The Hearts of Iron series is based on a simple premise: what if you took grand strategy games similar to the Total War series (minus the battles) but set it during World War II? Because everything happens at a macro level and days can fly by, don't expect a precise recreation of historical events. For example, Germany always invades the Benelux countries immediately after taking Poland when following the default historical path, instead of waiting until after Denmark/Norway in 1940. Indeed, changing history has become one of the main features of HoI IV, with virtually every DLC containing alternate historical paths for major and minor countries alike. As Germany, you can overthrow Hitler and replace him with the Kaiser. You can turn the USA communist or the UK fascist and so on. Of course, you can also play "historically" if you want, and this is the mode I usually play in (Ironman).

What's good? I generally like the art and the UI. Hover over something, and the tooltips will usually explain it very well, even if you are a beginner. The map looks nice too, although like with many Paradox games, you can turn off the bells and whistles for better performance. I like how unit counters change as you zoom in or zoom out; you never get the level of detail you do as in Total War battles, but HoI4 doesn't promise that. It accepts that this game belongs to a genre of games with hexes and NATO counters, but makes it as visually pleasing as possible. I also like how, for being a "war" game, a good chunk of it is about economics and the production that goes into making conventional weapons. Unlike squad-based games that celebrate the individual soldier or "bands of brothers," soldiers in HoI4 are just meat for the meat-grinder, components that make it possible to deploy a division, tank, submarine, etc. And so long what you want to do is "war," you're going to have a good time. It may not be realistic for Romania in 1936 to conquer the Balkans before 1939, but it's fun to do. And, if you have the superior force, it's as easy as painting lines on the map and setting battle plans (which are fun mechanics). And as long as you're playing as one of the "majors" (or even a "major minor"), chances are you're going to be on the superior side. Fortunately, the game balances this out with the faction system, meaning eventually your quick little annexation/puppet wars are going to become mired in, well, a world war that you'll have to decisively win to settle. There's no "cultural victory," though; HoI4 is a sandbox game, sort of, as long as you want to wage war in said sandbox.

The bad? HoI4 is hardly the first piece of media to treat World War II as "just a war" for entertainment. There is no mention of the Holocaust or war crimes of any kind. While Hitler is included as Germany's leader in countries where his image is not banned (unlike Germany, where it has to be used for educational purposes only), the Nazi flag is missing from the vanilla version (meaning players have to seek out mods that use the historical flag). Himmler and the SS do make an appearance, but purely as a mini-game within the game when playing as Germany, where you have to balance the interests of the SS with the regular military. The problem with all this is that young people who play HoI4 may be inclined to think German or Japanese soldiers were "soldiers like any other," i.e. simply following orders. Conquering other countries is about "war goals," not an extreme nationalist ideology dependent on the ethnic cleansing of "inferior" people. Of course, if this was all implemented in the game, it would be so tasteless, that no one would play it, and rightly so. To have a WW2 game like this, the only solution is to lampshade all the disturbing parts. But, by sweeping these things under the rug for a few hours of entertainment, it does feel like you are being complicit in revising history where these troubling things are forgotten and even romanticized.

The DLC for this game is messy. You are not just buying alt-history paths for Germany, the USA, or whatever country, but clunky mechanics like design-your-own-ship and design-your-own-tank that I have no interest in (and I doubt I feel alone in this). I forgot which DLC gave me the "planning" and "force attack" bonuses, but I can't imagine playing the game without them now. I wish HoI4 DLC was more "a la carte" in that I could pick and choose which specific features I wanted to add or not add.

Speaking of, some of the earliest DLC (Together for Victory and Death or Dishonor) unlocked special focus trees for Allied and Axis minors, but these countries are a lot more difficult to play successfully since the development of the new supply system. When you have to be careful about how to use each factory, dealing with railways and supply hubs just adds another layer of complexity you're not developed enough to deal with. I used to enjoy playing as nationalist South Africa and going independent from the UK, but now it's just a matter of time before my units get overrun because they're too slow to outrun British tanks. Of course, it's not realistic that South Africa could conquer southern Africa from the UK in the 1940s, or that Australia could beat the Japanese navy in the Pacific, but as I said, following history isn't something HoI4 does very well anyway. Hopefully, the devs return to some of the minor Allied/Axis countries now that all of the majors have gotten some love, but understandably, they primarily focus on the majors everyone plays.

HoI4 is a great grand strategy game for a popular audience. People who want something deeper but are willing to accept compromises in graphics and accessibility will hopefully check out more "grognard" games like those by Matrix Games, Slitherine, etc. Does it successfully address the elephant in the room that is the politics of WW2, which continues to resonate in current events? Not really, but about as good as any game like it can.

The Hearts of Iron series is based on a simple premise: what if you took grand strategy games similar to the Total War series (minus the battles) but set it during World War II? Because everything happens at a macro level and days can fly by, don't expect a precise recreation of historical events. For example, Germany always invades the Benelux countries immediately after taking Poland when following the default historical path, instead of waiting until after Denmark/Norway in 1940. Indeed, changing history has become one of the main features of HoI IV, with virtually every DLC containing alternate historical paths for major and minor countries alike. As Germany, you can overthrow Hitler and replace him with the Kaiser. You can turn the USA communist or the UK fascist and so on. Of course, you can also play "historically" if you want, and this is the mode I usually play in (Ironman). What's good? I generally like the art and the UI. Hover over something, and the tooltips will usually explain it very well, even if you are a beginner. The map looks nice too, although like with many Paradox games, you can turn off the bells and whistles for better performance. I like how unit counters change as you zoom in or zoom out; you never get the level of detail you do as in Total War battles, but HoI4 doesn't promise that. It accepts that this game belongs to a genre of games with hexes and NATO counters, but makes it as visually pleasing as possible. I also like how, for being a "war" game, a good chunk of it is about economics and the production that goes into making conventional weapons. Unlike squad-based games that celebrate the individual soldier or "bands of brothers," soldiers in HoI4 are just meat for the meat-grinder, components that make it possible to deploy a division, tank, submarine, etc. And so long what you want to do is "war," you're going to have a good time. It may not be realistic for Romania in 1936 to conquer the Balkans before 1939, but it's fun to do. And, if you have the superior force, it's as easy as painting lines on the map and setting battle plans (which are fun mechanics). And as long as you're playing as one of the "majors" (or even a "major minor"), chances are you're going to be on the superior side. Fortunately, the game balances this out with the faction system, meaning eventually your quick little annexation/puppet wars are going to become mired in, well, a world war that you'll have to decisively win to settle. There's no "cultural victory," though; HoI4 is a sandbox game, sort of, as long as you want to wage war in said sandbox. The bad? HoI4 is hardly the first piece of media to treat World War II as "just a war" for entertainment. There is no mention of the Holocaust or war crimes of any kind. While Hitler is included as Germany's leader in countries where his image is not banned (unlike Germany, where it has to be used for educational purposes only), the Nazi flag is missing from the vanilla version (meaning players have to seek out mods that use the historical flag). Himmler and the SS do make an appearance, but purely as a mini-game within the game when playing as Germany, where you have to balance the interests of the SS with the regular military. The problem with all this is that young people who play HoI4 may be inclined to think German or Japanese soldiers were "soldiers like any other," i.e. simply following orders. Conquering other countries is about "war goals," not an extreme nationalist ideology dependent on the ethnic cleansing of "inferior" people. Of course, if this was all implemented in the game, it would be so tasteless, that no one would play it, and rightly so. To have a WW2 game like this, the only solution is to lampshade all the disturbing parts. But, by sweeping these things under the rug for a few hours of entertainment, it does feel like you are being complicit in revising history where these troubling things are forgotten and even romanticized. The DLC for this game is messy. You are not just buying alt-history paths for Germany, the USA, or whatever country, but clunky mechanics like design-your-own-ship and design-your-own-tank that I have no interest in (and I doubt I feel alone in this). I forgot which DLC gave me the "planning" and "force attack" bonuses, but I can't imagine playing the game without them now. I wish HoI4 DLC was more "a la carte" in that I could pick and choose which specific features I wanted to add or not add. Speaking of, some of the earliest DLC (Together for Victory and Death or Dishonor) unlocked special focus trees for Allied and Axis minors, but these countries are a lot more difficult to play successfully since the development of the new supply system. When you have to be careful about how to use each factory, dealing with railways and supply hubs just adds another layer of complexity you're not developed enough to deal with. I used to enjoy playing as nationalist South Africa and going independent from the UK, but now it's just a matter of time before my units get overrun because they're too slow to outrun British tanks. Of course, it's not realistic that South Africa could conquer southern Africa from the UK in the 1940s, or that Australia could beat the Japanese navy in the Pacific, but as I said, following history isn't something HoI4 does very well anyway. Hopefully, the devs return to some of the minor Allied/Axis countries now that all of the majors have gotten some love, but understandably, they primarily focus on the majors everyone plays. HoI4 is a great grand strategy game for a popular audience. People who want something deeper but are willing to accept compromises in graphics and accessibility will hopefully check out more "grognard" games like those by Matrix Games, Slitherine, etc. Does it successfully address the elephant in the room that is the politics of WW2, which continues to resonate in current events? Not really, but about as good as any game like it can.