Through no fault of its own, I went into Paradox’s latest World War 2-inspired grand strategy endeavour, Hearts of Iron IV, with slight reserve. The Swedish outfit’s other epic RTS adventure that released earlier this year - the wonderful space-flung sci-fi exploit Stellaris - pushed the boundaries of the genre in so many fresh directions, that returning to a historical interpretation whose narrative unfolds within a relatively narrow and predetermined window seemed like, in my head at least, a step backwards. Again, this isn’t exactly this particular game’s fault - it in fact speaks volumes of the standard set by the dedicated folk creating these games - but it did however mean Hearts of Iron IV had a hill to climb from the outset. Did it manage to do so? For the most part, yes.

Much similar to its series forerunners, Hearts of Iron IV is broad in scope and comprises multiple moving parts that you’ll eventually manage simultaneously. The main difference this time round, though, is that the interface has been overhauled, which in turn not only looks lovely - its tree-scattered terrain and real-time day/night cycle are a joy to behold - but also serves to dilute micromanagement. Now, the majority of the action takes place on a single, scaling map that’s complemented by a range of pop-up panels: Research, Diplomacy, Trade, Constructions, Production, Recruit and Deploy, and Logistics - each of which houses relevant submenus and skill trees in relation to their headings.

Gone are Hearts of Iron III’s hidden menus and text-heavy tutorial, then, and in the latter’s place is a streamlined ‘how to’ that starts you off at a slower pace in command of Mussolini’s Italy in 1936. Here, you start off embroiled in the Italo-Ethiopian war and, true to historical fact, quickly assume military occupation of the fragile African nation. Depending on whether or not you choose to follow history’s trajectory, you can hereon pursue WWII as per Italy’s standing in the run up to 1940 onwards, or you can go about your own war plan as you see fit. Likewise, you can also determine how the AI approaches war in the main menu screen: each nation can either follow the familiar timeline, or pursue alternate interests at your initial discretion. Both allow for entertaining outcomes as you’ll either scramble to recreate the reality, or learn to adapt (or not!) to the new direction.

Speaking to the tutorial itself, while it’s no secret that Hearts of Iron III was notoriously difficult to access, number four’s semi-intuitive tutorial is designed to show you the ropes without smothering. The only problem is, it spends so much of its time so obviously not trying to hold your hand that it tends to swing in the opposite direction, often leaving you more confused than before seeking ‘help’. I will try my best to avoid superfluous comparisons to Stellaris here, however its tutorial better captures the standoffish sweet spot between guidance and independence that Hearts of Iron IV so hopes to achieve.

Nonetheless, Paradox’s games, particularly the Hearts of Iron series, have been criticised in the past for deflecting genre newcomers as a result of over complicated overlays, therefore it is heartening to see a more comprehensive tutorial make the cut this time round, even if it is at times hard to follow.

So, onto war. Hearts of Iron IV kicks off by letting you choose between two scenarios: Gathering Storm, which starts on January 1, 1936 and sees Hitler looking beyond Germany’s borders, having consolidated his powers at home; or Blitzkrieg which begins on August 14, 1939 and sees, as I’m sure many of you are aware, the world on the cusp of war just days before the signing of the non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany.

While it’s possible to take charge of one of the lesser-involved countries of the world, this sandbox is very much focused on the Second World War thus it makes most sense to opt for France, the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, Japan or the Soviet Union. Each nation shoulders specified ‘National Spirit’ criteria which facilitate positive and negative modifiers. America, for example, boasts an Air War Plans Division badge, which reduces the production costs of strategic bombers. Germany’s General Staff badge, on the other hand, boosts Division Organisation by 5 percent, and Planning Speed by 25 percent.

No matter who you lead onto the battlefield, building an army is your primary objective and you’ll do so by simultaneously managing equipment for troops and by raising the troops themselves. You’ll build civilian factories to manage populations at first, build military stockpiles simultaneously, and then pop your civilians into military training. When it’s time to assemble, you’ll convert the civilian warehouses into military ones, assign infantry and armor divisions to a general, and then each general to a front. Instead of ordering large flocks of soldiers around the map as per the standard routine of most grand strategies, fronts are represented by lines that you draw on the battlefield, which you’ll normally aim towards a border you want to defend or invade - a la the opening credits of Dad’s Army. When a fight gets underway, you’ll draw a second line ahead of the first which signifies your proposed advancement. From there you’ll troops will engage automatically.

Why am I laying this on quite so thick, you might wonder? Well, during one playthrough, I completely missed the training section of the process, thus was in essence filling empty warehouses with armaments without anyone who knew how to use them. Training civilians takes months to complete too, so, yeah, waging war wasn’t very pretty in this instance, and it’s a surprisingly easy mistake to make. In short: don’t do what I did.

Similar to its genre siblings, Hearts of Iron IV unfolds at a steady pace, however can be paused at any time as and when you need to regroup or analyse your strategy. Given the fact WW2’s timeline fits within a relatively tight window, research and troop deployment plays out over the course of months and not years, which is handily outlined via the appropriate skill tree. Building B1 tanks, for example, takes 180 in-game days to research, whereas AMC 35’s take considerably longer. Add these predetermined time allotments to the fact that you’re penalised for researching technologies ahead of time as per the real world - the more ahead they are, the bigger the time penalty - and suddenly research requires as much thought as how and where and when you’ll send your troops over the parapet. Similarly timeous decisions befall the aforementioned pop-up panels, not least Diplomacy and Trade in the heart of battle.

The where and when of deployment will likely be determined fairly early on, yet the how delves into yet another layer of Hearts of Iron IV’s makeup. Working autonomously, you’ll assign air and sea units to specific theatres and docks who’ll do battle with similar modes of attack in the same region. Once the tech is researched, strategic bombers can also offer support against ground units which, again, serves to minimise the amount of micromanagement required to successfully execute attacks on a map that becomes steadily overcome with transnational spats post-1940.

While there’s much fun to be had following the historical timeline, Paradox have made clear their desire to distance Hearts of Iron IV from some of the very real and distinctly raw atrocities of World War II in previous interviews. Murdering thousands of civilians in, say, Europa Universalis’ 16th century war zones feels decidedly different from leading Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich into battle - the latter of which feels genuinely unsettling, even if within the bounds of a virtual environment. There’s no concentration camps or the likes, then, yet historic events such as Stalin’s Purge of the Red Army have a direct bearing on the standard of squadrons the Soviets produce , in this instance, and thus seem to fit. All told, AI is opportunistic, it will try to win, but will also obey the factual timeline. Unless you turn it off. Which is when the real fun begins.

Multiplayer

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Given its historical ties, I imagine Hearts of Iron IV will be best enjoyed in single-player mode, however its multiplayer component supports up to 32 players. I’ve not had the chance to test this though, so we’ll decline to comment until it’s up and running with real players and actual servers.

Performance & Graphics

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Minimum System Requirements:

OS: Windows 7 64-bit or newer

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 @ 2.66 GHz / AMD Athlon II X4 650 @ 3.20 GHz

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 5850 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX470 with 1GB VRAM

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Storage: 2 GB available space

Sound Card: Direct X- compatible soundcard.

Additional Notes: Mouse and keyboard are required. / Latest available WHQL drivers from both manufacturers/ Internet Connection or LAN for multiplayer, Up to 32 other players in multiplayer mode.

Recommended System Requirements:

OS: Windows 7 64-bit or newer

Processor: Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.66 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.20 GHz

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 6950 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX570 with 2GB VRAM

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Storage: 2 GB available space

Sound Card: Direct X- compatible soundcard.

Additional Notes: Mouse and keyboard are required. / Latest available WHQL drivers from both manufacturers. / Internet Connection or LAN for multiplayer, Up to 32 other players in multiplayer mode.

No issues running a mid-high end build on top settings. Hearts of Iron IV is one of Paradox’s most aesthetically pleasing games, second only to Stellaris. Its much-anticipated overhauled interface, menus and day/night cycle are a joy to watch over and its streamlined single, scaling map cuts down on micromanagement. If you’re suffering dropped frame rates, consider dropping 3D trees, reflections and/or shadows before turning down texture quality or resolution.