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Hearts of Iron IV
Victory is at your fingertips! Your ability to lead your nation is your supreme weapon, the strategy game Hearts of Iron IV lets you take command of any nation in World War II; the most engaging conflict in world history.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “fun deep strategy gameplay” (67 of 103 reviews) and “mods and varied campaigns” (15); the most common complaint is “steep confusing learning curve” (36). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-27 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
67 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Paradox is like your local crack dealer - he gets you your fix, sure, but do you really want to recommend him? They thrive only on the inability of other studios to make a decent map game and abuse this position with…”
“Very steep learning curve, and a pretty difficult game.BUT with that said it is a very awesome game once you start picking it up. I recommend taking it very slowly, do the tutorial, watch some youtube videos, and than…”
“Great game. but don't be mislead by the price tag, it only has real strategic depth with some dlcs, mainly arms against tyranny, No step back, and by blood alone.”
15 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“wow, this game is dense as Fu*k, i didn't really understand what i was doing for the first 10 hours but it was still fun, i can now confidently say i am somewhat competent at the mechanics now but still just barely. not…”
“If you love history, mainly WW2 and love taking your country to being world leaders, play this. Theres a learning curve thats huge, but watching videos such as ISP or Hollow Being really explain the game and how to…”
“300 hours and I still don't understand the game. I still won't at 700 hours more. Super fun though. Very easy way to lose 6 hours.”
3 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“If you love history, mainly WW2 and love taking your country to being world leaders, play this. Theres a learning curve thats huge, but watching videos such as ISP or Hollow Being really explain the game and how to…”
“Hoi4 I have had a love and hate relation ship with, but this is in-part due to how much time you must take to learn the mechanics, dont get me started on naval... But besides that not only does it have a strong Moding…”
36 of the 103 reviews raise this · 35 of them still recommend the game.
“Very steep learning curve, and a pretty difficult game.BUT with that said it is a very awesome game once you start picking it up. I recommend taking it very slowly, do the tutorial, watch some youtube videos, and than…”
“The game had a big learning curve during 2023 when i first bought it, but it was still fun. Last time I played the updates weren't really good. AND if you take account the price you need to pay to get the "full…”
“Tu precisa ser o Sun Tsu e invocar a arte da guerra. Demora um bom tempo pra aprender a jogar, mas é bom quando você FINALMENTE sabe o que fazer.”
19 of the 103 reviews raise this · 10 of them still recommend the game.
“Paradox feels way too focused on milking money instead of supporting its community. They released what’s basically a sandbox game that feels incomplete without DLCs—and those add up to around $200. It’s frustrating…”
“overpriced dlcs, dlcs suck, major countries have focus trees from 6 years ago while the czechs get a new dlc one lol. the paradox developers are simply incompetent”
“Paradox is like your local crack dealer - he gets you your fix, sure, but do you really want to recommend him? They thrive only on the inability of other studios to make a decent map game and abuse this position with…”
10 of the 103 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“Paradox feels way too focused on milking money instead of supporting its community. They released what’s basically a sandbox game that feels incomplete without DLCs—and those add up to around $200. It’s frustrating…”
“I love this game, but I cannot recommend buying it because of Paradox's DLC policy. The base game is negatively affected by the amount of mechanics locked behind DLC paywalls, and it ends up feeling like a more and more…”
“paradox is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, whole model for making money off of this game essentially always directly or indirectly hurts you as a buyer. if you have the agency to don't play the game. many aspects of the game leave much to be…”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Paradox feels way too focused on milking money instead of supporting its community. They released what’s basically a sandbox game that feels incomplete without DLCs—and those add up to around $200. It’s frustrating…”
“Paradox is like your local crack dealer - he gets you your fix, sure, but do you really want to recommend him? They thrive only on the inability of other studios to make a decent map game and abuse this position with…”
“Milks the player base, updates and dlc cause far more problems, makes you pay for focus tree updates when other areas need dire fixing. Just a money printer in paradox's eye's, they dont give a ♥♥♥♥ about this game and…”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“overpriced dlcs, dlcs suck, major countries have focus trees from 6 years ago while the czechs get a new dlc one lol. the paradox developers are simply incompetent”
“WILL YOU STOP UPDATING YOUR GAME FOR MORE THAN A MONTH?????!?!?!?!? ALL OF MY MODS ARE OUT OF DATE. THEY ALL LIIIIIITERALLY JUST UPDATED... COMMOOOOOOOON BRO!!!!!! The modding community cant keep up with your updates…”
“I love this game, but I cannot recommend buying it because of Paradox's DLC policy. The base game is negatively affected by the amount of mechanics locked behind DLC paywalls, and it ends up feeling like a more and more…”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 89.8% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“Huge modding community that compensates for the predatory policy of Paradox regarding DLCs. On one hand it's good that they're still adding content to a 10 year old game, even giving away free content updates, but that makes only a small percentage. At this point, they sell you…”
— a player, Steam review · 811 hrs played“Broke 1000 hours, still have only won once and still have never touched navy. With the mods you could never play anything else.”
— a player, Steam review · 1,144 hrs played“Earlier, Hearts of Iron IV DLC felt like true expansions. Things like tank design, espionage, and special units added depth—but the base game still stood on its own. That’s no longer the case. With version 1.17, core systems like doctrines are clearly built around DLC content.…”
— a player, Steam review · 2,670 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-10-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-23). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
HOI IV Dev Diary | Romania: A Flawed Democracy
Generals! Greetings, I’m Norrman and I’ve been working with Marijn and Alex on the upcoming Romania Focus Pack and I will cover the first part of this Dev Diary. Some quick notes about me before I mov
Dev Corner & Open Beta: Energy #2
Hello again! After a lot of reactions last week, we’ve made some changes. We are still not sure if we should release this or not, but based on the reactions we also decided to make this an open beta.
HOI IV Dev Corner | Strikes!
Hello there! Your feedback has been much appreciated, both with civil wars and old Canada content. So I come here once again to ask you what do you think about…. Strikes ! (As in the labour history, w
Steam Autumn Sale 2026
Generals ! We've received communications from our Allied Headquarters, that indicates Hearts of Iron IV and its associated DLCs will be taking part with the Steam Autumn Sale! Take advantage of this r
HOI IV Dev Corner | Energy
Generals! Something different, not planned for any expansion, but perhaps a future war effort. We added coal to the game as part of the free update released with No Compromise, No Surrender . However,
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Simulation, Strategy |
| Player tags | Strategy · World War II · Grand Strategy · War · Historical · Military · Alternate History · Multiplayer · Simulation · Tactical · Singleplayer · Real-Time with Pause (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · Co-op · Cross-Platform Multiplayer · Steam Achievements · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Workshop · Steam Cloud |
| Languages | English, French, German, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean |
| Achievements | 273 |
| Official site | http://www.heartsofiron4.com/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS: Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 750 | AMD® FX 4300 Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 470 (1.28GB) | AMD® HD 5850 (1GB) | Intel Iris Xe G7 (Tiger Lake) | AMD® Radeon™ RX Vega 11 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.