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

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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..
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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 :(
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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.
  17. 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
  18. akahw
    Mar 8, 2018
    0
    dlc ...................sndhabjhbdjhbhabhbh/......................................................................................................................................................................................././/../............................
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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.
  22. Hitler_Nevinova
    Jul 26, 2020
    0
    В bf стрельба лудше!!!!! ы
  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. 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
next
Page:

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

All reviews »
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.
    Read full review
  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]
See all critic reviews »