Hearts of Iron IV hands you any nation on the map in 1936 or 1939 and asks how you will face the largest war in history. Paradox Development Studio's grand strategy wargame covers every layer of that conflict, from the factories that turn out rifles and fighters to the diplomats who decide which side you fight on, and this purchase includes four expansion packs that add depth across Europe, the Commonwealth, Asia and the world's oceans.
Plan the War Down to the Rivets
Victory in Hearts of Iron IV is built long before the first shot. You design division templates battalion by battalion, balancing infantry, artillery, armor and support companies against the supply your nation can sustain. Research carries you from interwar fighters and light tanks toward jet engines and heavy armor, while doctrine choices define how your army, air force and navy actually fight.
Factories are assigned to production lines, and efficiency grows the longer a line runs, so switching designs mid-war carries a real cost. When the fighting starts, you draw frontlines and offensive arrows on the map, hand them to your generals and field marshals, and watch the plan unfold in real time with pause, sending air wings to contest the skies and adjusting as the front bends or breaks.
History That Bends With Every Decision
Each nation follows a national focus tree, a branching path of political, industrial and military goals that shapes how it enters the war. Many of those trees split sharply from the historical record. You can keep a democracy on its course, steer a country toward fascism or communism, or restore a monarchy that vanished decades earlier, and every shift changes who will stand beside you and who will not.
Diplomacy is just as open. Join the Allies, the Axis or the Comintern, build a faction of your own, guarantee a neighbor's independence or demand its territory. Alternate history emerges naturally from these choices, which is why no two campaigns of Hearts of Iron IV play out the same way.
Four Expansion Packs Included
- Death or Dishonor
- Turns the spotlight on the middle powers of central and eastern Europe, with dedicated focus trees for Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Caught between larger neighbors, these nations can pursue careful neutrality or bold bids for regional dominance, and equipment licensing and conversion let smaller industries borrow foreign designs and refit what they already have.
- Together for Victory
- Expands the British Commonwealth with focus trees for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the British Raj. An autonomy system tracks how closely each dominion is bound to London, so you can remain a loyal partner in the Allied war effort or work patiently toward full independence and a very different role in the war.
- Waking the Tiger
- Brings the war in Asia into focus with new paths for China and Japan, covering the Nationalist and Communist Chinese as well as the regional warlords who control large parts of the country. A decisions system opens options beyond the focus tree, and command power adds weight to how you appoint and use your commanders in the field.
- Man the Guns
- Overhauls naval warfare with a ship designer for refitting and customizing hulls, naval mines, and a deeper system for contesting control of the seas. It also delivers alternate history paths for the United States and the United Kingdom, new focus trees for the Netherlands and Mexico, and governments in exile for nations forced to fight on from abroad.
Play Solo, Together or With Mods
Single-player campaigns let you take a small nation on a long, careful climb or guide a great power through the full arc of the war at your own pace. Multiplayer puts rival players in command of the world's armies, and co-op lets friends fight side by side in the same faction, coordinating fronts, production and invasions against a common enemy.
Steam Workshop support connects you to one of the most active modding communities in strategy gaming, from small balance tweaks to ambitious total conversions that reimagine the twentieth century entirely. Between the base game, the included expansions and the community's work, there is always another campaign to plan.
If you have ever looked at a map of 1936 and wondered what could have gone differently, Hearts of Iron IV is where you find out. Pick a nation, open its focus tree and start preparing for the war that is coming. The outcome is yours to decide.
