Hearts of Iron 4 are one of the most currently popular grand strategy games which are available on Steam now. When you look at stats you could see that in the last months there are like 40k – 50k active players. In this article, we will show you why is HOI4 so popular.
But let’s start with stats…
… HOI4 came to market in 2016 so it’s 6 years and the player base still growing.
Paradox Interactive
The one of best think is the developer of this game. I like how Paradox takes care of their games. Gradually we get new DLCs, where the basic game mechanics are more or less changed. More countries are coming into the game, which has their decision trees.
Since the start, we get 7 big DLC that changes focus trees or which add new mechanics. There is a list:
| DLC name | Date of publish |
|---|---|
| Together for Victory | December 15th, 2016 |
| Death or Dishonor | June 14th, 2017 |
| Waking the Tiger | March 8th, 2018 |
| Man the Guns | February 28th, 2019 |
| La Résistance | February 25th, 2020 |
| Battle For The Bosporus | October 15th, 2020 |
| No Step Back | November 23rd, 2021 |
| By Blood Alone | September 27th, 2022 |
But the DLC here is not just for paying players. With each DLC a smaller patch comes out with fixes or possibly smaller news for each player. So I think Paradox is doing an excellent job here, and it’s one of the main reasons HOI IV is so popular.
Game design
HOI4 is beautifully balanced in terms of game design. I find that most of the game mechanics are set up well. You gradually learn the game in greater detail until you get your own “hacks”.
If you don’t play as the aggressor from the start and you try to defend for example France, the Czech Republic, or Poland so you will have everything easier because you don’t have to plan attacks. This aspect of the game you gradually add.
Well, I commend HOI4, but I have to say I don’t understand the Navy at all practically even if you find some way to get to it. What I like is that we still have new mechanic updates. For example, the last update changed the supply method drastically and from what I see in the developer diaries, we are going to see some redesign of the planes soon.
One observation I will not allow myself to make is that unlike other Paradox games – here we play for a fairly clearly defined period in history and the game from start to finish can be played in 5 – 8 hours, so it can be played faster and more intensely.
Community, mods
What makes the game significantly better is the community, which is bringing more and more people to the game. We can come across many discord servers, groups, and content creators who are dedicated to HOI4.
My favorite content creators are:
- FeedBackGaming
- Alex The Rambler!
- TommyKay
Following the example of Cities Skylines, I must also highlight the modes that appear in the game, which are available on Steam Workshop. When you get tired of the base game, you can play any alternate history or alternate future.
