Hearts of Iron IV. I am almost certain that this game has been hijacked and tampered with by French nationalists. The reasoning for this is that, due to the horrible AI, the French rarely ever surrender (0/10 very unrealistic) as the Germans decide to declare war on the allies while stationing all of their troops on the danish border (Maybe they are trying to beat their previous world record of forcing the fastest capitulation, though 3 hours is pretty difficult to top).

In all seriousness though, as a huge Paradox fan and as someone who has spent over 1000 hours on their other games, I can sadly not recommend this one in its current state.


Pros:
- Alternative history. I like how easy it has been made for alternative history to play out (with this being an option, so if you want everything to roughly follow its historical route you still can). In my very first game, I turned Australia nationalist and formed a faction with Japan where we reigned terror on Asia and the pacific.
- Large mod support. Want to play as North Korea in 2016 and nuke the USA? Download the modern era mod and go for it. Want to try and hold back the zombie horde while the Allies and Axis trade fronts? Download the infection mod

Neutral:
- Large amount of replayability. Being able to play any nation in the world and take it in any direction you want gives you many opportunities. The focus trees (though only available for majors as of now) help this out even more. However, with the reasons listed below, you're not going to want to play for that long anyway in it's current state which is why this is neautral.

Cons:
- The AI is terrible. They will often leave fronts completely unguarded while stationing all of their troops on some arbitrary border of someone they're not at war with. There will be many "what the hell" moments as you question the AI's choices and intelligence.
- A simplified game. It's lost a lot of complexity that made the previous Hearts of Iron games great. It feels hollow. As usual, I'm sure they'll flush the game out with DLCs but that shouldn't be the case. Other paradox games take upwards of 100 hours to learn. I felt like I knew everything about this one after just 10 hours or less.
- An easy game. Due to the two above reasons, the game is ridiculously easy to play. Playing as one of the major powers is pretty much pointless as you will steamroll the world before 1941. This makes it no fun. There is no strategy needed and I'm sure a 10 year old could pull off a world conquest as Ireland.

Hearts of Iron IV. I am almost certain that this game has been hijacked and tampered with by French nationalists. The reasoning for this is that, due to the horrible AI, the French rarely ever surrender (0/10 very unrealistic) as the Germans decide to declare war on the allies while stationing all of their troops on the danish border (Maybe they are trying to beat their previous world record of forcing the fastest capitulation, though 3 hours is pretty difficult to top). In all seriousness though, as a huge Paradox fan and as someone who has spent over 1000 hours on their other games, I can sadly not recommend this one in its current state. Pros: - [b] Alternative history. [/b] I like how easy it has been made for alternative history to play out (with this being an option, so if you want everything to roughly follow its historical route you still can). In my very first game, I turned Australia nationalist and formed a faction with Japan where we reigned terror on Asia and the pacific. - [b] Large mod support. [/b] Want to play as North Korea in 2016 and nuke the USA? Download the modern era mod and go for it. Want to try and hold back the zombie horde while the Allies and Axis trade fronts? Download the infection mod Neutral: - [b] Large amount of replayability. [/b] Being able to play any nation in the world and take it in any direction you want gives you many opportunities. The focus trees (though only available for majors as of now) help this out even more. However, with the reasons listed below, you're not going to want to play for that long anyway in it's current state which is why this is neautral. Cons: - [b] The AI is terrible. [/b] They will often leave fronts completely unguarded while stationing all of their troops on some arbitrary border of someone they're not at war with. There will be many "what the hell" moments as you question the AI's choices and intelligence. - [b] A simplified game. [/b] It's lost a lot of complexity that made the previous Hearts of Iron games great. It feels hollow. As usual, I'm sure they'll flush the game out with DLCs but that shouldn't be the case. Other paradox games take upwards of 100 hours to learn. I felt like I knew everything about this one after just 10 hours or less. - [b] An easy game. [/b] Due to the two above reasons, the game is ridiculously easy to play. Playing as one of the major powers is pretty much pointless as you will steamroll the world before 1941. This makes it no fun. There is no strategy needed and I'm sure a 10 year old could pull off a world conquest as Ireland.