Buy Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game

Darkest Hour is one of my favourite games, hands down. but why? I think I will list them in bullet points to make it simple
-Compared to HOI III it is much less complex and much, much easier to follow
-Graphically compared to HOI II it is a massive improvement. However, I also think that compared to HOI III it looks much better, but thats just my opinion, you should look at screenshots if graphics are important to you

-I find the game to be Historically accurate, with interesting scenarios that can happen, caused by the player or sometimes not caused by the player at all.

-The WWI senario also has an interesting amount of choices which no matter who you're playing as will have an interesting affect to the game as a whole, and are plausible

-The WW2 scenario is pretty good though I always want to think of alternate events that can happen etc. etc. and there are certainly some missed oppertunities, but nothing major.

-Mods, firstly the AAR mod, which gives the player an extended timeline from 1914 until 1964

-Mod33 a French mod that gives new nations, new events, new units, new desicions, it is a very good mod, however the event text is in French, so it is also a way to practice your French

-Modern Day scenario, a very good mod, as it says you get a modern day scenario, with all new techs, all new Units, and a load of new events, not to mention all new leaders,

-And Finally Kaisrreich, firstly no 2 Kaiserreich games are the same, they always turn out different, in one the USA becomes Syndicalist (no communists), in another the Qing Empire re-unite China, in another game you might see an independent Siberia, chanes are you will see many of these in a single game, you might also see none

-Kaiserreich is an extremely interesting scenario, the Central Powers win WW1 and you believe that scenario, in fact it is done so well, to the point where I remember someone on the forums saying "I don't play Kaiserreich that often, but when I do, I forget real History"

With the 1.03 patch we have plenty of scenarios, including the 1945 one wich is fun to play !
In my opinion is better than HoI3 because is easier to learn and the UI is really friendly for new players . Unlike Hearts of Iron 3 you can have different aproaches on the game , based on your decisions , a communist Germany for example right from the beginnig of the 1933 scenario !

On the official forum you can find many mods wich can extend the regular timeline of the game , for example New World Order 2 mod ( a Cold War Mod ) and Modern Day scenario mod !
Alternate history:Kaiserreich (What if Germany had won the First World War )
Fatherland (What if Germany had won the Second World War )

All in all I really recommend Darkest Hour !

This is THE BEST GAME EVER.
Firstly, even excluding mods it covers:
- WWI
- WWII, including a two pre-war startdates
- Beginings of Cold War/post WWII restructuring of the world stage.

Second, the features are awesome. You can trade and claim land, determine your government type, install puppet nations, preform espionage, and found alliances.
It has a boat-load of events and decisions, too. And they are not deterministic, the game is not a complete sandbox, but it has several alternative paths, nations, and events for several senarios.

Best of all, its entirely moddable, and has some amazing mods. It has mods to improve each senario and even a killer mod to add in Cold War Senarios and events.

And the best thing? Its still being worked on~

It's basically an improved Hearts of Iron II, extended timeline, you can activate events at will, and the research tree seems far better.

TLDR: It's a fun grand strategy at the top most level for every country in the second world war, from 1933 to 1964 (if I remember correctly)

Darkest Hour is definitely a better HoI game than HoI3, despite its age. There's no unnecessarily complex OoB system that you'd need to graduate West Point to master, there aren't a billion shapeless provinces in sparsely populated areas, and although the map and UI are pretty dated they're comfy to use. In contrast to the dryness of HoI3 which has maybe half a dozen decisions solely for the purpose of railroading the AI into doing what it's supposed to do, DH has plenty of dynamic event chains, and it feels like you're really impacting the world. DH also has more of a sandboxy feel to it, with different outcomes every game, but in HoI3 once you've played each of the 3 factions you've more or less experienced it all. Then there's the timespan, with a grand campaign in DH potentially lasting from 1914-1964, 50 years, compared to 1936-1948, or 12 years, in HoI3. And last, but definitely not least, DH is tremendously easier to mod than HoI3, and so has a very active and skilled modding community. Which brings me to my last point:

Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg. The amount of detail put into this alternate-history mod for Darkest Hour is pretty stunning, and is definitely a justification all on its own for buying the game. If you have even a slight interest in alt-history, you'd be doing yourself a huge favor by picking this up and installing KR.

The base game is easily a 9/10, but Kaiserreich bumps that up to a 10/10.

Exceptional. I only wish the modders would keep putting out more updates. That being said its the best Grand Strategy game ever made. Endless replay value. Countless "What if" potential to remake history.

I find this game better than Hearts of Iron 3. I always was very found of Hearts of Iron 2, and this game makes it better. If you're a fan of grand strategy games and of games based on the World Wars, then this is a must buy. One of the best time wasters on steam.

Damn, this game is so good. It was the first Paradox game I ever tried, and although there is a "learning curve", the events and gameplay compesate for any incovience and awkwardness in the begginning. Also, the mods (e.g. Kaiserreich, NW2) add another touch to the game, especially Kaiserreich, with it's alternate WWI theme.

11/10

It's a good remake of Hearts of Iron 2.
If you think there is not enough content you can just download some mods like Kaiserreich,1914 or Fatherland.
The game isn't the most beautifill,but looks decent.
The interface is not userfriendly but you can get used to it in like 15 minutes.
If you like challenge you can play as a small country like Guatemala or play as a big one like Germany.
It's a great game overall,not perfect just great.
Also Germany took over Greece.
It's a 8.5/10 game

The music in this game makes you want to invade Poland.

10/10

The pinnacle of World War era grand strategy games with scenarios spanning approximately 1914-1960. An astounding amount of depth and possibilities will keep the game fresh for many, many hours of gameplay.

If you are determined enough, anything could happen; but what will the consequences be?

Low price with lots of content. 10/10.

Great game - but how on earth do you delete saved games?

Imperialism simulator 2011.

Up among the very best strategy games i have ever played, and will buy the new without a doubt but only thing negativ about this gam eis it's graphics but hopefully the new game will do better in that aspect :)

This game is great.
More content than Hearts of Iron II.
I can play in full HD resolution with Windows 8.1 64 bit, but there are some laggy issue, however.

If you have many "what if" questions about the Great War and the Second World War. Buy this game and you won't regret.

I have no idea what I am doing.

Fantastic game. Great variety of countries, units, tactics and an endless amount of historical posibilities. A great grand strategy game, plenty of replayability.

great hard core strategy game... it has best features of its predecessors

Best version of Hearts of Iron II. Allows you to play the Great War, World War 2, and the Cold War.

Mod support is still strong and helps provide a fun experience which can last forever.

It's pretty much the most in-depth WW2 strategy game ever conceived of. Manage diplomacy, production, upgrades, reinforcements, technological advancement, military deployments and fight the biggest war in history.

To be completely 100% honest the game is mostly a Germany Curbstomps The Earth simulator. The game is challenging and enjoyable with clear goals defineable by you or the nation you choose. Basically, Germany can choose NOT to start the war. Or it can do so much earlier. However there's a mostly 99% chance that as other countries, war will visit you in a semi-historical fashion. As USA you will be attacked by Japan in 1940-1941, and as any country but Germany there's no chance that the Germans WON'T invade.

As fun as this game is, I feel like it's seriously limiting sometimes. I've played the game for 800 hours and I still don't understand all the mechanics, but that's my fault (and let's face it, a hopelessly convoluted Naval Model for the ship combat doesn't help either). The limitations set in when you try to completely alter history. The game is designed to facilitate historical outcomes until the war starts; as a result Germany is stronger than Poland when things go down, and the Germans will have success in France and maybe even the UK. However Germany AI never really does well against the Russians, and usually by 1942 you're dealing with Communist France.

The entire game is basically designed to be played by one of the major belligerents. If you choose to play as a minor territorial expansion and leapfrogging to greatness is possible, but extremely difficult and time-consuming. Leading Cuba to conquer the Central Americas took 20+ years. The game starts in 1936, and my first invasion kicked off sometime in the late 40's.

The game is extremely complex and is basically an OCD person's worst nightmare. You'll spend hours just organizing and planning offensives before they even begin, and keeping it all organized as you advance is the real challenge. It's too easy to forget about a unit you sent that way only to read they were encircled and destroyed; the scale is such that you can suffer serious information overload.

Also, lots and LOTS of info. Constantly being relayed to the player.

I recommend this game but with a HUGE caveat:
- If you're not super into the strategies and tactics of maneuvering armies in WW2, but are more interested in the small scale, I suggest other games. The entirety of this game is played through a map of the world. Units are represented in terms of 15,000 men instead of squads of 4 like in some RTS games set in this period.

- If you don't like micromanagement, then avoid this game. Micromanagement is part and parcel of the experience.

- If you don't have patience then I'd avoid it as well. This is a game with a learning curve that is more or less a straight cliff. You absolutely MUST read the manual and play the game multiple times before you can understand how to play well. My first game as Germany, the Polish occupied Berlin. It's also a very time-consuming game. I call 5-6 days of continuous play a "quick playthrough" - games can often last upwards of weeks or even months.

This is the best WW2 Grand Strategy game available, but it's also not very user friendly. Those without the patience to learn how to play should avoid this game.