
    - You can't no longer quickly understand the values of attack and defense of your units in battles
    - No way to see weather data and plan to avoid it.. it also seems not to affect the game.
    ...

    Point is what was lacking on HoI was a more a immersive game with more meaningful events, seeing the impact of battles, conquer territories maybe even listen to radio segments or have a way to see or command units like in Total War, HoI III was going towards and ideal HoI just need some more polish and redesign of some of it's features this is more of a reinterpretation of a Hearts of Iron game.    … Expand
  37. gstruckman
    Jun 11, 2016
    4
    I have been playing HOI games since 2003 and was eagerly awaiting HOI 4.Very disappointed with the initial release.Almost unplayable despite the "simplification".Horrid ai,horrid map,horrid sprite/counter combo,confusing air force combat,non-stop naval invasions,confusing battle plans.....

    Really I think the only positive I can think of is the new production system,I love that aspect.
  38. Koblihozrout
    Jun 7, 2016
    6
    Disappointment :(.

    AI is retarded. For instance Germany declared war on Poland (+UK, France), after a month it declared on USSR, yeah didn't work out very well. Why would you teach AI to evaluate national focuses, unnecessary! If you are at war with half the world and got focus to declare war on another country, you should immediately execute! On other hand, is France and UK loosing    Disappointment :(.

    AI is retarded. For instance Germany declared war on Poland (+UK, France), after a month it declared on USSR, yeah didn't work out very well. Why would you teach AI to evaluate national focuses, unnecessary! If you are at war with half the world and got focus to declare war on another country, you should immediately execute! On other hand, is France and UK loosing badly? Well let's guarantee Greece independence so we can get into more wars... In other words diplomacy is dumbed down to national focuses and insane behavior. Oh and it has "improve relations" option, so if you are in Axis, and anti communist treaty with Germany, you are fighting war together, got relations maxed out, it's still gonna make ultimatums to Czechoslovakia (cause national focus..), sadly it can't declare war, it would be nice finishing touch :)

    OOB gone, not much to talk about here, no HQ, no nothing. No division commanders either.

    Research gone, practical knowledge? Theoretical knowledge? Don't be ridiculous you just conquered your first ports, why couldn't you go into carriers with same speed as USA? There is no specialization you can get what you want.

    Buying licenses gone.

    Trading resources? Well remember that anti communist pact? You can still buy anything in USSR... When i say buy, i don't mean like there is a market and prices, don't be ridicules. You can't stockpile and plan for war either.

    Custom divisions, yeah put in there whatever you want, no combined arms or anything so have division full of infantry, or have many smaller ones with one infantry each, nobody cares. Let's not pretend like there are actual effective and non effective ways to wage war, since WWI it's common knowledge that modern war is about putting whatever you have on the front, and if your soldiers have enough courage you shall prevail! Upside is you can't really go wrong. A tank division with hospital and support (non self propelled) arty? Sure why not.

    On the upside equipment production and units training are done in more realistic and better way. But than again planes, tanks, civil factories don't consume fuel or any other resource now, so you can safely spam those.

    Air combat is better, but still not very impactfull. Wings don't have commanders or experience, i don't know why there is a button for day/night or both missions, since you don't care about any of that, your planes don't loose any organization flying non efficient night missions, so you should always have both day and night on.

    Battle plans and AI troop command that's a clear improvement. Not perfect but better in every way.

    Hadn't had any crushes or bugs of that sort. Graphics are better i guess, but there was nothing wrong with hoi3 graphics either. UI is OK. The game gives impression that it's not a successor to previous games but like it's a new game from different dev. It takes it's own approach on one or two mechanics, and makes them better, and it dumbs down and ignores everything we love. I heard on stream devs to say, that Vicky2 was perfect and they can't improve it, i actually start to believe it now. Will the game be fixed by DLC's? It'll be improved, but hardly fixed. Disappointment :(.    … Expand
  39. batuoferrum
    Jun 8, 2016
    3
    Terrible game. I liked all other iterations of this series. All they had to do to make HOI4 "good" was to improve the graphics, mapping, accuracy and inventory of research and vehicles, weapons, etc. as well as shorten the time it took to research technologies. Another point they should have improved on was to allow players to play on beyond 1946 or 1948, to well into the cold war, sayTerrible game. I liked all other iterations of this series. All they had to do to make HOI4 "good" was to improve the graphics, mapping, accuracy and inventory of research and vehicles, weapons, etc. as well as shorten the time it took to research technologies. Another point they should have improved on was to allow players to play on beyond 1946 or 1948, to well into the cold war, say the 1960's perhaps.

    But no. As many other reviewers have stated more eloquently than I Paradox dumbed down this game to point of it being a dud.    … Expand
  40. HoneHeke
    Jun 8, 2016
    4
    Am struggling 4 hours on. Not a HOI vets game as others have said. Missing the detail in moving/creating/organising units. Feels too EU and not not enough HOI (have played both extensively). Too much abstraction and simplification, at a loss for words. When 4 was announced was thinking an uplifted version of HOI3 a game which I spent many years/hours playing over and over. This has echoesAm struggling 4 hours on. Not a HOI vets game as others have said. Missing the detail in moving/creating/organising units. Feels too EU and not not enough HOI (have played both extensively). Too much abstraction and simplification, at a loss for words. When 4 was announced was thinking an uplifted version of HOI3 a game which I spent many years/hours playing over and over. This has echoes of TW Rome 2 i.e. step back not forward.....will wait for the mods and dlc improvements to come out methinks. You are losing your vets Paradox.… Expand
  41. Mikimax
    Aug 8, 2016
    4
    I Loved HOI 2 and 3 but this! I can't even find out how to play this crap. Spent whole day trying to ''play'' it just to end up in huge mess.
    Disappointing.
  42. Filaton
    Jun 7, 2016
    7
    Pros:
    -Good graphics.
    -Good art. -The production system is pretty compact, doesn't give you an instant headache like HoI3. -I like the idea behind the war planning and frontiers. Cons: -The AI is kind of flunky and the frontier system is just plain frustrating at times. -Diplomacy is very dry. -Classic Paradox problems like **** optimization and bewildering UI. -Tech tree is    Pros:
    -Good graphics.
    -Good art.
    -The production system is pretty compact, doesn't give you an instant headache like HoI3.
    -I like the idea behind the war planning and frontiers.

    Cons:
    -The AI is kind of flunky and the frontier system is just plain frustrating at times.
    -Diplomacy is very dry.
    -Classic Paradox problems like **** optimization and bewildering UI.
    -Tech tree is maybe just a little too streamlined(why would I build Light Tanks when I can build Light Tank IIs just a few months later?).

    Honestly it's less immersive than HoI3. My guess is that the audience for HoI3's complexity was just too small, even by PDX standards, that they had to try and make this somehow more casual friendly. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad game, its just kind of meant to reach a different, bigger audience this time around.    … Expand
  43. Dedmosh
    Jun 25, 2016
    5
    This game is abysmal. Not because of the fundamentals. The foundation is great. However, the A.I is so bad and the campaign goes so far away from not just history but from REALITY that it is mind boggling.

    Do not under any circumstances buy this game until at minimum late December. The developers working on this are extremely lazy and have been dragging their feet nonstop throughout    This game is abysmal. Not because of the fundamentals. The foundation is great. However, the A.I is so bad and the campaign goes so far away from not just history but from REALITY that it is mind boggling.

    Do not under any circumstances buy this game until at minimum late December. The developers working on this are extremely lazy and have been dragging their feet nonstop throughout development and have only gotten lazier after release.

    The game is so beyond broken and yet they are going on a month long vacation! That means a month before these issues even BEGIN to get resolved.

    I know modders who have found and fixed more bugs in a couple weeks than podcat (team leader Daniel Lind) has fixed in TWO YEARS.

    Biggest disappointment since Hoi3, IMO its worse because it will take even longer to get fixed.

    Do not buy!    … Expand
  44. LockeJohn
    Feb 4, 2017
    4
    I love Paradox Studio and respect their work. That being said, the Hearts of Iron IV is a step in the wrong direction. The interface is horrific, especially when you have to use HORIZONTAL scroll to go through national focuses. Some aspects of the game are unnecessarily complicated (production lines and separation of military and civilian factories), while other parts are overly simplifiedI love Paradox Studio and respect their work. That being said, the Hearts of Iron IV is a step in the wrong direction. The interface is horrific, especially when you have to use HORIZONTAL scroll to go through national focuses. Some aspects of the game are unnecessarily complicated (production lines and separation of military and civilian factories), while other parts are overly simplified (diplomacy, intelligence).

    The graphics are nicer, but it's almost in every way inferior to its predecessor.    … Expand
  45. Enter
    Feb 25, 2017
    0
    The game suffers from loads of bugs and a broken AI in both tactics and overall strategy. Criticin their forums will attract hordes of shills defending the game 24/7 and calling names.

    Easy and boring.
  46. Helmenkalastaja
    Sep 22, 2018
    6
    Not the best Hoi for me to play. I liked graphics alot but game seems to be too simplified when comparing to older games in serie. Vanilla version is just missing key factors that are included in DLC so you have to buy more if you wan't more satisfying playing experience. AI is quite terrible, making lot of simply mistakes and trying to take advantage from annoying playing styles ( allNot the best Hoi for me to play. I liked graphics alot but game seems to be too simplified when comparing to older games in serie. Vanilla version is just missing key factors that are included in DLC so you have to buy more if you wan't more satisfying playing experience. AI is quite terrible, making lot of simply mistakes and trying to take advantage from annoying playing styles ( all airforce on same area for example ).… Expand
  47. Cioby
    Jan 13, 2021
    0
    utter garbage
    I had enough fuel for my tanks and I managed to rush panzer 4, tiger, panther and leopard ahead of their time, only to lose against some **** ass netherlands british forces. Like you send 200 heavy tanks and they do nothing. Do these people even know how tanks work or do they do math like Blizzard does nowadays? Got bored after a while and just left. Normally when I played    utter garbage
    I had enough fuel for my tanks and I managed to rush panzer 4, tiger, panther and leopard ahead of their time, only to lose against some **** ass netherlands british forces. Like you send 200 heavy tanks and they do nothing. Do these people even know how tanks work or do they do math like Blizzard does nowadays? Got bored after a while and just left. Normally when I played this long I'd be enjoying myself, conquer half of Europe, instead Italy did more damage than me and I still have to fight over netherlands after they capitulated. Attack them from 3 sides lol still don't matter. **** off.    … Expand
  48. Rrichard
    Sep 20, 2017
    10
    Easily the best strategy game available right now. Lacked a bit of depth at release, but the two DLCs have been great. Hundreds of hours of potential, and even more in multiplayer. Absolutely recommended if you like strategy games. Graphics are great too, though the 32-bit single core engine is a bit of a letdown.
  49. eva3si0n
    Aug 26, 2017
    8
    The games Paradox always were for a narrow circle of people. They too difficult for the majority, but if you master the main mechanics, then before you within strategy infinite opportunities open. So it happened also to a new part of Hearts of Iron 4. I am not a fan of strategy of Paradox, and it is even less HOI series. But the 4th game came to new level. Yes it is still a game with theThe games Paradox always were for a narrow circle of people. They too difficult for the majority, but if you master the main mechanics, then before you within strategy infinite opportunities open. So it happened also to a new part of Hearts of Iron 4. I am not a fan of strategy of Paradox, and it is even less HOI series. But the 4th game came to new level. Yes it is still a game with the high level of occurrence, but it is the best strategy about WW2. National focuses and a tree of technologies are perfectly registered, it is a pity that only all this only for 6 largest countries. A game is very reigrabelny, for each top country it is possible to win back 3 various fractions. The only minus of a game are a graphic design and many things are made through "one" place, for example landing of troops. And yes the price policy of DLC Gearbox is simply disgusting.… Expand
  50. SaydaNeen
    Dec 18, 2017
    10
    One of the best strategy games out there. Even at this early stage of the games life (compared to other PDX titles) it's in good condition and looks good.
  51. nurii29
    Dec 29, 2022
    0
    36 divisions with **** ton of air support againts 6 divisions in a fort if that much force cant kill them this "game" is even worst then league of legends and that bar is like very very very low
  52. paradoxfail
    Mar 6, 2020
    0
    Genuinely the worst dev team in the business.

    Outright stopped Mac support in 2019, despite selling MILLIONS of games they are LEGALLY REQUIRED to support MacOS for. EVERY SINGLE parafail title has been pulled from MacOS, because the devs couldn't be bothered maintaining their stupid redundant launcher that literally not one single person ever wanted. These devs SUCK. 0/10    Genuinely the worst dev team in the business.

    Outright stopped Mac support in 2019, despite selling MILLIONS of games they are LEGALLY REQUIRED to support MacOS for.

    EVERY SINGLE parafail title has been pulled from MacOS, because the devs couldn't be bothered maintaining their stupid redundant launcher that literally not one single person ever wanted.

    These devs SUCK.

    0/10 outright f**king stole my money    … Expand
  53. creepnu
    Nov 18, 2021
    1
    Tutorial was bad. It didn't have enough steps in it and it didn't prepare you enough. It also has bad graphics and i couldnt see anything but pixels..
  54. Eminllc
    Jun 23, 2022
    10
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
  55. dprkforum
    Jun 10, 2016
    8
    Hearts of Iron 4 is a great gateway for understanding the other games I simply could not understand. I tried Arsenal of Democracy and Hearts of Iron 3, but had no idea where to start. This game showed the way, and the other games now make some sense now that I am able to navigate the interface.

    + Great graphics, sound and streamlined interface. Focus on production is a clever idea. Love    Hearts of Iron 4 is a great gateway for understanding the other games I simply could not understand. I tried Arsenal of Democracy and Hearts of Iron 3, but had no idea where to start. This game showed the way, and the other games now make some sense now that I am able to navigate the interface.

    + Great graphics, sound and streamlined interface. Focus on production is a clever idea. Love how Paradox took the time to add a national focus and alternate history information such as generic fascist/communist leaders

    - No budgets. Diplomacy is weak. No way to automate some more mundane tasks.

    I am having a wonderful time with this game, and already sunk in 30 hours. I can see lots of replyability with this game.    … Expand
  56. lasagnafeeder
    Jun 7, 2016
    9
    I went with Italy for my first playthrough (not tutorial):

    I decided to ignore Western Europe and Africa, and instead focus my expansion in Eastern Europe. I started by lending support to the Yugoslavian Fascist Party, and eventually progressed to fomenting a fascist rebellion which began in Bosnia. When the civil war broke out, I immediately invaded Slovenia from the northwest, broke    I went with Italy for my first playthrough (not tutorial):

    I decided to ignore Western Europe and Africa, and instead focus my expansion in Eastern Europe. I started by lending support to the Yugoslavian Fascist Party, and eventually progressed to fomenting a fascist rebellion which began in Bosnia. When the civil war broke out, I immediately invaded Slovenia from the northwest, broke through the Yugoslav lines, and made a dash to secure coastal ports and open up a supply corridor to the besieged rebels in Sarajevo. Meanwhile, my navy maneuvered to cut off all Yugoslav shipping in the Adriatic, while my air wings (hastily rebased to captured Slovenian airfields near the front) flew round-the-clock CAS missions to help the rebels fend off Yugoslav counterattacks.

    You should buy this game because I basically played the Bosnian War in 1937.    … Expand
  57. Killen
    Jun 10, 2016
    10
    Многие считали ДП3 не играбельной частью серии и предпочитали Darkest Hour. В эту игру хочется играть и играть - остановиться очень тяжело. Она просто бесподобна! Самая нормальная игра про ВМВ! Лучшая стратегия 2016 года.
    *ушёл чертить карты*    Многие считали ДП3 не играбельной частью серии и предпочитали Darkest Hour. В эту игру хочется играть и играть - остановиться очень тяжело. Она просто бесподобна! Самая нормальная игра про ВМВ! Лучшая стратегия 2016 года.
    *ушёл чертить карты*
  58. TheOsiris
    Jul 7, 2016
    10
    Up front I have to say that I have never played HOI III. But I'm an die hard CK II fan, EU was good but too linear, and Stellaris will be brilliant in a year, but I still enjoy it.

    I have to say this is a good game. This is also the first iteration of the IV release, and there are some things that will be improved. But overall it's an engaging and fund, occasionally slow experience. If    Up front I have to say that I have never played HOI III. But I'm an die hard CK II fan, EU was good but too linear, and Stellaris will be brilliant in a year, but I still enjoy it.

    I have to say this is a good game. This is also the first iteration of the IV release, and there are some things that will be improved. But overall it's an engaging and fund, occasionally slow experience. If you've never played HOI before. You'll be happy if you enjoy deep grand strategy games. With time this only get better.

    There is a bit of a loud minority who are also being very vocal, understandably die hard fans that each have there own vision of what the game should have been. I think they're being unfair.

    And screw the people saying they can't take a 1 month holiday after a very long development project spanning multiple years comes to fruition. Come on. Let them have their month. They'll come back with fresh eyes and restored hearts.    … Expand
  59. Smula
    Aug 1, 2016
    5
    Pro:
    -I like the new skill tree
    -Graphics Con: -PERFORMANCE... unplayable after 1943 -Army Structure and diplomacy etc, is gone. But Perfomance weight heavy for me, because I simply cant play the game. And I cant understand the reviews of gaming magazines: They write stuff like "Even with I7 stuttering..." But they gave it a 8+ out of 10? In my Eyes the game is only 5 points    Pro:
    -I like the new skill tree
    -Graphics
    Con:
    -PERFORMANCE... unplayable after 1943
    -Army Structure and diplomacy etc, is gone.

    But Perfomance weight heavy for me, because I simply cant play the game.
    And I cant understand the reviews of gaming magazines:
    They write stuff like "Even with I7 stuttering..."
    But they gave it a 8+ out of 10? In my Eyes the game is only 5 points worth, because only half part is playable for me.
    (I5 3570K, 8GB Ram, 3GB Graphic card, installed on SSD)    … Expand
  60. KGBMinamoto
    Jun 7, 2016
    9
    If you like WW2, and you have enough time on your hands, this game is near perfect. This game fulfils everyone of your micro and macro desires, with gorgeous graphics and refined combat system. Only reason its not 10/10 is because it chugs in the late-game.
  61. Yomoholo
    Jun 7, 2016
    10
    played The Glorious Canadian Empire Fought a 10 year war with the USA won, just barely because of an american bulge in my line that i exploited to annihilate 15 divisions burnt down the white house.... again. profit of a fully united north america ruled by Canada then looked to Brazil for some tasty rubber.

    #would burn down Washington agian
  62. czarinabox
    Jun 7, 2016
    9
    As a player with hundreds of hours in both Hearts of Iron III and Darkest Hour I was skeptical of some of the “streamlining” decisions made by Paradox. Fortunately I feel many of the choices they have made let the game focus on more important and fun parts of managing a country through a world war. It’s nice being able to start up a game and quickly organize your armies. Gone are the daysAs a player with hundreds of hours in both Hearts of Iron III and Darkest Hour I was skeptical of some of the “streamlining” decisions made by Paradox. Fortunately I feel many of the choices they have made let the game focus on more important and fun parts of managing a country through a world war. It’s nice being able to start up a game and quickly organize your armies. Gone are the days of spending hours reorganizing a Soviet order of battle before pressing unpause (a feature which I honestly enjoyed, but also haven’t found myself missing).

    This game lets you focus on the big picture: what strategic moves are you going to make, how will they affect your position in the war? The battle plan system is a good example of this. Battle plans were useful in Hearts of Iron III, but you still found yourself giving hundreds of orders to divisions to just move forwards. Managing a few armies instead of hundreds of divisions lets you remember their commanders as well, something I always had difficulty with in previous titles.

    The interface in general is also much better. The logistics screen in particular is very well done, and production is easy to manage while also providing a really unique and interesting system compared with older versions. Unfortunately in some areas it can be difficult to get information, especially from battles (I definitely miss Darkest Hour’s battle reports, but even HoI3’s weren’t as nice).

    I haven’t encountered issues with the AI so far, but I could just be lucky.

    Overall, if you are a veteran of previous titles I would definitely recommend giving this entry a look, as it brings a lot to the table and most of what has been cut has been fluff that, when you get down to it, didn’t really provide interesting strategic choices anyways. When I think of the best times I had in HoI3 I don’t think of reorganizing my OoB, I think of my first punches back against the Germans in North Africa, the enormous encirclements in Barbarossa, the 3-pronged naval invasion of China. This game lets you focus on those moments.    … Expand
  63. RiccD
    Jun 7, 2016
    10
    Had some hours yesterday. Just wanted to DL and see if I can figure out some things. Ended up late in the night with "WTF why is it so late already" :)

    Love: - Trade is so much less annoying than in Hoi III - the focus tree - division planner - Spanish Civil war (was pretty tough) - Industrial part - Political Power thing - add supporters and stuff Undecided: - The Border    Had some hours yesterday. Just wanted to DL and see if I can figure out some things. Ended up late in the night with "WTF why is it so late already" :)

    Love:

    - Trade is so much less annoying than in Hoi III
    - the focus tree
    - division planner
    - Spanish Civil war (was pretty tough)
    - Industrial part
    - Political Power thing - add supporters and stuff

    Undecided:

    - The Border / Plan klicky thing. I fail by fiddling around with that very often. Maybe I have to get used to it / maybe patches will improve this part ( If I attach an army to a border and add a Div. later - why do I have to order this division to this border?)
    - Tech trees. Still am undecided about that.
    - In combat I am usually the more microing type. So I do not know if I like the battle plans yet (Missing the bonus). Maybe I will continue microing the Mobile Divs and leave the foot inf to the battle planner.

    Not so good:

    - AI did strange things in the civil war. (Just walked around long time with inf div, not doing anything. )
    - if I change directions from an attack with a fully organized tank div. and run in an enemy Inf div with 5% Org that takes the province I am moving to a second before I arrive I really lose this tank Div as "Overrun" ??? Seriously?
    Summary:

    Great game that makes already lots of fun. Will get better with the next few patches, I am sure. Also there will be more depth in future with DLC.    … Expand
  64. Adar1
    Aug 25, 2016
    5
    After more than 300 hours play, I can state that Hearts of Iron IV is a degraded version of Hearts of Iron III.

    I f you like the way it is, go for it and enjoy.
  65. VitaminK
    Jun 8, 2016
    10
    I love strategy games and HoI is a series I've tried over and over to get into but always found very difficult to get the full grasp of managing. HoI IV broke that tradition while still keeping the depth the series is known for while making it much easier to approach for old and new players alike. Paradox definitely did it right this time. I can't wait to see what the modding communityI love strategy games and HoI is a series I've tried over and over to get into but always found very difficult to get the full grasp of managing. HoI IV broke that tradition while still keeping the depth the series is known for while making it much easier to approach for old and new players alike. Paradox definitely did it right this time. I can't wait to see what the modding community will do with this as well as future dlc/expansions from the Devs.

    If you like strategy/grand strat then do yourself a favor and get this game. $40 at RELEASE for a game worth much more.

    I look forward to hours and hour in this game.    … Expand
  66. Gesar
    Jun 6, 2016
    10
    The best strategy which came ever on pc!!! Clear interface, a lot of changes, beautiful graphics. Perfect for long hours. And, of course, co-op, pvp, pve
  67. 019web
    Jun 12, 2016
    9
    HOI4 provides the perfect level of detail and control compared with hearts of iron 3. It is a strong core foundation with excellent game mechanics and with balance improvements and expansions it will be the best Paradox strategy game to date. I really like the army management and operation planner and the intuitiveness (compared with the horror of hoi3) really broadens the appeal of theHOI4 provides the perfect level of detail and control compared with hearts of iron 3. It is a strong core foundation with excellent game mechanics and with balance improvements and expansions it will be the best Paradox strategy game to date. I really like the army management and operation planner and the intuitiveness (compared with the horror of hoi3) really broadens the appeal of the game. Nonetheless, great depth of strategy in the game with industrial management, division designer, tech tree and equipment designer. AI is stronger than I expected it would be. Excellent… Expand
  68. Super12
    Jun 3, 2017
    10
    Best. Game. Ever. No Argument. Ok, fine, the AI is a bit bad, but the level of detail is amazing, and the Modding community is the best. Just ever, it can fix whatever problems you may have, also the production system is the best, and also the air combat is the best.
  69. Schore
    Aug 30, 2017
    10
    Easily replaces HoI3 as my favourite game!

    I did more than a thousand hours of modding for HoI 3 so I was very sceptical before the release of HoI4. But I easily beats it in every area. - depth (resource management (land/air) and better diplomacy makes this game much more complex) - graphics (way better) - handling (way better) The AI is still not able to beat a decent player    Easily replaces HoI3 as my favourite game!

    I did more than a thousand hours of modding for HoI 3 so I was very sceptical before the release of HoI4.
    But I easily beats it in every area.

    - depth (resource management (land/air) and better diplomacy makes this game much more complex)
    - graphics (way better)
    - handling (way better)

    The AI is still not able to beat a decent player but it's far better than 1 year ago and at least twice as good as the HoI3-AI.

    Game handling can be done in 2 different ways:
    A) let the AI do the micro for you in a war (good for fast/big MP games or if you are new to the series)
    B) micro every single division by yourself (for advanced players to fight each other or the AI in slow motion)

    600 hours played so far and still getting not bored.    … Expand
  70. Austinian334
    Jun 6, 2016
    9
    AMAZING GAME! There may be some flaws with the ai being too passive sometimes or the game chugging in the later time, but this game is by far the best and greatest ww2 strategy game! (aside from risk ww2 edition).

    I wanted that ww2 experience that's thrusts me into the deserts of Africa, the beaches of Normandy, or the vast jungle filled islands of the pacific, and while the experiences    AMAZING GAME! There may be some flaws with the ai being too passive sometimes or the game chugging in the later time, but this game is by far the best and greatest ww2 strategy game! (aside from risk ww2 edition).

    I wanted that ww2 experience that's thrusts me into the deserts of Africa, the beaches of Normandy, or the vast jungle filled islands of the pacific, and while the experiences aren't literal, it is an amazing game. Hope the DLC's add even more emersion than the base game itself, and I can't wait to see future projects from Paradox Interactive in the future!    … Expand
  71. SanderTB
    Jun 7, 2016
    9
    Ive played HOI II & III , i really liked to concept but found myself overwelmed with micromanagin division, chain of command structures, and a AI that will punish the smallest of mistakes.

    Imo HOI III was way to cumbersome to take on bigger nations like soviet with a twofront war, you get the picture. ALL that is gone, and now you get to do grandstragtegy on diplomacy, warfare,    Ive played HOI II & III , i really liked to concept but found myself overwelmed with micromanagin division, chain of command structures, and a AI that will punish the smallest of mistakes.

    Imo HOI III was way to cumbersome to take on bigger nations like soviet with a twofront war, you get the picture.

    ALL that is gone, and now you get to do grandstragtegy on diplomacy, warfare, production research while not being overwhelming. Interface and alot of easy and quick ways of commanding naval, air and land in just a few clicks.

    The masterycurve is till steep by normal standards but you can play the tutorial in 15 minutes and start playing around straight away.

    Paradox keeps delivering good grandstragtegy games and HOI IV exceeded all my expectations    … Expand
  72. Paul_Kingtiger
    Jun 7, 2016
    8
    The latest version of Paradox's world war 2 grand strategy games brings it more into line with crusader kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4. The UI and your choices have been streamlined into a much more accessible game. There are plenty of choices and those choices make a big difference, but the micromanagement has be reduced making play less of a chore (for me anyway). The divisionThe latest version of Paradox's world war 2 grand strategy games brings it more into line with crusader kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4. The UI and your choices have been streamlined into a much more accessible game. There are plenty of choices and those choices make a big difference, but the micromanagement has be reduced making play less of a chore (for me anyway). The division designer is excellent and instantly makes sense, and the new army system is far simpler than before, but still allows you to build up a army and give it complex instructions. I love the new army orders system, drawing front lines and arrows on the map makes you feel like a general in a command bunker.

    The new production and trade systems are a huge improvement over HOI3, civilian factories make trade goods and other factories and military factories produce war equipment. You tell your military factories to produce equipment of various types, small arms, specific models of tanks and aircraft and each new unit you build requires various combination of this equipment and of course men.

    The research and national focus systems work like a tech tree, allowing you to customise your nation.

    Finally, yes it is less hardcore than HOI3, but that makes it more accessible to new players, whilst still offering lots of choices and less micromanagement. But if you are turbo into that stuff you can pick up HOI3 on steam at a great price. Me, I far prefer this more accessible version.    … Expand
  73. Dalogan72
    Jun 7, 2016
    10
    This game is just a 10/10, I am not going to say the graphics are good, for a war-game strategic at this level, that they are. the music is amazing, the details are just marvelous, the way to move armies is brilliant. The player is in control of many many things I mean much more that just making units. In this game the player have to observe many little details to be able to win. I haveThis game is just a 10/10, I am not going to say the graphics are good, for a war-game strategic at this level, that they are. the music is amazing, the details are just marvelous, the way to move armies is brilliant. The player is in control of many many things I mean much more that just making units. In this game the player have to observe many little details to be able to win. I have played as-well HOI3 and there is let's say an internal battle about, why this and what is that about. Let's not forgot this is just a game without dlcs, first version and with bugs, but the game, the game as a whole is 10/10. This is not a RTS game, this is a complex game, maybe HOI3 was more complex but let's allow these guys Paradox to keep working on it. My most sincere view about the game is very extremely positive. A lot of hard work in this game, this is not a worthless game out of a papa-mama company.… Expand
  74. nonick
    Jun 7, 2016
    0
    Terrible game, worst HoI ever, don't buy it. You can't conquer anything if you are not Russian or US. It is stucked war like in World War 1. I'm very dissapointed :(
  75. arsenal143
    Jun 7, 2016
    10
    Vast improvement from HOI3, So much detail and up to you how much you want to micromanage or not. Only downside would be better if more nations had their own national focuses.
  76. Palomer
    Sep 15, 2017
    0
    Hearts of Iron 4 has made some improvements over the already very good Hearts of Iron 3, but there are 2 fatal flaws that make it unplayable for me., First, the AI is just artificial, not intelligent. It is like playing against a cat that is walking across a keyboard. Second, they removed the message settings so you have no control over what information the game gives you about what isHearts of Iron 4 has made some improvements over the already very good Hearts of Iron 3, but there are 2 fatal flaws that make it unplayable for me., First, the AI is just artificial, not intelligent. It is like playing against a cat that is walking across a keyboard. Second, they removed the message settings so you have no control over what information the game gives you about what is happening during the game. Unless you want to play at the exact pace and level of micromanagement Paradox tuned the game for, you will be annoyed to no end.… Expand
  77. JanDadan
    Jul 7, 2016
    7
    Meatgrinder deluxe.
    This is 200% hardcore gaming.
    Strategy at its best. Nothing for the faint-hearted.
    Still it is somehow simplified compared to HO3.

    Overall, a recommendation from me.

    - JanDadan Gaming
  78. LordExarus
    Jun 13, 2016
    9
    Great Game overall,Paradox definitely hit it out of the park with this one.
    Pros
    -Much Improved Graphics -Vastly superior Naval and Aviation mechanics -Superior tech trees,better then just research the same technology 12 times then move on -Doctrines are far better,as now they are more like a actual decision,as you can't be the best of everything.Unlike Hoi3 which you could research    Great Game overall,Paradox definitely hit it out of the park with this one.
    Pros
    -Much Improved Graphics
    -Vastly superior Naval and Aviation mechanics
    -Superior tech trees,better then just research the same technology 12 times then move on
    -Doctrines are far better,as now they are more like a actual decision,as you can't be the best of everything.Unlike Hoi3 which you could research them all and be the best at everything.
    -Focus tree is a much needed change,game now has goals and objectives to go for,which is needed in a historically based game
    -A.I is better,the fact in Hoi3 the US would always join the war in 1940 was pretty annoying.
    -Is far easier to get into then Hoi3
    -Creating battleplans actually has a effect on the gameplay,as the A.I will attempt to do those maneuvers and attacks you made in the plans.
    -The Theatre mechanic is gone,which I thought to be extremely annoying,especially since it was replaced with a far better system.
    -Alternate history is now far easier to pull off with the focus tree,being able to make everything from the Kiwi Empire,to the Neo-Ottoman Empire,to Fascist France,including your own factions.
    -New Peace Treaty system,where now each nation can make demands from the losers based on how much they contributed to the war effort,a much needed addition.

    Cons
    -A.I is also slightly weaker in other areas,mainly just Germany,as often Germany will be extremely aggressive or extremely passive.Either attacking the USSR,Britain/France,the Low Countries and Yugoslavia all at the same time,or doesn't attack France till 1941.
    -Multiplayer connections are terrible,as in the majority of Paradox's strategy games,either have a very good connection,or don't play multiplayer.
    -Chain of Command is gone and replaced with a single leader per army,which is slightly disappointing though I somewhat understand why they did it.
    -Generic tech trees for any nation other then the major nations,it's really sad when your military consists of Medium Tank 1,and Naval Bomber 2

    A great game and for sure worth the buy,looking forward to the expansions and upcoming titles.    … Expand
  79. Galverizer
    Jun 16, 2016
    10
    Most negative players are negative to the battle plan taht don't let you controll much. Thing is you can plan battle plans and then delete the battle plan and controll your own units. And you STILL get the bonus from battle planning. This is the most effektive way to do it if your good at incircling with fast moving divisions. The focus in the game is on production and manuevering yourMost negative players are negative to the battle plan taht don't let you controll much. Thing is you can plan battle plans and then delete the battle plan and controll your own units. And you STILL get the bonus from battle planning. This is the most effektive way to do it if your good at incircling with fast moving divisions. The focus in the game is on production and manuevering your units not R&D or diplomacy. If you want a diplomacy deep game then play EU4. If you want just war and manuering and strategical decitions like taking out the enemies resources instead of his industries. Then that is up to you what you find most effective. Also the hole logistic for your forces is an intressting and realistic gameplay. It was the logistic that Hitler failed to understand when he choose to rather go for natural resources then to destroy USSRs logistics which his Generals wanted, and probebly made him lose the war. You need very little managment of the Air forces since it all is focused on the land battles below. I am fine with that. AI is very retarded but I am sure a patch will come out to fix that. But a retarded AI isn't a problem when you play it in MP as I intend to do. If you gonna play it in single player mode then I suggest you wait until the AI is working.… Expand
  80. FaneHD
    Jun 11, 2016
    9
    Pros:

    -Great WW2 experience
    -Research tree is much more easier to understand than HOI3
    -Overall a great game

    Cons:

    -Some performance issues, you need a high-end CPU, but that's no big deal.
  81. akahw
    Mar 8, 2018
    0
    dlc ...................sndhabjhbdjhbhabhbh/......................................................................................................................................................................................././/../............................
  82. RobertoMoir
    Aug 19, 2016
    9
    I like this game. There are areas to criticise (performance & AI as others note), but the game is great fun in my opinion. It's not really a successor to HOI 3, it's been made much more accessible and easy to get to grips with, which some people like and some people do not.

    I find myself quite liking it. It's great that you can select various a-historical scenarios to play out... What    I like this game. There are areas to criticise (performance & AI as others note), but the game is great fun in my opinion. It's not really a successor to HOI 3, it's been made much more accessible and easy to get to grips with, which some people like and some people do not.

    I find myself quite liking it. It's great that you can select various a-historical scenarios to play out... What would happen if Italy re-created the Roman Empire, went democratic, and steered clear of the Axis? By all means find out. Want to find out what would have happened if the Axis powers had avoided war with both the Allies and Russia at once? Well if you can keep the peace yourself, now's your chance to see.

    Want to pick a random "small" power from the era and find out what it would take to make Brazil a South-American powerhouse? Go for it. The possibilities are all there and all fun to play with.    … Expand
  83. Widgetmibob
    Aug 15, 2016
    9
    I'm new to the Hearts of Iron franchise and, had I looked at some of these score 2 or 0 reviews I may well not have bothered with this game. I'm glad I didn't listen because it is brilliant. There are some things that could be clearer and it's taken me an abandoned half a play through (I rage quit when my Panzers got over run, totally my fault) and a fair bit of you tube video watchingI'm new to the Hearts of Iron franchise and, had I looked at some of these score 2 or 0 reviews I may well not have bothered with this game. I'm glad I didn't listen because it is brilliant. There are some things that could be clearer and it's taken me an abandoned half a play through (I rage quit when my Panzers got over run, totally my fault) and a fair bit of you tube video watching (thank you Praetorian HiJynx ) but once you start to get to grips with it it completely draws you in. This is the best thing since Shogun 2. It would have got a 10 if

    1. The left click select, right click do had been more consistently adhered to
    2. Some of the error messages were more detailed when you try and do something that can't be done
    3. If the AI orders were a bit clearer.

    Don't listen to the 0 score people, this is an excellent game!!!    … Expand
  84. bogmire
    Nov 14, 2016
    9
    Holy crap my dude this game is primo. Wow, so good. I can kill Bulgaria as Estonia and win the big match! Save Chinamen from communism and even nuke Honduras! Thanks Paradox you the real MVP
  85. BoredGamerUK
    Nov 5, 2016
    8
    For me this is a combination of HOI2 & the mod Core. It allows easy access into the game for new players while having a lot of odd & cool stuff you can do. The AI is a bit lacking & does weird things sometimes BUT they have acknowledged that so hopefully it will get a fix.
    I play HOI4 for multiplayer and playing random "smaller" countries in WW2 like Brazil OR Romania.
    It's different    For me this is a combination of HOI2 & the mod Core. It allows easy access into the game for new players while having a lot of odd & cool stuff you can do. The AI is a bit lacking & does weird things sometimes BUT they have acknowledged that so hopefully it will get a fix.
    I play HOI4 for multiplayer and playing random "smaller" countries in WW2 like Brazil OR Romania.
    It's different from HOI3 and a lot of the fans of that particular HOI game might not like some of the revisions.    … Expand
  86. Roke_
    Mar 23, 2017
    9
    fantastic as it takes a while to learn but then once it's learnt it's fun to play as there is so much variety as you can play as all countries available in world war 2 and the modding community is big as well as there lots of mods changing the time period also it is amazing fun with friends as you can either team with them or turn on them but there a few optimisation problems as it usuallyfantastic as it takes a while to learn but then once it's learnt it's fun to play as there is so much variety as you can play as all countries available in world war 2 and the modding community is big as well as there lots of mods changing the time period also it is amazing fun with friends as you can either team with them or turn on them but there a few optimisation problems as it usually is quite laggy and can get boring if the game goes on forever.… Expand
  87. rwei7481
    Apr 19, 2017
    10
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
    It's the best!!!
  88. YigitErenYilmaz
    Jan 21, 2019
    5
    If you have bad pc, the game is not playable for you

    If you have bad pc, the game is not playable for you

    69/100
  89. Pramolinein
    Dec 6, 2020
    7
    Игра очень интересная про 2 мировую но есть небольшие проблемы с музыкой и обучении. Музыка быстро надоедает спасают только моды. Обучение есть но оно для тех кто умеет читать
  90. Ainz1
    Jan 13, 2021
    10
    Gut 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 Gut 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 Gut 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10
  91. Dsznyd
    Apr 9, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 6uuuhhhh-hhhhbhgggtttttttttttttjrjhrjrjrjdjdjdjdjdjdjdjdjdhdhdhdhdjdjdjdjdjdjdjd… Expand
  92. Izoeros
    May 10, 2022
    6
    qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
  93. BadIdeas
    May 11, 2023
    2
    A grand strategy game for idiots. If you are brain dead you will fully appreciate how this game operates on your level. The tech tree is so simplified, that it is nonsensical. 1 upgrade doubles the power of your unit. This kind of scaling is really bad, because a single tech advance makes your troops go from parity to overwhelmingly powerful. I actually wanted to play the game because IA grand strategy game for idiots. If you are brain dead you will fully appreciate how this game operates on your level. The tech tree is so simplified, that it is nonsensical. 1 upgrade doubles the power of your unit. This kind of scaling is really bad, because a single tech advance makes your troops go from parity to overwhelmingly powerful. I actually wanted to play the game because I saw the ship customization, and thought it was really cool. Only that is not in the base game, that is an expansion you have to pay for and without it the navel upgrade system is non-existent. Literally, you can not upgrade existing ships without purchasing the naval expansion. So you have tech upgrades where a single tech upgrade makes everything before it obsolete, and then you can't upgrade your existing naval units, so every time you get one tech upgrade you have to build a whole new set of warships.

    I can't speak about the AI, because I did not play the game enough to find out how bad it was. I played enough to realize the tech tree had been "streamlined" into completely broken, and gave up on the game when i realized I had to rebuild my Navy with every upgrade, which was incredibly impractical, or buy the DLC that made it work. At that point I realized the whole game would be like that, where it is completely broken in the base game, with a paid for DLC that fixes it.

    It is incredibly greedy to sell a broken shell of a game, and then sell the fixes as DLC. In the past Paradox at least had a good base game, that they updated, and then sold options and increased complexity as DLC. That no longer seems to be the case.    … Expand
  94. inkblowout
    Oct 3, 2020
    6
    This will probably be my most controversial score as I love this game to death. (Have over 1700+ hours at the point.)

    But the reason why I'm giving it such a meh score is due to Paradox's incompetence in developing this game. HOI4 was originally supposed to be a WW2 strategy simulator with a heavy focus in combat compared to Victoria 2/EU4 and CK2. But over time they seem to go for an    This will probably be my most controversial score as I love this game to death. (Have over 1700+ hours at the point.)

    But the reason why I'm giving it such a meh score is due to Paradox's incompetence in developing this game. HOI4 was originally supposed to be a WW2 strategy simulator with a heavy focus in combat compared to Victoria 2/EU4 and CK2. But over time they seem to go for an alternate History route with making countries more fun which is great.

    But the problem with this is that over the 2 years since I got this game, no changes in the AI have been made whatsoever. And this AI isn't good at all, the problem is that the AI doesn't know what to do with divisions so they either oversupply their fronts, continue attacking fronts until they are drained completely or god forbid abandon their fronts. Like really? 4 years and this hasn't been fixed... but hey let's put a couple of new focuses on Portgual, a country that is neutral during WW2.

    Also, the DLC is the problem, the problem is that these DLC usually add some new focuses to the country to give them usually more options and alt. history options. These are basically recommended if you enjoy the alt. history portions of HOI4 so expect to shell out $100+ in DLC if you are looking to get the best possible experience. Not only that, but DLC also includes gameplay mechanics that base game holders aren't even allowed to get access to unless you shell out $15-$20. (AKA the boat design in Man the Guns DLC isn't included if you have the base game.) But the thing is that these should have been included in the base game, which gives players an excuse to buy these overpriced DLC. Also as stated before they tend to focus on different things for DLCs than for ones that really need an overhaul (IE Italy and USSR, which they have stuck the same since the game's release.)

    Overall it seems that Paradox just seems to have conflicting plans on what to do for this game. Do they want to make it a WW2 war strat. game or do they want to make this an Alt. history clusterf**k that pointless countries that were neutral in WW2 are updated but some of the most important countries are ignored? It seems that a lot of HOI4 mods like Engsieg/Road to 56 does a better job in both the gameplay department and the content department. If Paradox refined their HOI3 gameplay and made it easier to understand for the general public like with a proper tutorial or have a more simplified UI. (HOI4's current tutorial is just pointless as it doesn't teach you anything.) This game would be a lot better.    … Expand
  95. johnrj6
    Apr 15, 2017
    5
    This game drives me crazy. I have been playing as the Germans and have forced Russia to surrender. I got Mongolia out of the deal and made Greece a puppet. Russian empire joined my war against china. i have 174 top notch divisions. When I quit to main, understand that I destroyed the Soviet army and captured most of the soviet union. The Russian empire took over all of the Soviet landThis game drives me crazy. I have been playing as the Germans and have forced Russia to surrender. I got Mongolia out of the deal and made Greece a puppet. Russian empire joined my war against china. i have 174 top notch divisions. When I quit to main, understand that I destroyed the Soviet army and captured most of the soviet union. The Russian empire took over all of the Soviet land including all that I had conquered and their army score is 3x mine. I have also not been able to make the big army attacks. every time I set a starting line ll of my troops just go to one Provence and sit there, the don't cover the starting line. And I can never actually get them to jump off on the attach so I have to micromanage the sh it out of the battles which worked out well as I continually encircled the soviets and destroyed many divisions that way.

    Anyway the game needs much work but I do see promise. The scoring is terrible though.    … Expand
  96. Wiebe
    Feb 26, 2020
    8
    The dept of this game and its strategy is just plain awesome. The game also mostly gets better with every DLC and patch. However, the game can feel like a chore with some many elements to keep track off, especially with the Man the Guns patch where you have to edit the loadouts for every ship. Also the AI is just plain dumb, and even with the AI Mod there are game breaking problems withThe dept of this game and its strategy is just plain awesome. The game also mostly gets better with every DLC and patch. However, the game can feel like a chore with some many elements to keep track off, especially with the Man the Guns patch where you have to edit the loadouts for every ship. Also the AI is just plain dumb, and even with the AI Mod there are game breaking problems with every patch, like the AI moving all its units to the other side of the world, or abandoning front lines.… Expand
  97. Crescent_Star
    Aug 25, 2022
    4
    The game is honestly such a dumbed down version of the gold paradox makes it's sad. It has great concepts and does keep me coming back but I feel it's just because we're in a desert of good grand strategy content. The devs have a skeleton crew working on balancing and fixing it which falls hardcore behind on content with each patch. Moders do more with a small group of free developmentThe game is honestly such a dumbed down version of the gold paradox makes it's sad. It has great concepts and does keep me coming back but I feel it's just because we're in a desert of good grand strategy content. The devs have a skeleton crew working on balancing and fixing it which falls hardcore behind on content with each patch. Moders do more with a small group of free development then the core team can. Even still it can be fun at times even if pdx hates players with the random rolls.

    Do not buy this game! I say this simply because it costs over $200 to get the full experience.    … Expand
  98. Gambit8
    Feb 17, 2017
    7
    A great game for sure, but there are clear drawbacks to this game that can ruin the experience in my personal opinion. Firstly, I would like to mention that this has to be one of the most fun WWII strategy ever made and the choice of going historical or deviating off to more extreme alternate reality is exciting. I also cannot fault the wartime mechanics, even before the improvements itA great game for sure, but there are clear drawbacks to this game that can ruin the experience in my personal opinion. Firstly, I would like to mention that this has to be one of the most fun WWII strategy ever made and the choice of going historical or deviating off to more extreme alternate reality is exciting. I also cannot fault the wartime mechanics, even before the improvements it was fun. However once you hit around ~1942 or even after 1945 the border gore is horrendous and if the war is finally finished you will have some of the weirdest land distribution ever created - not to mention the land is essentially useless thanks to the non-core penalties. Clarity on how wars will work (ie. who will join wars and how they are merged as well as whether than country will insta-join Axis or Allies) would be a great improvements as lack of clarity can really ruin a play through, especially when playing as a neutral small nation trying to get big.
    Speaking of which, one of my personal favourite things of paradox games is getting a small nation and making them huge, however, in this game this is nearly impossible thanks to the penalties. The most notable one being the 99.8% penalty on manpower, which is not only unrealistic but also a tad harsh. Foreign conscription was a thing and although I do not disagree with a 99.8% penalty to begin with, I do think a monthly tick of -0.1% to the penalty would make the game feel more rewarding rather than playing a small county for 3 years before hitting the impassable wall of no manpower.
    Supply needs to be fixed or redesigned, perhaps even allow the player to customise their supply if the game picks an unusual or impassable route. When attacking Russia from the south I ran into an issue where supply simply would not reach my front lines despite having a clear passing from my capital to front lines simply because the game chose an odd supply route. Needless to say despite beating back Russia and Germany I had to abandon the campaign because my entire frontline was on the verge of collapsing. I still keep the save in case they fix this though.

    Overall, despite be being heavily critical of the game, it is really fun and I can imagine it to be even better with friends. However, attempting anything unorthodox such as world conquest with Saudi Arabia or forming your own faction as France and taking on everyone will make you run into a few of the issues I mentioned above. Clearly the game was meant to be played as the major countries in the historical way, this way you avoid the clarity of war issues, the manpower penalty becomes a historic challenge and supply in hotspot areas are more clear. I would still recommend the game to anyone, however I do hope for more improvements on the game - and the most recent expansion although an improvement does not feel like improvements in the right area, as well as this the features added are not worth the price, one of the few Paradox expansions I feel is overpriced since the features introduced are actually found in mods and are done better at times in those mods.    … Expand
  99. Mitya64
    Feb 15, 2020
    8
    Первая моя игра от данных разработчиков. Геймплей трудный, но интересный. Для его изучения понадобятся сотни часов. Очень интересная песочница,где можно за люксембург захватить весь мир, в ссср сделать российскую империю и т.д. Мне не нравится только то, что обучение максимально не помогает, мне пришлось все вникать самому и на ютубе смотреть. И обычно в конце игры получается непонятнаяПервая моя игра от данных разработчиков. Геймплей трудный, но интересный. Для его изучения понадобятся сотни часов. Очень интересная песочница,где можно за люксембург захватить весь мир, в ссср сделать российскую империю и т.д. Мне не нравится только то, что обучение максимально не помогает, мне пришлось все вникать самому и на ютубе смотреть. И обычно в конце игры получается непонятная разбериха, какая то война альянсов, из за 100 процентной напряженности. В целом игра очень интересная, но вникать нужно очень долго и время вам много придется потратить на нее.… Expand
  100. buranya
    Mar 25, 2017
    6
    If you want a casualized, easy Hearts of Iron game, this is made for you. If you expect hard situations, rigorous historical aspects and an IA made only to face WW2 as it should be, then go back and return to Hearts of Iron III.

    The game itself is nice, beautifully made. The map is way more simple than what we have seen on HOI3, and the building system is very intuitive. There's no    If you want a casualized, easy Hearts of Iron game, this is made for you. If you expect hard situations, rigorous historical aspects and an IA made only to face WW2 as it should be, then go back and return to Hearts of Iron III.

    The game itself is nice, beautifully made. The map is way more simple than what we have seen on HOI3, and the building system is very intuitive. There's no currency necessary to build, buy or craft. The system to build divisions has completely lost the meaning it had on HOI3. In this HOI game, you directly build a Division, you can't choose the composition of batalions, and the technologies are handled in a very deficient way. ¡The Theatre system is an absolute failure compared to it's predecessor! Another negative aspect is that some interesting countries lack content. the generical names, no sprites for units, and the focus system is a completely mess for some very important countries that faced WWII.

    But not all of this game is a failure. The naval system is well implemented, maintaining some good aspects of HOI franchise. The new aviation system is not bad at all, making more easy to face the air missions. The way to prepare some battle plans is quite interesting and the possibility to create your own factions add some new possibilities to the game.

    I give a 6 to this game thanks to the modifications you may do to it. Thank's god that some mod's teams are modding it, and trying to revive the game to what it should have been.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

47
#47 Best PC Game of 2016
22
#22 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
66
#66 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 37 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
  1. Cubed3
    Mar 20, 2018
    50
    The complexity and slow speed of how things evolve take the fun down notches lower than it otherwise would deserve. Endless clicking through menus, and a glacial speed, ruin what could have been a pretty slick overall experience.
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  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Sep 28, 2016
    85
    Hearts of Iron 4 successfully streamlines a complex strategy game while still retaining the feel of total industrial warfare. AI difficulties persist, however, and some revamped mechanics still need a bit of polishing. [Aug 2016]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Sep 14, 2016
    80
    Excellent revival of a rusty brand with improved accessibility to a wider audience. Paradox studio has rocked in recent years and proof of this is the best episode of the series Hearts of Iron. [Issue#266]
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