Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung Review

Hearts of Iron IV has been going strong as the premier WW2 grand-strategy game on the market. Joked as being a 'spreadsheet simulator,' Hearts of Iron IV is a great strategy game that lets you take command of almost any country in the timeframe encompassing the greater events of WW2. It also delves deep into a lot of the intricacies of leading a wartime nation. From managing supply to ensuring stability remains high enough. Safe to say, your task as the leader does not just end at the war room. With the release of its newest DLC, Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung that task has just got harder.

The game also saw both great and terrible expansion packs. Together for Victory introduced an autonomy system for Britain and her colonies and focused on most of the colonies. Death or Dishonor and Waking the Tiger focused on the Balkans and China, respectively. The latter DLC was well received, mostly for its expansion of China.

These DLCs were later integrated into the base game so that the developers could assume everyone owned them and work based on that. Country packs were smaller-scale DLCs that added content for specific nations, while overall content was reserved for the main DLCs. 

This included the fan-favorite Man the Guns, which expanded the Naval Systems, and La Resistance, which added an espionage system. Later came No Step Back and By Blood Alone, which greatly expanded the tank, supply, and air systems. The newest DLC, Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung, adds similar things, greatly shifting the dynamics of the game.

In Hearts of Iron IV, you take command of an entire nation and have almost supreme control of its population, resources, and military. Your early game starts off with building civilian and military factories, dockyards, and infrastructure. There's only so much space, so you'll have to decide where you want to focus.

You'll also handle the politics and course of the country, decided mainly through national focuses that are basically government policies, giving different events, bonuses, and many other things. All the while, you'll have to keep up with technologies and manufacture weapons and other equipment. Equipment gets used up, lost, or just plain destroyed, especially when you're at war, so it's a good idea to start stockpiling them early.

Eventually, you will have to train units, designing them down to the individual battalion or company. For tanks and planes, you'll get to design them with the right DLC, too. When at war, you can assign units under generals and field marshals, and with special troops like paratroopers and marines, you can paradrop or navally invade enemies.

You'll have to watch out for supply, however, as having too many units in an area will consume too much supplies. With Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung, some of this is expanded. There are some key targets, such as canals, dams and oil fields, on which you can conduct raids. 

These raids can be done by air bombing them or by dropping paratroopers onto them. The final, more devastating option is conducting a nuclear strike on them, adding further use to the somewhat boring nuclear mechanics of the game.

Through Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung, researching things like nuclear tech is also expanded upon with the Experimental Facilities. Here, you get some special experiment techs split into four categories. These are nuclear research, naval engineering, land engineering, and air engineering. These techs can be researched if you have the facilities of the same name built. 

Furthermore, these facilities can now have scientists assigned to them, essentially leading the projects. Experimental research adds a new layer to research in general, letting you play out your own Oppenheimer. It is a very cool addition for those who like to larp or mod.

Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung mainly adds reworked focus trees for Germany, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and the Belgian Congo. The Germans already had a boastful focus tree consisting of a few alt-hist paths. With the DLC, you have an ultra-large tree that can scroll on and on. 

The main additions here are the expanded alternate history paths, which include the monarchist, communist, and democratic paths. The fascist path, as well as the other parts of the tree, also received a touch-up.

These focuses essentially let you focus more on characters and individual personalities rather than control the nation as an omnipotent god without any care for who's leading the nation. The new paths are much more grounded, giving more opportunities and generally adding more choices, events, and consequences to work on.

The new Austrian and Hungarian trees have also expanded from their Death & Dishonor self. If you have played that DLC, those focuses basically serve as a framework, with the same amount of effort going into these national focuses. Both nations see ample additions and expansions within the tree, adding a lot of content, just like the German one.

The victor, however, is Belgium and its colony, the Congo, which went to lengths to create a nice dynamic between the two just with focus. Previously, the two nations had barely anything in terms of content, with the latter not even existing. So it's nice to be able to play them with so much choice.

That being said, almost all the focuses suffer from the same problem that most DLCs create: power creep and certain lacking elements, especially when compared to the astounding things mods pull off. A lot of the newer mechanics are also not really useful for nations outside Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung, barring maybe the major allies and the Soviets, but even then, it's questionable.

The two new mechanics in Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung, be it the Raids or the experimental research, need you to invest in them separately, but overall, they're quite fun. The experimental research mechanic needs you to micro a lot for gains that don't do too much. 

The Raids, on the other hand, are niche but great additions for those who really like another approach to combat. At least against the AI, you can rely on raids and larp as the SAS, French, and Norwegian Commandos, and more, and conduct raids on key facilities owned by the enemy. Speaking of the AI, Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung has a pretty competent AI now, all things considered.

The other content packs from the expansion pack are also good enough. The Ride of the Valkyrie music pack adds Wagner's most famous song in an interesting arrangement. The music fits the theme of the DLC, so it gets the job done.

As for graphical additions, many of the focuses look better than ever. Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung probably has the best focus on graphics and art. The color schemes are also nice, with each similar focus grouped visually, either by similar elements or by being color-coded.

Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung implements super weapons in a cool and niche way, although a lot of it works best when paired with other DLCs. The game also has some minor additions, such as the use of wonders for the major capitals. It will give you stats and bonuses for the Eiffel Tower, Brandenburg Gate, Big Ben, and more.

Overall, Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung is one of Paradox's better ones, giving you access to a wide variety of content and expanding the grand strategy brand. It wouldn't be a paradox DLC if it didn't have its hiccups, but regardless, it's a fine addition to Hearts of Iron IV. With the price tag, things might seem a bit excessive, but it's definitely worth it, especially when you consider Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung has a lot to offer in terms of content comparable to Man the Guns and No Step Back.