Hearts of Iron IV - Previews, articles, interviews & videos

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Regina

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Hey everyone!

Here I´ll try and gather all previews, articles and interviews for our WWII-game Hearts of Iron IV :)
If you see articles I have missed, feel free to comment and let me know!

Hearts of Iron IV is planned for a late Q2 release 2015.

Cheers,
regina

Hearts of Iron IV Hands-on previews from PDXCon15

Redeeming the Third Reich (or not) in Hearts of Iron 4/IGN
”Even having only played for a couple hours, Hearts of Iron 4 is already one of those games I think about in my spare moments. Modern warfare on this scale has never been so finely modeled while still being relatively accessible and logistically forgiving.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/23/redeeming-the-third-reich-or-not-in-hearts-of-iron-4

Hearts of Iron 4 is shaping up to make "The Good War" a great one/PCGamesN
”...it was a tremendous first act, and, considering I was managing one of the largest economies and complex war machines in the 20th century, a surprisingly elegant and intuitive experience. Hearts of Iron 4 did a great job of making sure I knew what I could do and why I might want to do it, so that I was always free to focus on figuring out exactly what I should do. And that’s exactly what a game like this is all about.
http://www.pcgamesn.com/hearts-of-iron-iv/hearts-of-iron-4-is-the-good-war-made-great

Hands On: Hearts Of Iron IV - The best laid plans/Rock Paper Shotgun
"In less than an hour, I prevented World War II by screwing up the invasion of Poland so efficiently that the French army had marched into Berlin by 1938. I’d been following scripted historical goals – y’know, remilitarising the Rhineland, the Anschluss, the kind of to-do list that caused me to wince everytime I glanced at it – but had jumped the gun somewhat, declaring war before my troops were fully prepared. In the final moments, the French invasion on the Western Front was pushing my troops back faster than I could push into the East."
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/02/24/hands-on-hearts-of-iron-iv/

Hearts of Iron IV hands-on preview: I would make a horrible Hitler/PCWorld
”The bottom line is: It's Hearts of Iron. It's a hardcore World War II sim for people who presumably love Band of Brothers and early-2000s History Channel, who maybe own an M1 Garand and have read Stalingrad multiple times. It's not light and endearing in the same way as Crusader Kings II, nor is it the slow dance of monarchs that is Europa Universalis IV. It's war, war, and more war. A Great War, if you will.”
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2887...nds-on-preview-i-would-make-a-horrible-hitler

Nick Horth has a heart of iron, but a brain of damp cotton wool/Gamewatcher
”If Hearts of Iron 4 can effectively juggle all those different systems (and if the new battle plan system can avoid automating too much of the combat), then it could be the game that sets the franchise on equal footing with Paradox’s heavy hitters.”
http://www.gamewatcher.com/previews/hearts-of-iron-iv-preview/12158

Rewriting The Second World War With Hearts Of Iron IV Fools rush in./The Sixth Axis
”There’s an incredible degree of depth to the game that will be almost baffling to a newcomer – hence my abject failure to conquer Poland – and yet, for me there’s a distinct appeal to the grand scope and scale of waging these wars.”
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2015/02/23/rewriting-the-second-world-war-with-hearts-of-iron-iv/

What it's like playing as Hitler in Hearts of Iron 4/Eurogamer
”Hearts of Iron 4 is all about guiding a nation of your choice through the period of the Second World War. Events are likely, but not certain, to take a course similar to that of history. I decide one of the better things I can do is form a non-aggression pact with Sweden. As a surprisingly pretty sunset rolls across western Europe, my soldiers stare longingly into France, dreaming of what could be.”
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-02-23-what-its-like-playing-as-hitler-in-hearts-of-iron-4

Förhandstitt: Hearts of Iron IV / FZ
”Och bättre ska det bli – inte ens på detta tidiga stadium råder det något tvekan om Hearts of Iron IV har möjligheten att kunna flörta med både kompletta noobs och gamla inbitna veteraner. Det är inte heller någon tvekan om att jag tillhör den första kategorin: jag lyckades aldrig få igång något krig mot Polen, utan får vänta tills efter release innan jag utkräver min rättmätiga hämnd.”
http://www.fz.se/artiklar/forhandstitt/20150223/hearts-of-iron-iv

Hearts of Iron 4 – Provato/Everyeye.it
http://www.everyeye.it/pc/articoli/hearts-of-iron-4_provato_24967

Hearts of Iron 4 – Provato/Spaziogames.it
http://www.spaziogames.it/recensioni_videogiochi/console_pc/17496/hearts-of-iron-iv.aspx

Preview Hearts Of Iron 4 : plus question de laisser les Sudètes?
http://www.jeuxvideopc.com/jeux/hearts-of-iron-4/preview-test-hearts-of-iron-4.html

Angespielt: Hearts of Iron 4/GamersGlobal
http://www.gamersglobal.de/news/96240/angespielt-hearts-of-iron-4


Live streams at Paradox Interactive Twitch channel:
http://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive

Live stream videos at ParadoxExtra at Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqRhPbyFDQWh1wxHWZvnwkTZTZKaztKrS

Gamescom 2014 Previews

Hearts of Iron 4 preview: playing with logistics, production and politics in World War 2/PC Gamer
”It's slick and clever, and while there's not much, visually, to the moment that troops clash, the point of conflict in HoI is an almost incidental result of a vast continent-wide engineering effort. It's a game about careful, detailed state organisation and top-level strategy. You pull arrows across the map with a push of the mouse, painting out your strategy with sweeping gestures that give physical form to the feelings of power and control that drive a good grand strategy game.”
http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/previews/hearts-of-iron-4-preview-playing-with-logistics-production-and-politics-in-world-war-2/

Hearts of Iron IV preview at Rock, Paper, Shotgun
”Creating the necessary armies is as simple as choosing factory output. The aim, or so it appears to me, is to provide control of the bigger picture. If you want to produce lots of cheap, easily replacable tanks, have factories churn out basic units and ignore the new research that rolls in. To create an advanced military, factories must be refitted so that they can handle modern production techniques and create new components – this will slow down production for a while, as it takes a while to get new lines up to speed, but the finished article will be more effective.
This should give each nation a ‘personality’ of sorts, whether it be suited to blitzkrieg, a brutal meatgrinder defensive approach or sophisticated support and air superiority techniques. Decisions made on the tech tree can reflect and bolster a particular approach, or allow players to pursue new options, reacting to their changing status as the war rumbles toward terrible conclusions.”
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/08/20/hearts-of-iron-iv-war-strategy/

Hearts of Iron IV preview: Prepare for war - preview at HookedGamers
”Now you can assign generals to different groups in order to more effectively carry out your orders. Have a large group of armor poised to roll through Belgium? Attach a general who has experience with armor operations and your armored divisions will receive a bonus. Even better, is that it is very easy to create and modify a battleplan on the fly. With a few simple clicks and dragging of the mouse, you can easily create a battleplan in no time at all. However, the longer you wait before you commence a battleplan, the more effective your divisions will be.”
http://www.hookedgamers.com/pc/hearts_of_iron_iv/preview/article-1242.html

Hearts Of Iron IV declares war on tedious micromanagement/ preview at Dealspwn
”Doctrines let you choose an overall direction for your country, based heavily on real philosophies from the period Politics will also play a major role in your victory. National Goals can be chosen and worked towards, acting like unique mini-missions for each specific leader with a recognisable historical objective that's chronologically accurate as well as some dynamic random options. Using Germany as our example again, Hitler can remilitarise the Rhineland zone, which echoes real events, before moving onto Poland, Czechoslovakia and the like. Doing so rewards you with a new resource, Political Power, which can be used to sway your ministers or bring real World War II policy-makers on-side.
Will you side with Karl Dönitz and focus your warfare on insidious U-Boat scare tactics? Conversely, you could make Walther Wever your right hand man, who was a proponent of massive bombings before he died in a plane crash. Without his influence, Germany eventually found themselves without the super-heavy bombers developed by the United States, and at an aerial disadvantage. You, however, could potentially heed his advice and see whether it might have tipped the tide in the Fuhrer's favour.”
http://www.dealspwn.com/preview-hearts-iron-iv-180724

Hearts of Iron IV Gamescom Preview at Gamegrin
"The Swedish team are enjoying something of a golden age at the moment, bolstered by increasingly accessible yet (dare I say) paradoxically challenging video games that seem to be both appeasing long time fans and attracting plenty of new followers to the cause (myself obviously included). HOIIV looks to be the culmination of this newfound success, and for Paradox it could be the game to really break through the ‘niche’ boundaries of the past. People love WW2 as a setting, both gamers and history buffs, so combine that endlessly interesting time period with the ever-fantastic modern Paradox grand strategy mechanics and you’ve got a game that’s difficult not to get excited over. The worse thing about the whole situation is that we have to wait until Q1 of next year to play it. Synchronize watches folks, this should be a doozy."
http://www.gamegrin.com/previews/hearts-of-iron-iv-gamescom-preview/

PDXCon 2014

Hearts of Iron IV Interview with Project Lead Dan Lind at Softpedia

Softpedia: What are the main changes made to the way armies are produced in Hearts of Iron IV?
Dan Lind: Hearts of Iron IV introduces two new concepts: Production Lines and Equipment, such as a Tiger tank or a P-51 Mustang fighter. A production line is a collection of factories set up to produce a specific equipment type. The more of a specific piece of equipment it builds, the more efficient it gets and the more quickly these units will get to the front as reinforcements or new divisions.
The tricky bit is that switching a production line over from, say, a Panzer III to a Panzer IV tank requires changes that drastically reduce the effectiveness of the line. New tanks mean new tools and new parts.
Players will therefore be faced with a lot of tough decisions on whether or when to switch over their factories to a shiny new model or keep producing masses of equipment from their already optimized production lines. Historically, the Germans tended to switch their tank versions much more frequently than the Soviets, for example. So you had masses of T-34s facing a wide range of German armor that was powerful but not efficiently made.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Excl...rview-with-Project-Lead-Dan-Lind-430287.shtml

Hearts of Iron IV Q&A, with Dan Lind

"The biggest lesson we learned going from Hearts of Iron II to Hearts of Iron III was the fact that more isn’t always better than less. If we are increasing the complexity of the gameplay, then we really need to give players the right tools to work with the new features and give them understanding enough to grasp the potential of the new tools.
On the other hand, going back to Hearts of Iron II, I feel that the map detail is very limited and that makes warfare less interesting than in Hearts of Iron III. So now when we are designing Hearts of Iron IV, we have looked at what worked really well in the two previous games, taken ideas from both games and combined it with new ideas that will hopefully satisfy players of both games and create a completely new WW2 experience."
http://www.matchstickeyes.com/2014/02/21/hearts-of-iron-iv-qa-with-dan-lind/

World At War: Hearts Of Iron IV at Rock,Paper,Shotgun

"At present, the demonstration model is designed to show off the new planning mode and it has been designed to replicate the actions of an actual WW II leader, placing arrows from divisional structures to points of attack and defence. A couple of clicks and a flick of the wrist are sufficient to set up the invasion or blockade of Poland, and phased orders are available to organise the timing for aerial support, branching manoeuvres and the like."http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01/31/world-at-war-hearts-of-iron-iv/Returning to World War II with Hearts of Iron IV
“Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV were polished titles that managed to be welcoming, despite the many interlocking systems that players needed to get to grips with. Now they are going back to Hearts of Iron, and even after only having a hands-off demonstration with it for half an hour, I’m already confident that it’s going to grip me in a way its predecessor never could.
The rumblings of war are spreading across Europe, something is about to go down, and it’s going to change the world dramatically. It’s 1936 and I’m staring at a very pretty map.”
http://www.awesomeoutof10.com/games/returning-to-world-war-ii-with-hearts-of-iron-iv/

Hearts of Iron 4 preview - High Command
“Paradox Development Studio pride themselves on making games “that are not for everyone”. Nothing may have illustrated that more than my brief hands-off demo of the upcoming World War 2 grand strategy game, Hearts of Iron 4. Paradox gave us a presentation only a wargaming die-hard could love. And love it I did.”
http://www.pcgamesn.com/hearts-iron-4-preview-high-command

Hearts of Iron IV Preview at Strategy Informer
"Hearts of Iron IV was the major announcement to come out of Paradox's annual convention this year. Given that it's not actually slated for release until early 2015, I was worried that there wasn't going to be enough to show off that would really allow me to appreciate what the guys were doing with the game. I was wrong. Let's be clear - it's still very early days for HoI4, so there wasn't much to show apart from the campaign map, battleplans, and some of the management interfaces. But it was enough. The map alone is a bit of a revelation, and has to be seen to be believed. "
http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/heartsofironiv/1089/preview.html

Hearts of Iron 4 first look: a slick return for the veteran World War 2 strategy series - Preview at PC Gamer
"A buff 3.0 edition of the Clauswitz engine powers the sandbox. The oppressive grey backgrounds of old have been replaced by muted colours, and an adaptive interface that outlines and shades countries depending on your zoom level. A night/day sine wave washes slowly across the map, separating the brushed iron surface into sunlit and blue moonlit zones. The units are no longer featureless rectangles, but tiny models that can be guided around with multi-phase battle plans. These are sculpted with stretched, curving arrows and broken lines, depicting troop movements and battle lines respectively. I'm surprised Paradox haven't put out any screenshots yet; this is a very inviting strategy game."
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/01/30/hearts-of-iron-4-first-look-a-slick-return-for-the-veteran-world-war-2-strategy-series/

Enjoy World War II? Enter Hearts of Iron IV
"Paradox is planning on Hearts of Iron IV to be more open-ended than its predecessors, in turn delivering a sandbox experience that does not rely too heavily on simply reiterating genuine events of the time period. There are also talks of allowing players to establish their own goals within a campaign, essentially allowing players to each have their own unique interpretation of World War II play out before their eyes. Want to play as Germany and have them join the allies? How about having Great Britain subscribe to Communism? How about having Mexico attempt to annex Brazil? These are all possibilities, offering players countless scenarios in which they decide the fate of their respective country rather than the game deciding for them. And while the game does span between the years of 1936 to 1948, Paradox is focusing extensively on providing more options for players towards choosing how they would like their game to conclude this time around. -http://gamerhorizon.com/enjoy-world-war-ii-enter-hearts-iron-iv/

Hearts of Iron IV report from Paradox Con/IncGamers
"We just wrapped up a demo of Hearts of Iron IV and thought we’d share some of the features that were shown to us by Dan Lind, the Project Lead on the new strategy title from Paradox Development Studio."
http://www.incgamers.com/2014/01/hearts-of-iron-iv-report-from-paradox-con

Going through World War II with Hearts of Iron IV/Destructoid
"The neatest addition to Hearts of Iron IV has to be the battle plan system. Zoomed all the way into your country, you'll find it broken down in provinces, upon which you can place a unit (strategically, you'll want infantry in forests, tanks in flat lands, and so on). You can control your units in a simple fell swoop with the battle plan feature that lets you draw arrows to orient your units and then hit execute to have them follow the plan."
http://www.destructoid.com/going-through-world-war-ii-with-hearts-of-iron-iv-269487.phtml

Paradox Con round-up: Hearts of Iron 4, Runemaster, and expansions for CK2 and EU4
"A Hearts of Iron 4 announcement, you say? Best bring out the Churchill."
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/01/23/p...-4-runemaster-and-expansions-for-ck2-and-eu4/

Multiplayer.it: HEARTS OF IRON IV ANTEPRIMA LE CANNONATE DI PARADOX
Torna con un quarto capitolo il grand strategy dedicato alla Seconda Guerra Mondiale
http://multiplayer.it/articoli/127814-hearts-of-iron-iv-le-cannonate-di-paradox.html

Hearts of Iron IV - Interview with project lead Dan Lind at Gamescom 2014
[video=youtube;QuB44iAEMb4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuB44iAEMb4[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuB44iAEMb4

Hearts of Iron 4 - Gameplay World Premiere
[video=youtube;LxGNpPz_W2A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxGNpPz_W2A[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxGNpPz_W2A

ParadoxLive 0016 - Hearts of Iron 4 - The Map
[video=youtube;mOWrZqlsJBw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOWrZqlsJBw[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOWrZqlsJBw

Hearts of Iron IV - "Tanks for the Inspiration!"
[video=youtube;Q1bvX2-XrAQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1bvX2-XrAQ[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCeEy1IFyX4

[video=youtube;OCeEy1IFyX4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCeEy1IFyX4[/video]

ParadoxLive 0014 - Hearts of Iron 4 Q&A
[video=youtube;15Fxaax41t4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Fxaax41t4[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Fxaax41t4

Paradox Live 0006 - Hearts of Iron 4, discussing the early stuff
[video=youtube;hwFvVM_zZxQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwFvVM_zZxQ[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwFvVM_zZxQ

Hearts of Iron IV - Interview with project lead Dan Lind at Gamereactor TV
[video=youtube;oTOlj0-lo8o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTOlj0-lo8o[/video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTOlj0-lo8o

PDXCon '14 Vlog: Hearts of Iron IV, Warlock 2, Magicka: WW, & More! by AngryJoe!
"Here are the Upcoming Games I saw at Paradox's Con 2014 & my Impressions!"
[video=youtube;GJ5aNIEDbPw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ5aNIEDbPw[/video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ5aNIEDbPw

Hearts of Iron 4, CK2: Rajas of India, and EU4: Wealth of Nations Preview!
[video=youtube;jsBLPHY4-Ww]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsBLPHY4-Ww [/video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsBLPHY4-Ww

Paradox Convention News: Hearts of Iron 4, CK2, EU4 and more! by Quill18
[video=youtube;G5mlFGTd4i4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5mlFGTd4i4[/video]

To learn more about Hearts of Iron IV:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Heartsofiron
Web page: http://www.heartsofiron4.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hoi_game
 
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As I was reading the articels...
I still hope we can choose if we want micro everything. This "cut-down-micro" idea makes me scared.
Also that you have to choose a nation doctrine. I hope you still will be able to "unlock" other things, cause I imagine a Germany, blitzing Europe succesful, without ability to switch their army to some other doctrine, when they have to hold shores in France and plains in Sovietunion.
I hope its not going back to less player freedom with such things like in HOI2.


EDIT:
Now I watched the first video above. This reporter says PI want make the game more accessable for new players, while PI always said there are not making games for everyone and beeing proud of it.
That reminds me on the step from Red Orchestra 1 to Red Orchestra 2. Everybody who plays/ed this games know what I mean. RO2 looks really more pretty, has better mechanics, but the lacks are even more felt about content.
Please Paradox, its, you know :happy:, hardcore-strategy about counts and calculation. The average player from today will still prefer Battlefield and CoD, or lets say C&C and such stuff, whatever you do.
Please, make it even more deep!
Secondly, as I understood, they sent a reporter to a HOI4 conference and he were not playing HOI3? Blasphemie....hehe
 
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Well, it's true. Same information regurgitated in about 6-7 articles.

Here's hoping February brings the start of DDs, or at least another media preview/interview.

It isn't offensive. Just saying that there is lots of repetition.

It's a warning to others who want to read all previews.

Apologies though if I did come off as rude.

No problem. Regurgitate has a negative meaning. You could have used repeated instead


regurgitate
/rɪˈgəːdʒɪteɪt/
verb
past tense: regurgitated; past participle: regurgitated
1. bring (swallowed food) up again to the mouth.
"gulls regurgitate food for the chicks"
synonyms: vomit, bring up, disgorge; Morearchaicregorge "a ruminant continually regurgitates food from its stomach"

•repeat (information) without analysing or comprehending it.
"facts which can then be regurgitated at examinations"
synonyms: repeat, say again, restate, recapitulate, iterate, reiterate, recite, rehearse, parrot
 
There was maybe an idea of rumination - he expected a new flavour in each communication :) and he had to chew the same news again.
Actually, I received the link to the trailer in an email my first impression was ... archive pictures, not a game ! And I did feel disappointed, and found the same info here.

Therefore I'd say msaaim89 did express a true feeling about not finding something like we had - in the development diary of previous versions, maybe. Something that makes us feel like we DID see under the dress !

The word "repetition" would not hint at the craving for a new flavour, an new favor ... It's not what he said that is negative, it's the feeling he had ! He's asking for something, and I'd say he is right !

(I want screeeeeenies ! was followed by a bad smiley, see how facial expressions seem more justified to our mammalian brains :)

(I am lecturing, I know. I'll buy it anyway)
 
There was maybe an idea of rumination - he expected a new flavour in each communication :) and he had to chew the same news again.
Actually, I received the link to the trailer in an email my first impression was ... archive pictures, not a game ! And I did feel disappointed, and found the same info here.

Therefore I'd say msaaim89 did express a true feeling about not finding something like we had - in the development diary of previous versions, maybe. Something that makes us feel like we DID see under the dress !

The word "repetition" would not hint at the craving for a new flavour, an new favor ... It's not what he said that is negative, it's the feeling he had ! He's asking for something, and I'd say he is right !

(I want screeeeeenies ! was followed by a bad smiley, see how facial expressions seem more justified to our mammalian brains :)

(I am lecturing, I know. I'll buy it anyway)

The game is not even in alpha stage. I don't think you can see much screenies
 
No offense guys but i thought the we will never surrender speech would have been more fitting
 
based on what we see in the first video (angryjoe) the borders are looking truly horrible. perhaps worse than hearts of iron 3. How hard is it to make the provinces accurate? just take the ACTUAL borders and split them up. Darkes Hour has PERFECT borders. just take those provinces, and split them up. PLEASE don't torture me like this.
hoi4.png
hoi4a.png
DH.png
I mean just look at the polish corridor. or SLOVAKIA!? it literally looks like you made a sketch, and a bad one at that. the new content sounds amazing, but WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE MAP?????
 
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based on what we see in the first video (angryjoe) the borders are looking truly horrible. perhaps worse than hearts of iron 3. How hard is it to make the provinces accurate? just take the ACTUAL borders and split them up. Darkes Hour has PERFECT borders. just take those provinces, and split them up. PLEASE don't torture me like this.
---
I mean just look at the polish corridor. or SLOVAKIA!? it literally looks like you made a sketch, and a bad one at that. the new content sounds amazing, but WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE MAP?????

For the guys saying the borders are wierd - we know :) we havent tweaked out the province borders at all in europe yet :) I hope you liked what little you could see of the visual look though

Have some faith :)
 
Have some faith :)
I think you just saved me a heart attack, lol.
But I'm still very weary on this subject. Honestly i don't see a reason for HoI3 to have had such a innacurate map, and EU4 also has a horrible map (compared to the MEIOU map) so just podcat saying they will "tweak" them doesn't promise me much. here is hoping though. i won't lose any sleep over it because of you, jat85. cheers