You could even hop across the water to fiddle with geopolitics from a different angle, watching from a distance as Europe burns. You could become the Soviet Union and attempt to engineer an Eastern Front that isn't delineated with blood, or build an isolationist Britain that continues to appease and equivocate throughout the war. It's possible to prepare for the fight back unrealistically early as France, or to enter the war early (or not at all) as the good ol' US of A. The other major nations offer all kinds of alternate history scenarios. You don't have to play as Hitler, of course. More on that later this week.įirst of all, I wanted to discuss the difficulty of playing the bad guys. Hearts of Iron IV might change that, with its cleverly streamlined factory operations and improved minor nations. Partly that's because it's a more guided experience, a game about a specific war rather than a historical sandbox and it's partly because of the micromanagement involved in production and resource chains. Hearts of Iron is the one Paradox grand strategy series that I've been unable to befriend.

Hearts of iron 4 german strategy