Deep, detailed WW2 simulation
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“Is the only game about WW2 who allows the player to fully control the military, economy and diplomacy of any country in the world at that time.”
Steam review · 920.7 h played ↗
Hearts of Iron III
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Mostly Positive · 71%Mostly Positive · 71%Paradox Development Studio2009Grand Strategy · Strategy · Simulation
$9.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 53 min ago
The verdict
A deep, brutally complex WW2 grand strategy sim with great order-of-battle and logistics, but it often crashes or won't launch on modern PCs and needs DLC. Skip it if you want accessible.
Great for
Hardcore strategy fans who love micromanagement, logistics and detailed WW2 simulation, ideally with BlackICE
Main risk
Crashes or won't launch on modern systems, plus a steep learning curve and DLC-locked features
What players love
Preferred over HoI4 by hardcore fans
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“Divisions actually mean something - you can't pump out hundreds of divisions as any nation, and even as the great powers you're constrained by historical plausibility.”
Steam review · 205.7 h played ↗
Huge replayability and freedom
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews
“THE POSSIBLITIES ARE ENDLESS!”
Steam review · 298.2 h played ↗
Rewarding micromanagement and order of battle
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews
“the thrill of Micromanaging your own units individually is a lot more rewarding than hoi4's automation”
Steam review · 29.7 h played ↗
Great mods like BlackICE
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“This game, with the black ice mod, is the most addictive game I've ever played.”
Steam review · 599.9 h played ↗
Cheap, good value
Mentioned in ~1 in 25 positive reviews
“Goes on sale for about 3 dollars and the addons and mods are very cheap and great to use.”
Steam review · 4 h played ↗
What players complain about
Won't launch or crashes on modern systems
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“Paradox left this game in a broken state with severe crashes and resolution issues on modern operating systems.”
Steam review · 1.9 h played ↗
Tedious micromanagement and clunky UI
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“requiring you to babysit an exhaustive order of battle for thirty minutes just to nudge a single division toward the front.”
Steam review · 37.3 h played ↗
Key content locked behind many DLCs
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 negative reviews
“You are forced to buy the expansions just to get basic mechanics and fixes that should have been in the vanilla game.”
Steam review · 4.3 h played ↗
Abandoned, unfixed and poorly optimized
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 negative reviews
“Because the developers abandoned the game to focus on sequels, major performance bugs and AI flaws were left permanently unfixed”
Steam review · 5 h played ↗
Boring, railroaded and repetitive
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 negative reviews
“Cluttered with meaningless details and railroaded gameplay.”
Steam review · 127.8 h played ↗
Steep learning curve, poor explanation
Mentioned in ~1 in 21 negative reviews
“The game barely explains its own mechanics, so a new player is basically expected to read guides, watch tutorials and study the interface before they can even start enjoying the game.”
Steam review · 2.7 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Unsupported2 GB
Minimum
OSMicrosoft® Windows® 2000/XP/Vista
ProcessorIntel Pentium IV 2.4 GHz or AMD 3500+
Memory2 GB of RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon X1900 videocard
Storage2 GB
OSMicrosoft® Windows® 2000/XP/Vista
ProcessorIntel Pentium IV 2.4 GHz or AMD 3500+
Memory2 GB of RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon X1900 videocard
Storage2 GB
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