The game is dedicated to a short but intense period from 1936 to 1948, that is, the Second World War and how it grew out of the struggle of nations, parties, ideas and imperial ambitions. The Soviet Union, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, the United States, Italy, France-these are the main participants in the drama, the acts of which are more or less known even to a schoolboy. From textbooks, we know about the Munich conspiracy, thanks to which the Third Reich got a taste, and how thin the Finnish ice is under the felt boots of the Red Army soldier, about the "strange war" and the bombing of Kiev in 1941. As with other Paradox studio products like Crusader Kings or Europa Universalis, no one bothers to repeat the story one-on-one. But that's not why we came here, is it?
That Hearts of Iron IV — a field for experiments, make it clear almost immediately. Although developers are traditionally meticulous in terms of geography, personalities, and dates, the course of events is not carved out of granite by them. The Francoists in Spain win and lose to the Republicans, the Hindenburg airship crashes and fails, and Mercader kills Trotsky with varying success — starting a party, you can not predict in advance what kind of lap the scenario will throw this time. They also give us the nag mentioned by Mayakovsky. What would happen if Daladier sent Chamberlain to hell and stood up for the Czechs in 1938, and the USSR refused to sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact? How to plunge the United States into the abyss of civil war and turn France and England into Soviet republics? Twist the story into a ram's horn, letting it go on an alternative course.

But do not forget that the alternatives are taken from the same textbooks, so you will not be able to do everything that comes to mind. You can kick Clio in the ass, but only at the right angle. To attack a neighbor, you must first justify the claim on its territory. And from the foreign policy courses, you will have to choose only one. For example, to organize a small Entente under the auspices of France or to act in alliance with England. Even Germany and the USSR are either enemies or friends: few people knew at the end of the 30s how the joint parades of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht would end, but the Englishwoman ♥♥♥♥ from the heart — "Pravda" will not let you lie. Hearts of Iron IV is a strategy for those who are interested in the past, but for others, its meanings risk being underestimated. But it depends on whether the game will bring pleasure or make you suffer in vain. Quite without suffering, alas, in no way.
To change the world, one desire is not enough — first we will descend from heaven to earth and forge victory at the looms. Defense begins with factories, without which no railways, no bunkers, no military factories can be built, and they are the source of equipment for the army. Equipment needs to be improved, opening up all new technologies: yesterday they produced the T-35 tank, today-KV-1, trucks give way to armored personnel carriers. But the development returns to the problem of resources: where to get steel, tungsten, rubber and oil? Here the planning rules the ball, and the gameplay is easier to express with a formula than with an epithet.

On the fronts, you will not be satisfied with one technique: in addition to the supply of supplies, you need to train the division. For protection, a reconnaissance company is good, artillery support is useful in the offensive, and for reliability, it is worth adding several regiments to the existing ones. Otherwise, you will see how six enemy divisions without panic repel the attack of sixty of your own. But do not think that the regiments will be allowed to shuffle for free: improvements are worth experience points, which are given either in battle or on the parade ground. That is, in peacetime, this is not particularly accelerated.

While the guns are silent, the diplomats are talking. Here much depends on the points of political power and the ways of development (or tricks). The first is the source of bonuses and the currency used to buy advisors, friendship of peoples, and agents of influence. With tricks, everything is not so clear: some really spur production and help in the preparation of troops, but there are also those that simply determine the course of events. The "Great Purge" in the USSR, the Anschluss of Austria, territorial claims — in short, a chronicle. On the other hand, antagonistic branches grow from the tree. For example, France chooses between defense and attack, and Italy is either friends with Yugoslavia, or quarrels with it. War is made up of devilish little things, and no one proves this truth with the same conviction as the developers from Paradox
The tangle of calculations is complicated not only on paper, but also externally. The easiest thing in it is to check how many rifles you need to put in the troops. But to understand why Japanese soldiers are dying of starvation on the hills of Manchuria, although the infrastructure there is developed as much as possible, is already more difficult. However, fully preparing for combat operations is like jumping over your head. Something will definitely be missing: there were unfinished fortifications, here, due to the lack of air defense systems, there is plenty of space for enemy aircraft, and in the rear, the training of infantry divisions has stalled. Why? Because they now include medium tanks, which are produced on a wheel a week — the factories were bombed. Then where are our interceptor aces? It was necessary to think about this, focusing on the tactics of the infantry.

We are reminded of mistakes in hindsight, painfully clicking on the nose even a few hours after the start of the game. Gradually you learn to plan everything almost by minutes and meters: to build a queue of tricks, technologies, buildings, to decide where to attack, and where to hold the defense, when, with whom and why to be friends. In other words, a good example of a game that is not given in a hurry. A couple of vershkov to the threshold of entry adds an interface that forces you to do unnecessary actions or simply drives you into a stupor. Even in Stellaris-so far the simplest of the Paradox strategies-it leaves much to be desired, and here it leads to white heat. Although compared to the third part, a lot of things have been simplified here and finally allowed to think in fronts, and not in separate units, the interface is still the Achilles ' heel of the series.
Like all beauty, Hearts of Iron IV requires sacrifice. First of all, you will have to sacrifice time: first-for the sake of understanding the basics, then — for the sake of trying different scenarios. From the logical, such as the division of the world between Germany and the USSR or Japan, as in the novel "The Man in the High Castle" by Philip ♥♥♥♥, to the romantic — for example, the French hit the Germans in 1938. Whichever option you choose, there are still no easy ways. The game resembles Dark Souls from the world of strategy, only instead of infernal monsters — Manstein and Guderian, and instead of a shield with a sword-industry and the army. But the euphoria of winning is the same. How long have your palms been sweating from symbols and numbers?

"Hearts" is one of those entertainments for which the night passes unnoticed. And for what? So that in the morning a person with an unhealthy gleam in his eyes exclaims: "A miracle has happened-France withstood the blow in 1940!" Of course, this strategy will not suit everyone, and it is not you who choose it, but, on the contrary, it is you. But when he chooses, he will cling to it like a bear trap and let it go very soon. We warned you.